Delhi Newspaper ads- There are plenty of ads in the paper and amazingly it seems that any space can be bought. One guest was quite stunned that the bottom quarter of the front page of the Times of India had a Harpic toilet cleaner ad running for most of a week.  Occasionally I guess that someone puts down an even larger sum of money and an extra half front page is folded over the paper for something that has to grab our attention even before we recognize our paper.

We don't choose our paper.  The hotel provides it.  The Times of India comes daily and when we are lucky we also get the Hindustan Times.  HT ads are far more sedate than those of TI though both regularly have an ad on that front bottom left of the front page.  TI has a lot more large full page ads and more colour in them than HT.

Both papers have quite a few public service type ads and these are a puzzle to me.  In contrast to the very high tech and professional appearance of the usual ads the government ads look like something from the 1950s or early 60s. There is a half page ad in yellow red and blue for YELLOW PEAS DAL issued in the public interest by the Government of India Ministry of Consumer Affairs.  There is a photo of quite lovely (very white) hands holding a clear bag of dried yellow split peas on the left and a very 2-D drawing of a school girl on the right pointing to the highly enlightening info from the Ministry:
A Nutritious and Healthy diet at a reasonable cost
Benefits of Yellow Peas Dal
It's an excellent source of:
Protein Carbohydrates
Fibre. . .and other benefits

[Spelling and punctuation faithfully reproduced.]  The ad kindly includes places that these peas are available.  What is the point?  Is that dusty old ad going to persuade anyone who reads a paper to go and find some dal to cook up?  Did the ministry have extra budget that needed to be used up before the year's end in case someone decided to cut that amount from the next year's budget?


It is easier to understand the colourful spread announcing the inauguration of the Barapulla Elevated Road connecting Sarai Kale Khan, ring road to Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.  The pictured ministers and contractors are glad to be associated with a success and some good news.

I don't remember seeing so many celebrity endorsements in newspapers elsewhere, but here the Bollywood oldies, Amitabh Bachan and Shahrukh Khan, seem to be in the papers almost daily recommending household paint or watches.

My favourite ad so far has been for an upscale shawl shop and it starts out:
'The fourth anniversary of you forgetting her birthday.

 The eighteenth anniversary of her parent's saying no.
...
So what are you celebrating today?
Anniversary Gifting Ideas by Ahujasons.'