Snickers - ‘Kyunki hunger Acche Acchon Ko Badal Deta Hai’

 The Snickers ad campaign was first launched in India sometime in the year 2008 and it was promoted as a snack to be eaten between meals, the first Indian TV commercial  for Snickers ‘Iske to char baj gaye!’ that was created had the tagline 'Hunger Baja Char Snickers Kholo Yaar' (When hunger strikes at four unwrap a Snickers). The ad showed a goal keeper who is

not alert because he feeling hungry at 4.00 pm, but after he eats a bar of Snickers which is passed please see the ad on YouTube). The brand was pretty low key when it was introduced in India in 2004, few shops stocked it and the advertising was not enough. The product itself was imported and not manufactured in
to him by the spectators he begins to perform well and saves a goal (

India. Even to this day the product is imported; the pack of Snickers I bought yesterday was made in UAE. As per media reports Mars International, the owners of Snickers, Galaxy Chocolates, Mars Chocolates and few other brands, will commence production of Snickers and its other products in India in two to three years time.

Mars gave a major boost to Snickers with their advertising campaign featuring actresses Rekha and Urmila Matondkar in December 2013; the shorter version of the ad does not feature Urmila. This is an adaptation of the international campaign, ‘You’re Not You When You Are Hungry’; the Hindi tagline is ‘Kyunki hunger Acche

Acchon Ko Badal Deta Hai’ (Because hunger can change anyone). In this campaign the ‘hunger’ platform continues to remain but a new aspect has been added to it,

that is – Hunger can do strange things to you – such as, hunger can make young men behave like ill-tempered, tantrum throwing film actresses. The ad shows a group of young boys in a car going for game of cricket, one of the ‘boys’ in the back seat is strangely actress Rekha who is in a terrible mood due to hunger. Magically after ‘she’ eats Snickers ‘she’ changes back to his real self. Later another boy changes to actress Urmila Matondkar who is shown throwing tantrums again due to hunger, ‘she’ too changes back to his real self after eating Snickers. See the commercial below:

Also see the international ad featuring Liza Minneli:

The Snickers campaign in India is clearly targeted at urban young males, but I am sure this will appeal to females as well. I wonder what if Mars International decides to do a similar ad but happen to target it at young females instead of males; will they show a young lady turning into a cranky male film actor? If they happen to produce such an ad it would surely be interesting. 

When I saw this TV commercial for the first time I was quite surprised because one is not accustomed to seeing a chocolate commercial with such an outlandish script. Ads of other chocolate brands talk about good taste, loving, sharing, celebrating and enjoying; but this ad was totally different. Firstly no chocolate ad in India ever talked of satisfying hunger as far as I can recall and showing young boys turning into tantrum throwing film actresses? Who could ever think of such a concept? I think this is a pretty bold ad and is absolutely different from other chocolate ads. That is what makes the Snickers ad stand out of the clutter and distinguish itself from other chocolates. One thing is very clear, that is, Snickers in India is now definitely established as a hunger or light hunger satisfying snack. So it does not only compete with other chocolate brands but also with other snack products which can be eaten between meals. 

I have personally noticed that the distribution of Snickers and stocking by retailers has been improving thanks to the ad campaign. It took me a little time to warm up to the Snickers ad because of its peculiarity and I like the ad now. I also buy Snickers now and then and eat it sometime between meals and keep a pack handy sometimes when I am outdoors and I am not sure as to at what time I might get to have lunch. The campaign has clearly worked on me although the creative is quite bizarre but at the same time humourous, if you think young men turning into film actresses is bizarre what would you say about this, please view the ad below: