Click to play videoMumbai: ONIDA's campaign - "Neighbour's envy, owner's pride" spouted by the green, horn-sporting devil, is finally coming to an end after over two decades.
The devil that sold a million TV sets could soon return to the netherworld of TV commercials. The green suited, long-nailed demon was ONIDA's brand ambassador for 27 years. Ads he acted in saw television sets being broken apart, at a time when most of India hadn't even seen a TV.
But now, McCann Erickson the agency makes ONIDA ads, feels its time for a change.
Executive Chairman McCann Erickson, Prasoon Joshi says, "The original devil was conceptualised at a time when owning a TV itself was envious. The devil symbolised 'envy'. But things have now changed and so have people's reach and aspirations."
The series of advertisements saw many faces, even young ones, play the devil.
And people say that they will miss the ad considering they grew up with the line. Others say it may not be a good idea to do away with such a recognised mascot.
But ONIDA's mind is made up. The 'classy' devil will now be replaced by Ritu and Siddharth, a bubbly pair who will take forward the product line.
VP Sales & Marketing ONIDA, Sriram Krishnamurthy says, "We needed to change. The new brand series that we have is done with the consumer in mind, where there is an element of surprise involved.
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