For the kids of the 90s, arguing about malted drinks in the school playground, seemed like a rite of passage. Are you taller, stronger and sharper; are you willing to share the secret of your energy or are you busy with tayyari jeet ki? In the pursuit of growth, the fight moved to biscuits, with each brand releasing their own healthy offering. Today, while the others are not so heard of, Bournvita has upped the game by pushing out a new campaign for its line of Crunchy biscuits.  

In its newest ad, the brand reverses the traditional parent-child role. Having established itself as a product chosen by parents who are concerned about the nourishment of their children, the brand this time targets health-conscious parents, encouraging them to indulge in the guilty pleasures of snacking.

The ad starts off with heavenly visuals of wholegrains and berries, establishing the fact that these biscuits are anything but unhealthy. A kid, who is also the narrator, sits on the table with his father and animatedly tells him that mother would be getting something healthy to eat. Terrified, the father feigns a toothache and excuses himself from eating the biscuit. As soon as his wife munches the Crunchy biscuits, he retracts by saying that he should eat the biscuit else that would set a wrong example for the kid. The kid glares at his father as the latter relishes the healthy snack, effectively putting an end to ‘badon ke bahaane."

“Moms are at the receiving end of a barrage of excuses when it comes to having healthy food. The same insight of ‘bahaanas’ are true for husbands, as well. From there, it was a seamless flow into the tagline,” says Mayuri Shukla, senior vice president at Ogilvy India, while explaining the conceptualisation of the ad. The brand started building the proposition of ‘No More Excuses’ in 2018 with the ‘Tommy Film’, featuring a little boy using his pet dog to get out of eating breakfast. This resonated with the target group — mothers, who have always tried to encourage the family to eat healthy.

Sudhanshu Nagpal, associate director-marketing, biscuits, Mondelez India, attributes the campaign’s success to the focus on adults, who like kids, are also fussy about taste and tend to label wholesome snacks as boring and bland. “To break down this notion, our proposition of ‘No More Excuses’ iterates that one can focus on their well-being without compromising on the taste,” he says.

The 30 second ad, which was developed in over four months, has received 13 million views on YouTube so far. But, how these views translate to sales is yet to be seen.