2 Controversial Nepali Ads That Will Make You Cringe

Retrospectively, it is astonishing how some Nepali brands and marketers have blatantly ripped-off and used sensitive contents from notable events around the world. Conspicuous counterfeit and use of such contents is a brazen act that can be seen at times despite widespread accessibility of information by virtually anyone via the internet. Are marketers so obscure to the fact that netizens are bound to easily discover and condemn such practices in the modern age of information technology? Or are they utterly apathetic? This poor display of artisanship is laughable.

Let’s look at a couple of let-downs of the past, brought to you by the sly marketers of Nepal.

Home Tv – 9/11 References

Home Tv, now known as ‘Dish Home’, released this ad a while back. It shows a weeping lady staring at a cup that nonsensically displays a terrible event from September 11 attacks, which is just ludicrous. The ad fails to insinuate any hint of brand communication altogether; the lady only seems to be in a teary contemplation of the unfortunate event. Moreover, while the whole world is, till date, aghast with the incident of 2001, Home Tv indifferently used it as a content for advertisement. What’s more shocking is that the tagline literally translates to ‘different kind of fun’. There is a fine line between creativity and stupidity that needs to be discerned when referring to such a sensitive incident that risked and took lives of thousands. Beware, fellow marketers!

Home Tv’s insensitive advert was also covered by the likes of Buzzfeed, blemishing the creative industry of Nepal in the global platform. Ads like these only contribute to devalue the marketing industry of the country as a whole. 

Presak – Far Cry 4

Presak’s ad is yet another spectacle that clearly copied an animated work of a videogame. Far Cry 4 is a popular videogame played by countless people throughout the world which featured a story based on the Maoist insurgency of Nepal. Presak ripped off the entire background of the game’s poster and created an ad with a tad bit of visual additions and branding imagery. How much of a hassle can it be for a Nepali brand to simply hire a photographer to snap realistic images of the pristine Himalayas? Apparently, a bit too much for Presak. The brand opted to counterfeit and add some graphical tweaks to masquerade its originality. 

Check out this Reddit link to read the comments of netizens concerning this issue!