There is lot of debate happening on my blog post on Motorola advert. So I have decided to now write my answer in a post. The ad in question is for Motoyuva w230 and it shows the father scolding the young boy for creating a mess in the house. The boy puts the earphones and listens to songs on his mobile shutting out his father.

My simple assertion was that the underlying message behind this ad was not culturally appropriate.

One of the recent replies is from Maneet who works in the mobile industry. I am quoting from his response for the full response you should read the comments below my earlier post.

“They chose to catch the youth audience’s attention by telling them that they can shut out the world’s problems around them by listening to music on thier motorola phone. ” “Lets allow Motorola (who has since almost shut shop in India) a bit of creative space to advertise.”

I quite agree with Maneet that we need to allow Motorola some creative space to advertise. I think all I would like to point out is how this ad could have been done differently.

In India, mobile phones are bought by parents, so if it is promoted as a device to alienate parents I am not sure that will work. I think a positioning that shows mobile phones as a device that strengthens bond between parents and growing up adolescents has more chances to succeed in a country like India.

If we take the above ad for example, when the father starts scolding the kid, he should have just let his mobile phone ring with a ringtone of his father’s favorite song. That would have immediately put father’s mood at ease. And father could have been shown asking his son about how to get that ringtone in his mobile phone. The son could have shown him how to do that and while the father enjoys downloading his favorite songs on his mobile phones, the son could have cleaned the house while listening to songs of his liking on his mobile phone. And the tagline could have been – “papa bhi khush, beta bhi khush.”

I am not saying that my idea is better or it would have succeeded, but the point is that why make ads that show mobile phones as making kids irresponsible.

Research Articles on mobile phones and youth -

1. Mobile Phone usage among college students in America – Aoki & Downes (2003)

2. Cross-cultural comparison of perceptions and uses of mobile telephones among college students – Campbell (2007) (full text)

3. Mobile phone usage and social networks among young Russian adults – Gladarev & Lonkila (2008)

4. Gender differences in social networking through mobile phones among Japanese college students – Igarashi, Takai, & Yaoshida (2005)

5. Comparison of Internet and mobile phone usage among Japanese and Taiwanese youth – Ishii & Wu (2006)

6. Use of mobile phones as fashion items among Japanese and American college students – Katz & Sugiyama (2006)

7. Gratifications sought by college students in Hong Kong from pager use – Leung & Wei (1998)

8. Social meaning behind adoption of mobile phones by teens in Norway – Ling (2007)

9. Mobile phone usage among Norwegian youth – Ling (2007)

10. What is the appropriate age for children and young people to adopt mobile phones – Ling & Helmersen (2000)

11. Mobile phones as an object of fashion and personal display among teens in Norway – Ling (2001)

12. The diffusion of mobile phones among youth in Norway – Ling (2001)

13. The impact of mobile phones on parental and peer relationships of teens in Norway – Ling & Yttri (2003)

14. Mobile Communication culture among Finnish teenagers and its implications for social interaction - Oksman & Turtiainen (2004)

15. Issues concerning new communication technologies and youth – Thurlow & McKay (2003)

16. Youth culture and cell phone branding in China – Wang (2005)

17. Gratifications of cell phone use among college students in Taiwan – Wei & Lo (2006)

18. Use of mobile phones by teens in South Korea  – Yoon (2003)

LG has launched three new multimedia mobile phones for youth in India. The KS360 almost sounds like an iPhone clone with touchscreen display. The features in these new mobile phones such as Yahoo search, NDTV viewer etc. make them sound like a mini-computer plus TV. I think these new phones signal an indication that mobile internet is soon going to be a reality in India and Indian youth are certainly going to lead this revolution. I am looking for any good examples of how this may be actually happening.

Motorola is set to launch new mobile phones with music rich features and wi-fi capability.

Spice Mobile launches S-590, an affordable cell phone with video camera capability, POPAT (talking phone), and other VAS features.