Kingfisher & Calendar Advertising

here is something I wrote for a communications course I am taking for my post-grad

Calendars have enjoyed commercial success in India since at least the times of Raja Ravi Varma - his art reached mass audiences only because of improvements in lithography and other techniques of mass printing. Calendars featuring themes of nationalism, mythology, pin-ups with ‘tribal’ women, farmers, and pastoral life were available a dime a dozen. These images often served as backdrops of advertisements for manufacturers of this and that, local stores, and even government programs.

According to one report, the government and public sector companies, including banks, spent about INR  8.8 crore every year until very recently on calendars, diaries, and other booklets, in addition to several hundred hours of human effort. Private companies who extensively used calendars as marketing tools had cut down on these efforts decades ago. In 2021, the government announced that it would stop this wasteful expense. Although calendars continue to sell, they are no longer a medium of cheap mass advertising. At best, they work for niche brands, artists, and internet communities as merchandising, or maybe my grandparents’ drawing room as decoration.

Amongst a litany of calendars branded with the drab logos of cooperative banks, insurance companies, public sector companies, and religious trusts, one branded calendar stood out - the Kingfisher calendar (although you would not find this last one at my grandparents’). Described as a cross between the Perrier calendar and the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition, it was the most prestigious calendar to come out from India from 2003 until its demise in 2021. Deepika Padukone, Katrina Kaif, Lisa Haydon, and Nora Fatehi all received a major boost to their careers after being featured on the calendar. It died, but not without one last ditch effort to stay relevant - with the launch of the Kingfisher Calendar app.

It is apparent why the calendar was popular back in the day - beautiful women in bikinis on beaches in exotic locations! Celebrity photographer Atul Kasbekar and Vijay Mallaya, the then head of United Breweries Group (which markets its beer under the Kingfisher brand), are credited for the idea. The calendar fit hand-in-glove with the image that Kingfisher and Mallaya had built for themselves - a flamboyant and glamorous, ‘Page 3’ personality - for the luxury and fame-seeking youth. Most people that Kingfisher targeted did not purchase a calendar, but conversations about the calendar, about who was photographed and where, about previous years’ models who had made it big in the films, were titillating enough. 

With the increasing penetration of mobile phones and, more importantly, cheap internet; social media and other less honorable websites more easily fulfilled the need for titillation. The vicarious experience of luxury, through a peek into a lavish lifestyle, was also fulfilled by these same platforms. The giddy hands-pressed-against-store-window excitement about an annual calendar is a thing of the past. 

References

Doctor, V. (n.d.). Why Indian govt's decision to do away with calendars, diaries makes sense. Economic Times. Retrieved July 24, 2022, from https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/policy/cutting-up-the-calendar/articleshow/81994995.cms?from=mdr

Sharma, M. (2019, December 15). Calendar art continues to thrive in digital age. Hindustan Times. Retrieved July 24, 2022, from https://www.hindustantimes.com/delhi-news/calendar-art-continues-to-thrive-in-digital-age/story-gZko0kFFX0E3AqR8WbvyOM.html

Vernacular Capitalism, Advertising, and the Bazaar in Early Twentieth-Century Western India. (2020). In B. Harriss-White, S. Schwecke, A. Gandhi, & D. E. Haynes (Eds.), Rethinking Markets in Modern India: Embedded Exchange and Contested Jurisdiction. Cambridge University Press.

Hegde, R. S. (2008). [Review of Gods in the Bazaar: The Economies of Indian Calendar Art, by

K. Jain]. Anthropological Quarterly, 81(1), 301–304. http://www.jstor.org/stable/30052748

Uberoi, P. (2002). Chicks, Kids, and Couples: the nation in calendar art. India International

Centre Quarterly, 29(3/4), 197–210. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23005826

IANS. (2022, January 19). Kingfisher Swimsuit Calendar is now a thing of past. Times of India.

Retrieved July 24, 2022, from https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/fashion/buzz/kingfisher-swimsuit-calendar-is-now-a-thing-of-past/articleshow/88971034.cms