Amul Girl has captured the hearts of millions of Indians with her witty and sardonic cartoons. Sylvester daCunha, the mastermind who created the iconic cartoon, passed away on Wednesday, leaving behind a long enduring legacy.
daCunha’s iconic creation still continues to amuse people around the country. But the question arises, how did he come up with this idea?
You will be surprised to know that the history of the creation of this iconic girl was actually drawn from a rival company which once dominated the dairy market in the 20s.
If you belong to the 20th century, then you must remember a diary brand named as Polson, which is now long lost and even forgotten. Polson was the first diary brand in India to commercialise milk and butter. According to reports, Polson even supplied butter and coffee to the British India and American troops during the first world war.
The brand logo of Polson Diary featured a young girl holding a butter churn, which actually symbolised the essence of dairy craftsmanship back then. Polson soon became a household name and built a monopoly in the Indian dairy market in that era.
Amul’s iconic advertising idea was actually a sheer response to the rival company Polson, which gained massive popularity worldwide and is still running today.
Amul, in 1966, launched its advertising campaign which featured the Amul Girl for the first time. Created by renowned artist Fernandes and Sylvester daCunha, the girl in the cartoon looks chubby-cheeked and mischievous holding a piece of bread with butter on top.
The objective behind this was to captivate the audience's attention through sarcastic, yet message driven cartoons along with the advertisement of their product. The cartoon was again a direct response to Polson’s mascot.
At first, Amul’s fresh made butter couldn’t win hearts as people were more used to Polson’s sour-cream butter. However, later on the company made several changes to its products to improve its taste and eventually took over as the market leader.
Polson, on the other hand, eventually shut down its dairy business and has also disappeared from public consciousness.