NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party government ’s new advertisement campaign through a two-minute TV spot is all about chief minister Arvind Kejriwal though it has smartly worked around the Supreme Court directive that no photograph of a CM can be placed in a government advertisement. In the course of the ad film, Kejriwal becomes Arvind and all the beimaan (corrupt) – presumably the media too as the provocation is a TV debate – are shown to be arrayed against him.

The film makes the claim that Kejriwal has money to spare for improving the life of people because of what he has saved by stopping corruption . That has to be taken with a huge pinch of salt for a government that has been there for only four months.

Also an autowallah who doesn’t turn down a passenger and willingly goes by the meter, some may say, is more fiction than reality. But what’s most important is that the anti-corruption plank of AAP has been badly damaged by the Jitender Tomar affair.

Even the CM’s governance skills to deliver out-of-box solutions are under public scrutiny as he engages in an ever-escalating turf war with the lieutenant-governor, Najeeb Jung, and the BJP-led NDA government over powers of the state vis-a-vis the Centre – not without provocation though.

The new advertisement campaign is expected to run for a week and the slots have cost the state exchequer about Rs 1.5 crore. The production cost of the ad made by a government-empanelled agency is about Rs 4 lakh.

The new AAP government has till date spent about Rs 4 crore on all kinds of advertising, including outdoor, newspapers and TV spots. The government sees image-building as key to its communication strategy with the masses and it is learnt that in its first budget, expected to be tabled next week, the allocation for communication through advertising under the directorate of information and publicity is likely to be increased.

This ad blitz is third of a series in which corruption remains Kejriwal’s main connect with people since he took charge on February 14.

The film reaches out to the AAP votebank of a middle-income family aspiring for a life of dignity in the capital. It’s gloomy to begin with – black and white, with inflation and steep electricity bills – in the pre-Kejriwal days, but his advent fills the screen with colour.

The main character, a housewife, glows with happiness on receiving a power bill that’s much less than earlier (subsidy at work). She is, of course, ignorant of the fact that the tariff went up by 6 per cent this Monday and many who are benefitting from the subsidy may have moved to a higher, non-subsidized bracket.

A TV debate on freebies leaves the housewife cold, making her conclude that all the corrupt in the world have united against Arvind which makes her very angry. This is followed by a pledge not to give a bribe ever and strengthen Arvind’s hands.

