Ads: The easy way out...

Going thru the recent set of Ads that Indian FMCG behemoth HLL has made, one does wonder why they are overusing Kids (not counting ads for their Kids products)? Is it the easy way out to catch attention, engage viewers and make ads appealing?

Watch these recent ads (free publicity for HLL :)...

• Pepsodent
• Surf Excel [1] [2]
• Clinic Plus
• Lifebuoy
• Pears
• Pears Germshield
• Vaseline
• Vaseline Aloefresh
• Hamam
• Annapurna (old)
• Kissan (old)
  
• Brooke Bond
• Rin (old)
  
• Knorr (old)
  
• Ponds white beauty
  

The ridiculous thing is that they come in the ads (as attention hooks) though they don't add anything to the objective. Notice how a girl pops in during the middle of the Vaseline ad to play with the protagonist or the kids run around at the start (whatever the secondage of the edit, this sequence is not cut) of the Pond's ad?

I hope this is a conscious decision for it might be working at the moment. But long term, its going to do them more harm than good!!