Bournvita's #FaithNotForce campaign gets mixed reactions from the industry

#FaithNotForce campaign by Bournvita that aims to educate parents on children’s true talent, has the experts and audiences giving mixed reactions on the internet. Some called it forced while some praised the brand's initiative.

This Children’s Day, Cadbury Bournvita's new campaign #FaithNotForce urges the society to recognize the true potential of children and not push them to be something they are not. This campaign has seen experts and audiences give mixed reactions.

Bournvita with the aim to push the narrative forward turned the brand's iconic orange jar into something it wasn't destined to be -- a toilet cleaner jar, an egg box, a tissue paper box, and more. 

As a part of this campaign, along with releasing a TVC, the brand had also turned towards print ads. 

Commenting on the campaign and the print ad, on one hand, many labeled the campaign as true to its name - ‘forced’ while some praised the initiative and called it ‘forward thinking’. 

Writing in a post, Harish Bijoor Business & Brand-strategy specialist, praised the campaign saying ‘Hatts off Bournvita’. 

On the other hand, Karthik Srinivasan, a Communications strategy consultant labeled the campaign as a ‘forced’ idea. 

Also Read: The new Bournvita campaign urges parents to consider their kid’s true talent

Writing a piece on the same, Marketing Communication Professional Lakshmipathy Bhat’s article put forward the narrative that this Bournvita Ad might just be a forced focus on awards. 

Head of Marketing at RapiPay, Vineet Chugh expressed how despite trying to absorb the concept wholeheartedly, he couldn’t really relish this particular ad. 

Where many experts were divided as to how the campaign saw the day’s light, audiences around the nation had some divided thoughts as well. 

Some had very strong opinions about how traditionally Ogilvy - the creative agency for Bournvita would’ve approached it. 

While some chose to explain the campaign and the print ad in detail to the internet, and in the process, praised the campaign. 

For quite some time, Bournvita as a brand has been trying to push a different narrative towards the audience. With last year’s campaign ‘Get the Message’ the brand tried to educate the audience about the importance of discussing ‘mental health’ issues among children.