Reliance Jio’s launch of ‘free’ 4G services has left most of the existing network providers restless. Following the official rollout of the affordable 4G plans by Jio, other players announced special tariffs, rate cuts, and what not. Now the latest to take a dig at Jio’s freebies is Idea Cellular, which has released new ads telling customers not to fall for ‘freebies’ but opt for Idea’s ‘4G’.
In a 30-second ad, two friends are shown in conversation while parking a car in a no-parking zone. As the second friend – an Idea Cellular user — goes about downloading a movie on his smartphone, the owner of the car praises the superb network connectivity across cities but criticises it for not being ‘free’ like the parking zone. Soon after the car is towed away by authorities, seeing which, the Idea user reiterates not to fall for freebies and instead opting for Idea 4G. A voiceover in the end says, “Free ki aadat mat dalo…isliye no freeG, Idea 4G,” (Don’t be habitual of freebies, that’s why no freebie, only Idea 4G.)
Garnering over 8,000 views, the TV commercial is part of Idea’s series of videos slyly downgrading the Jio network. In another video, two roomies are shown in conversation where one is hooked onto her smartphone while the other criticises the Idea network for not being ‘free’ just like the free movie she has. Ultimately, the movie file is corrupted and the smarter of the two roomies tells how freebies are a cause of inconvenience.
Written with inputs from BGR