Do we really need copywriters?

Picture, if you will, a world devoid of them. Imagine switching on your television sets each evening to find quality programming (a whole other wish, of course) and advertising that doesn't make you roll your eyes.

Imagine commercials that do not constantly relegate women to the kitchen (like Indian advertisements do), commercials that do not use the same script to sell everything from detergent to cars (like Indian advertisements do), commercials that do not assume the viewer is a complete moron (like Indian advertisements do) or do not fall back on using the same five celebrities to hawk a product (um, like Indian advertisements do).

Maybe it isn't the fault of copywriters, of course. Maybe they have a point when they complain, with rather boring regularly, that it's the clients who demand the celebs and the clichés. Maybe it's the clients who need help (and yes, if they hold MBAs from some pointless Indian institute or another, they certainly do). Maybe one needs to get off one's high horse and ignore Indian advertising as merely the product of talentless individuals with a poor education.

One could. But, then again, one is still entitled to dream. Until the day they sack copywriters or, better still, pay them what they're actually worth (i.e. around two hundred bucks a month), it doesn't hurt to keep dreaming.