Jago Grahak Jago campaign to be revamped as PMO believes it is not effective

The government's pan-India multimedia consumer awareness campaign "Jago Grahak Jago", launched in 2005, is already a household name in urban centres but the Centre is reportedly planning to revamp it in order to boost its reach.

The campaign, an initiative by the consumer affairs ministry, focusses on publicity through the print as well as electronic media to educate the consumers about their rights as well as inform them about various aspects under sales and purchase, from maximum retail price (MRP) and hallmarking systems to grievance redressal mechanisms.

"The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) feels that the campaign is not being able to attract enough interest and needs to be refreshed to make the communication effective," a senior official told The Economic Times, adding that the campaign needs to be brought in sync with today's needs for it to evoke interest.

According to another source, the Modi government plans to include a campaign that will cover e-commerce companies and other new-age consumer choices, perhaps even roping in a celebrity to help improve the campaign's recall value and widen its reach.

This development has the country's advertising industry - projected to be the second fastest growing market in Asia after China - sitting up and taking notice. Ad agencies are reportedly supporting the plan to revamp the campaign.

"The campaign, even as on date, is good on content, but terrible on video quality," Prathap Suthan, managing partner at advertisement agency BangInTheMiddle, told the daily. "It could do much better with a better quality video and the reach would definitely increase."

He also pointed out that the revamped Jago Grahak Jago campaign should boast a message that is of high quality so that it gains traction on the social media websites. "People would not tweet or promote in any other way a message that is not of high quality," he added.