The doyen of Indian advertising, Sylvester daCunha – who created the lovable Amul Girl ‘utterly butterly’ campaign in 1966, passed away late on Tuesday, his associates said.
He was in his 80s and is survived by his wife Nisha, their son and advertising master Rahul daCunha. He was the brother of the late advertising genius, Gerson daCunha.
It was way back in 1966 that Managing Director of advertising agency ASP, Sylvester daCunha, and his art director Eustace Fernandes had designed the iconic Amul Girl campaign which won the hearts of millions, and was widely acknowledged during her Golden Jubilee in 2016.
The ad had a special sense of humour and the mischievous Amul Girl in a polka-dotted frock, with rosy, chubby cheeks, didn’t flinch at poking fun at the high and mighty in India, including the late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, the present Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Amitabh Bachchan, and many others.
The Amul is credited with running what is probably the longest hoarding ad campaign at Mumbai’s picturesque Chowpatty with many quotable quotes and even featuring in the local newspapers.
Tributes poured on social media for the ad-master with Amul India GM Marketing, Pavan Singh, expressing sadness at Sylvester’s passing.
“Very sad to learn that Sylvester daCunha, the legend of the Indian Advertising world, is no longer amongst us. It was an honour to have learnt the art of Brand communication and advertising, from him over nearly 3 decades,” said Singh.
He recalled how, along with the legendary Dr. Verghese Kurien, it was Sylvester Dacunha who had initiated Amul’s “immortal, iconic topical campaign in 1966, which is one of longest continuously running advertising campaigns in the world”.
“This campaign scaled new heights, moved seamlessly from OOH to print, TV & then digital and social media, enhancing its reach and popularity across multiple generations!,” Singh said in his tribute to the legend.
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