The ‘utterly butterly’ Amul Girl

All through my childhood I remember seeing a young Indian girl dressed in a white frock with red polka dots; with blue hair and a half tied pony on hoardings, on TV, in magazines, and even on packets of butter. Though years have passed she hasn’t grown. Does the image seem to be quite a familiar figure to you too? Well, it’s the hand drawn cartoon of a girl we all know, we see her without fail every morning at breakfast time...Any guesses? Yes, you’re right! She’s the ‘utterly butterly delicious’ girl -The Amul Girl.

We’ve seen her on numerous occasions – commenting on events such as the Emergency in India, voicing her joy at winning the Cricket World Cup, celebrating the twenty-twenty year, supporting India’s vaccination drive against Covid, applauding the success of Yash Raj Chopra’s DDLJ, grooving to Ranbir and Deepika’s ‘Badtameez Dil’, acknowledging Shark Tank India, celebrating Alia and Ranbir’s marriage, talking about Priyanka Chopra’s Met Gala Trench, commemorating Dr. V. Kurein’s birthday (National Milk Day), speculating about the worthy candidate for India’s post of President, discouraging violence in the land, and what not.

The Amul Girl has been so popular and loved for years by the multitude because of her humour. This advertising mascot of the Indian dairy brand was created by Mr. Sylvester daCunha and his art director/ illustrator Eustace Fernandes of the advertising agency called Advertising and Sales Promotion in 1966 as a response to Amul’s rival brand Polson. The story goes that the late Dr. Verghese Kurein, then the chairman of the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd. suggested they could have a mischievous little girl as a mascot. His suggestion covered two requirements – it had to be easy to draw and at the same time it had to be memorable.

In those days most of the advertising was outdoor media which required hand painting and the hoardings were frequently changed. So, Sylvester daCunha and Eustace Fernandes came up with the cute yet quirky Amul girl who captured the attention not only of every housewife in the country but every citizen irrespective of age, caste, or creed. And, the extremely popular yet goofy tagline “utterly butterly delicious” was contributed by Nisha daCunha, Sylvester daCunha’s wife.

Over the years Amul has stood its ground with the Amul Girl spouting witty tongue-in-cheek one liners about day-to-day occurrences, almost always revolving around the chief offering of the company, Amul butter. Amul butter is an essential ingredient across the country be it in the pav bhaji plate of those enjoying street food in Mumbai, or a cube in the breakfast plate on the train Shatabdi, or a generous pat on the chhole bature relished in old Delhi’s gullies, or a sunshine yellow scoop on the Dosas fried crisp in South India. The name Amul butter spells authenticity, as in weddings, parties, gala fetes, restaurants, hotels nothing less is displayed and served at food counters and stalls. The 60 year old brand Amul has consistently featured in the top 10 most trusted brands of our country.

All was not smooth sailing for this Amul Girl as she would come up in her extraordinary style with satires on various noteworthy events and persons. Her words would become controversial and Amul would be threatened with dire consequences. But her popularity never dimmed, moreover over the years she continued to prove she was ahead of her times. Mr. daCunha who had long realised that just talking about butter wouldn’t sustain their ad campaign came up with the ingenious idea of social commentary. The Amul Girl being a cartoon could switch places and morph into any character according to the situation - national or international. Sometimes she would be the much involved by-stander. Her comments using puns and satires put smiles on people’s faces since a time when memes were not even an ‘in’ thing. Mr. Sylvester daCunha , a man of wit made not only the Amul Girl ‘fun’ but contributed to the entire advertising world in the most irreplaceable way.

With Mr. Sylvester daCunha bidding adieu to this world on Tuesday, 20th June he can rest in peace knowing that his Amul Girl has and will continue to find ways to keep the Indian masses entertained with her buttery smooth wit and humour while they enjoy the ‘utterly butterly’ deliciousness of Amul butter in their innumerable cuisines from the world over.