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"Women could identify with her and many in our survey post-release said that Karen
could be their daughter.
"In other words, our objective was not to make her look sensuous, but project her as a
girl who was simply having fun.
"This is why I think she did so well and people, both young and old, male and female,
liked her.
Lunel remained the face of Liril from 1974 to 1985 -- the longest for any Liril Girl.
She was replaced by a number of models through the 1980s, the 1990s and the early
part of the twenty-first century.
As Padmasee says, The Liril Girl became a gateway for young women to get into
Bollywood.
"While I was happy about this, I am not sure whether the choice of girls were the best.
Barring a few such as Preity (Zinta), Tara (Sharma) or Deepika (Padukone), most of
them were largely forgettable.
But the big break from the past came in 2005, when HUL relaunched Liril as Liril 2000,
positioning the freshness soap as a family soap.
It did this to arrest falling market share since freshness was no longer the unique
attribute for Liril. Godrej Consumers Cinthol, too, had positioned itself on freshness as
it did a host of other brands.
Padamsee says Liril, as the first lime soap, notched up a share of 25 per cent by the end
of the first year of its launch (1975), becoming the top-selling brand for HUL.
By 2005, however, it slid to low single digits, according to industry sources, prompting
the re-positioning.
As R Balakrishnan, chairman & chief creative officer, Lowe Lintas & Partners, says,
There were many other soaps that had freshness as an attribute. Plus, the companys
priorities were changing.
By 2009, the Liril Girl bid adieu and with it a chapter in Indian advertising came to an
end.
The Liril Girl began losing steam somewhere in the nineties.
"I dont think there was enough thought put to who was being cast.
"The company was experimenting with variants of Liril, which I think distracted it a bit,
says Padamsee.
Viveat Susan Pinto in Mumbai
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