Kerala still holds sway among tourism destinations. And the Kerala Tourism ads are still bewitching. “Your moment is waiting,” released last September by Kerala Tourism, debuted at the Saatchi Gallery in London, so when it came on television we ran to see what the fuss was about. A long-limbed, cappuccino-tinted woman lies in the grass, thrashes about in a religious trance, and drapes herself over a wet elephant. The ads play to foreign tourists who jet into Kochi and glide in cotton wool to their secluded resorts. Not that they tell lies. The paddy in God’s Own Country really is that green. But the ads sell an atmosphere of mystery, not facts.
Three decades ago, Kerala was cleaner, greener and redder. The ads offered an open book, not mystery. Along with scenery and hospitality, they promised you’d find homes for the homeless, space research stations and industrial centres to ensure prosperity. It looks like that moment is still waiting.