Sylvester daCunha, the man who decided to brand Amul as one of the leading dairy companies with the face of an adorable girl dressed in polka dots, passed away on Tuesday. You can not think of Amul without mentioning this doyen of advertising and his passing away certainly marks the end of an era.
Mourning the demise of the legend, Amul India GM Marketing, Pavan Singh wrote, "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."
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Amul managing director Jayen Mehta also penned a heartfelt statement and offered condolences to the advertising legend's bereaved family. It reads, “Very sorry to inform about the sad demise of Shri Sylvester daCunha, Chairman of daCunha Communications last night at Mumbai. A doyen of Indian advertising industry who was associated with Amul since 1960s. The Amul family joins in mourning this sad loss."
For the unversed, Sylvester designed the 1966 Amul Girl ‘Utterly Buttery Delicious’ campaign. It is touted as one the longest-running Indian campaigns and it has successfully transitioned from print to TV and now social media; to the extent that some of the illustrations even went viral.
The Amul girl with her big curious eyes and bright red shoes used to take zingers at some of the most prominent Indian events and their tongue-in-the-cheek puns like 'Sanskriti Irani’ or ‘Phone Banega Karodpati’ or 'British Errways' used to be taken in all fun-and-games without offending anyone.