Meet Sylvester daCunha, The Man Behind The Iconic ‘Amul Girl’

Sylvester DaCunha was the one who chose to replace the “boring image” that had been employed for the butter brand up to that point.

New Delhi: The man behind the iconic 1966 Amul Girl ‘utterly butterly’ campaign that captured the imagination of every kid and adult around the late 20th century and still continues to inspire many has breathed his last a few days back. Sylvester daCunha, along with his art director Eustace Fernandes, created the idea of the ‘Amul Girl’ for the Anand-based cooperative back in 1960s. The most famous Amul mascot, a mischievous girl with blue hair and a polka-dotted dress, first appeared on a few billboards in Mumbai and has since become one of the most important parts of the brand’s history.

How DaCunha Transformed Amul’s Image

It is almost impossible for anyone not to know the famous ‘Amul Girl, which can be seen nearly on every newspaper or social media platform with its social commentaries in its own style. DaCunha was the one who chose to replace the “boring image” that had been employed for the butter brand up to that point. The plan was to have a girl who would “walk her way in the Indian kitchen and the housewife’s heart,” according to daCunha, as reported by ET Brand Equity.

Idea Behind ‘Amul Girl’

The idea of the ‘Amul Girl was actually taken by DaCunha from a rival company named Polson, which once dominated the dairy market in the 20s. A similar girl can be seen as the mascot of the then-famous dairy brand. Moreover, Amul’s iconic advertising idea was actually a sheer response to the rival company Polson, which gained massive popularity worldwide and is still running today, as reported by Jagran.

The report also added that Amul’s fresh-made butter struggled at first because customers were more accustomed to rival company Polson’s sour-cream butter. However, the company then made many improvements to its products to improve their taste and eventually took over as the market leader.

Apart from this, DaCunha is also credited with pioneering the notion of advertising based on current events, an idea that advertisers still use today.

How Amul Originated

Dr Verghese Kurien, the father of India’s White Revolution, founded Amul, the ‘utterly, butterly, wonderful’ enterprise, in Anand, Gujarat, as a co-operative to acquire milk supplied by neighbouring farmers. Its objective was to pay farmers fairly while still providing quality, value-for-money products to consumers. Dr Kurein started ‘Operation Flood’ to transform India into a dairy-producing nation. Dr Verghese Kurien was born on November 26, 1921 to an affluent Syrian Christian family in Calicut (now Kozhikode), Kerala.