Fine Print. Speed Reading.

“Mutual fund investments are subject to market risks. Read the offer document carefully before investing”.

Try reading the above statement and find out how long it takes to read this completely. When I tried, it took me five seconds. But, when you watch advertisements in Television or hear them in radio, there are some amazing chaps who read this in just one second.

This is in fact the equivalent of what is technically called 'fine print' in the printed documents. Something the advertisers don't want to communicate, but are required to do just for legal reasons. So, you can see big advertisements in one full page of the newspaper saying, "Reduction sale ! 75% discount ! Computers for free ! Give any old thing at home and take back a new one !" But, in some corner, the advertisers would have printed in a very very small font size something like 'Offer valid till yesterday', 'Delivery charges extra, which may be 100% of the cost itself', 'husbands and wives - however old and working condition they are in - are excluded from the exchange offer', etc.

This is what is called Fine Print.

Now, when the companies started saying all kinds of things about the New Fund Offers by companies, assuring very high interest rates etc., the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) declared that a disclaimer mentioned at the top of this post is a must for every mutual fund product advertisement.

But, as usual, the advertisers tried to bypass this stipulation. While following the law, the advertisers kept the public from hearing it by reading this sentence in just one second. You can just hear some blahblahblah and it is over. I have always been amused by the way many fancy advertisements on Mutual Funds end - with one fast blahblahblah.

However, the SEBI circular issued last week is set to change all that. SEBI has mandated that with effect from April 1, 2008, the time for display and voice over of the standard warning be enhanced to five seconds in audio visual advertisements. In case of audio advertisements, the standard warning shall be read in an easily understandable manner over a period of five seconds.


“The rapid-fire manner in which the standard warning is recited in the audio visual and audio media renders it unintelligible to the viewer/listener,” the regulator said today, pulling up the mutual fund industry. Currently, the disclaimer takes around two or three seconds in a 10 or even a 20-second spot.

"In a 10-second advertisement, if 5 seconds are for the disclaimer, then what will it communicate?” said Jaideep Bhattacharya, chief marketing officer, UTI Mutual Fund. A mute point, of course. Now, I wonder, what they will do to get around this new stipulation ?
Just to get the ball rolling, here are some ideas from my side :

• The advertiser can take 4.5 seconds to say 'Mutual', but can complete the rest of the sentence in 0.5 seconds.
• If someone objects to this after seeing this advertisement for about 3 months, you can offer to change it. Then, the advertiser can finish all but the last word in 0.5 seconds and say 'investing' in 4.5 seconds
• Have a background music louder than the voice reading this sentence.
• We can ask a Tamilian like me to speak this English sentence in proper Tamil accent, or a Bengali / Bihari to speak in their respective accents, and broadcast it in other states. It can be technically English, but no one will be able to understand it !

I am waiting for April 1st to see how they will react. If any one has any bright ideas to help the poor Mutual Fund companies, please write to them. The best idea will get an attractive prize and will get Rs. 10000000 invested in a top class mutual fund*
* conditions apply. * Valid only if you are neither a bachelor nor a married person. * Fund will mature in 327 years. * You have to physically be present yourself to collect the matured amount