THE TIMES OF INDIA X HAVAS CREATIVE INDIA - INK OF DEMOCRACY (Cannes)

In the previous Indian General Elections, around 33% eligible voters didn’t turn up due to laziness, lack of awareness, and political alienation. This led to 7,500 litres of unused electoral ink— a purple-coloured ink, normally used to mark fingers after voting to prevent duplication of votes. Just before the 2024 elections, for the first time in history, pages of The Times of India and The Economic Times were printed in purple ink instead of the traditional black. For every 132 absent voters, one page was printed, totalling 2.28 million prints and one appeal: “Don’t waste a drop of electoral ink. Don’t waste the power of democracy.”
The ink once used as a mark of democracy became a reminder to defend it. As a response to the campaign, India broke free from political apathy and despite an intense heatwave, the country witnessed a world record of 642,000,000 voters turning up to cast their vote.