There are no records of any kind that tell us about the origin and history of Nepali advertisements. The earliest form of advertising may thus be taken as the trumpet blowing tradition of kings and maharajas to disperse royal messages. The advent of Mass Communication in Nepal can be said to have been through such official proclamations, which were usually accompanied by the use of musical instruments like drums or trumpets. The age-old oral tradition of promotion by vendors selling their wares in the market can also be taken as another early form of advertising.
Even today, Nepalese advertising industry is still in its neo-natal period. Unlike some Indian and western advertisements, we rarely see Nepalese advertisements that would take us by surprise, a masterpiece that would knock our socks off with its divergent thinking. Nepalese market is filled with copy advertisements. The fact today is - we are lagging behind in this creative field. One of the reasons might be because of our limited resources to execute a perfectly conceptualized advertisement. Another reason could be we are too complacent and turn a blind eye on the power of communication or we just love copying and this is cost effective, no matter how effective the advertisement would be to our context.
Many advertisements that we come across on FM stations or watch on television are a dubbed version of an Indian advert. This is the first stage where we compromise in terms of creative thinking as we fail to touch base with one of the basic characteristics of Marketing Communications Mix which means dramatizing company’s product through artful use of sound, color and print.
In context of Nepal which bears little resemblance to that of an Indian setting, the same advertisement is dubbed into Nepali and broadcasted regardless of the demography and the economic orientation that influences consumer