Sylvester daCunha, the man behind the ‘utterly butterly’ Amul girl passed away on 21st June, 2023 in Mumbai.

daCunha was a veteran advertising man who was associated with Amul brand since the 1960s. He co-created Amul girl with his art director Eustace Fernandes. The Amul girls cheeky sentences created a memorable campaign for the brand, and it celebrated its golden jubilee in 2016.

It is the longest running ad campaign in the world. It has a single character and a topic. The whole thing started in 1966 when Kurien started operation flood in Gujarat.

Amul girl is the blue-haired noseless girl who tossed chucklesome lines into the social flow, and made Amul butter a household staple.

The ‘utterly butterly delicious’ qualifier was the contribution of daCunha’s wife, Nisha daCunha.

The style and technique of Amul campaign has remained unchanged over the years. daCunha in fact pioneered ‘moment marketing’. The catch phrase utterly butterly delicious became unforgetable.

The mascot has stood the test of time and is still relevant 57 years after it was conceived.

daCunha is survived by his wife, a son Rahul daCunha, also an adman. He was a brother of the late Gerson daCunha, an adman.

We are left with a simple Amul girl with big eyes in a dress with red polka dots and matching ribbon in her hair and paired with red shoes. She delights us with her witticisms and turns of phrase. She is adorable, and does clever and at times cringeworthy wordplay. She makes on-the-button references to topical events.