Zepto is delivering a newspaper from 1969, and its pages are a time capsule of India.
The special edition of The Hindu, published on October 2, 1969, to mark Mahatma Gandhi’s 100th birth anniversary, carries everything from freedom movement stories and photographs to advertisements from brands that are still around today.
But this isn’t just an old newspaper being sold as a collectible. Flip through it and you get a snapshot of what India looked like and what brands looked like in 1969.
The edition carries stories and photographs around Gandhi’s life and the freedom movement, including references to the Salt Satyagraha and events taking place across different parts of the country.
And then there are the advertisements.
Brands that still exist today appear in the pages, offering a rather unexpected time capsule of how they communicated more than 50 years ago. Cadbury, for instance, features an advertisement from the period, sitting alongside messages commemorating Gandhi’s 100th birth anniversary.
That makes the newspaper interesting beyond its historical value.
It shows what people were reading, what brands were advertising, what language they were using and what was considered important enough to occupy a newspaper page in 1969.
In his LinkedIn post, Chandan Mendiratta, Chief Brand Officer (CBO) at Zepto, described the newspaper as a ‘piece of history’ and showed several of its pages, including photographs from Gandhi’s marches and coverage of events linked to the freedom movement.
There’s also a specially designed envelope for the newspaper, created around the centenary theme.
And that is where Zepto’s role in the idea becomes interesting.
The quick-commerce platform is usually associated with things you want right now. This time, it is using that same ordering behaviour to put something from 1969 within reach.
It’s a slightly amusing collision of timelines: a 55-plus-year-old newspaper being delivered through a platform built around speed.
But perhaps the most interesting part is what you get once the newspaper arrives.
You’re not just looking at Gandhi through a modern retrospective. You’re seeing a newspaper from that period, with its own reporting, photographs, advertisements and references to events across India.
FAQs
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What is the 1969 edition of The Hindu available on Zepto?
It is a special edition of The Hindu published on October 2, 1969, marking Mahatma Gandhi’s 100th birth anniversary.
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Why is the 1969 edition of The Hindu significant?
The newspaper offers a glimpse into how Gandhi’s centenary was covered at the time, along with stories, photographs and advertisements from 1969.
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Can you order the 1969 edition of The Hindu on Zepto?
Zepto has made the 1969 edition available to order as part of its Gandhi Jayanti initiative.
