Sylvester da Cunha (19 October 1930 – 21 June 2023) was an Indian advertising professional and theatre personality.
Sylvester da Cunha was born on 19 October 1930 into a Bombay Goan family of Portuguese descent.
[1][2] His family was originally from Bardes concelho in Novas Conquistas and later moved to the Mazagaon neighbourhood of Bombay (now Mumbai) where he grew up.
On his trip back on the boat he was offered a job by John Kurien, a manager with the Birla group's Advertising and Sales Promotions (ASP) agency.
[14] Da Cunha teamed up with illustrator and art director Eustace Fernandes to create the ads.
[15][16] The ads had a mischievous looking girl in a white dress with red polka-dots and blue hair, poking fun at major celebrities and newsmakers.
During this time, he served as a population and nutritional consultant with the Information, Education, and Communication unit of the World Bank, traveling within India, and to various countries including Brazil, Turkey and Zambia.
[15] A 2018 article in the Hindustan Times described da Cunha as someone who "spoke Portuguese better than Konkani, wore suits, had a sprawling 500-year-old home in Arpora village, and even knew what feijoada was".