The only reason i see, why many Indian families don't own an elephant is that they have never been offered an elephant for a rupee off and easy EMI schemes. The Indian consumer is in a buying spree but all of them arent idiots, at least the middle class is not, and any talk of the innocent, naive consumer being taken for a ride by cunning ,manipulative marketers should be taken with a pinch of salt.
'Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need.... You buy furniture. You tell yourself, this is the last sofa I will ever need in my life. Buy the sofa, then for a couple years you're satisfied that no matter what goes wrong, at least you've got your sofa issue handled. Then the right set of dishes. Then the perfect bed. The drapes. The rug. Then you're trapped in your lovely nest, and the things you used to own, now they own you'...... I am just quoting Chuck Palahniuk who seems to me, was one of the most ardent pessimists ever lived.
True, there are products which we dont need... but is it because of lack of awareness that we end up buying.. or is it the basic human habit(a bad one , ofcourse) of displaying vanity that we end up buying.. True i 'need ' clean clothes , and a transport to my office and back ,but should i actually 'want' a L G washing machine and a Maruthi Swift for that.. Wouldnt the good old methods be enough?
See the ad above..For decades now, such ad's been cris crossing our attention ... Awareness is not an issue at all.. Every one (even my neighbour... he gulps the nicotine and tar from at least two and a half packets of cigarette, every day) knows the ill effects and advertising has been of immense importance through out the world in propagating the ill effects of cigarette smoking- both passive and active.( 'doubtfuls 'pls see the ad above)
So what? Have people quit smoking? Havent the number of smokers increased? So is it about what we are saying? how we are saying?(The great Ogilvy vs Bernbach arguement about 'what' or 'how to say that what' looks meaningless ) Or is it 'to whom, are we saying?.....
Arent a large section of our people exposed to media? arent the youngsters media savvy?? and still if they want to smoke, it could be because they want to, inspite of the ill effects it produces( that they know)..
so we know what we are doing.. but when it goes wrong some of us put it on the advertiser.. the media...
To validate my point , i know i will have to wait till the day some marketer will sell branded elephants with EMI schemes attached......
Let me rest my case here.
*** conditions apply
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If we had no faults of our own, we would not take so much pleasure in noticing those of others. ---Francois duc de la Rochefoucauld
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