Monday, December 26, 2011
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
up in smoke
" har fikr ko dhueme udata chala gaya " Is a great song and has been hailed as a romantic philosophy of dev anand's life . looked at it holistically, it is great. The trouble is people take it literally and romanticise smoking. an old friend, pratap sharma , who passed away last week, suffered from lung infection of such severe nature that he had to carry a contraption with oxygen supply in his pocket. He once told me, “ bharat , with all your communications and persuasive skills, please try and convince people not to smoke . I am a living example of bad effects of smoking"
having done advertising campaigns for the Indian Cancer Society for many years, I have always been aware of the harmful effects of smoking. I'm also aware of the fact that smokers cannot be dissuaded from smoking in spite of their being aware of the harm it does. You tell a smoker that smoking is slow poisoning, and he says so who's in a hurry.
The cigarette lobby is extremely strong the world over and all the attempts to curtail smoking have always been resisted in every country. But in spite of all these pressures, many countries have been coming down heavily on smoking in public places etc. many countries have legislated to put scary cancer pictures on cigarette packs to dissuade people from smoking. But most smokers are either too weak or too dumb or too misled by the impression that smoking makes them look like studs (and/or whatever the female version of studs is ). And therefore unless they are forced to not smoke, which I have seen happening only when they have had to go through bypass surgeries or cancer treatments, they tend to disregard all good advice.
A shining corporate example of how to get people to stop smoking , is Godrej . at their vikroli plant , anybody who wishes to smoke, regardless of seniority, has to get out of his office, get into his car, drive out of the complex, park on the side of the highway and smoke. I know more people who have given up smoking rather than giving up working at Godrej .
that brings us to films .
The tobacco industry has long capitalized on the ability of the entertainment industry to create, reinforce, and normalize messages. The invaluable marketing advantage this creates for the tobacco companies has allowed them to overcome legislative restrictions on cigarette advertising since the late 1960s. In movies and on television, celebrities facilitate the normalization of cigarette smoking by increasing the perception that the behavior is commonplace and integral to everyday life. Capitalizing on this power, tobacco companies have frequently paid producers and actors to feature their cigarette brands. In Superman II, for instance, Phillip Morris paid $40,000 for the Marlboro brand name to appear some 40 times in the film.
in india , one constantly hears some dumb reactions from the film folk who -
a - say banning smoking scenes infringes on their right of freedom . ( this is as inane as fanatic groups beating up girls and saying they have a right to freedom of action that they deem fit . ridiculous !! in law we say " your fundamental right to swing your arm ends where the other man's cheek begins " )
b- we can't depict real characters if we don't show them smoking on screen . can we show Churchill without a cigar , they ask . ( no , you can't . but when was the last time they made a film on Churchill ? )
c- just because a star smokes on screen , it doesn't mean that the youth will ape them and start smoking . ( if that was true then why do advertisers pay them crores to show them drinking / wearing / driving their products ?. a superstar's obligation to the people who made them superstars doesn't end by photo ops with the downtrodden . they have to , as a serious social responsibility , ensure that they don't do anything wrong on screen or in life in front of their fans , that will inspire people to do wrong things . )
having done advertising campaigns for the Indian Cancer Society for many years, I have always been aware of the harmful effects of smoking. I'm also aware of the fact that smokers cannot be dissuaded from smoking in spite of their being aware of the harm it does. You tell a smoker that smoking is slow poisoning, and he says so who's in a hurry.
The cigarette lobby is extremely strong the world over and all the attempts to curtail smoking have always been resisted in every country. But in spite of all these pressures, many countries have been coming down heavily on smoking in public places etc. many countries have legislated to put scary cancer pictures on cigarette packs to dissuade people from smoking. But most smokers are either too weak or too dumb or too misled by the impression that smoking makes them look like studs (and/or whatever the female version of studs is ). And therefore unless they are forced to not smoke, which I have seen happening only when they have had to go through bypass surgeries or cancer treatments, they tend to disregard all good advice.
A shining corporate example of how to get people to stop smoking , is Godrej . at their vikroli plant , anybody who wishes to smoke, regardless of seniority, has to get out of his office, get into his car, drive out of the complex, park on the side of the highway and smoke. I know more people who have given up smoking rather than giving up working at Godrej .
that brings us to films .
The tobacco industry has long capitalized on the ability of the entertainment industry to create, reinforce, and normalize messages. The invaluable marketing advantage this creates for the tobacco companies has allowed them to overcome legislative restrictions on cigarette advertising since the late 1960s. In movies and on television, celebrities facilitate the normalization of cigarette smoking by increasing the perception that the behavior is commonplace and integral to everyday life. Capitalizing on this power, tobacco companies have frequently paid producers and actors to feature their cigarette brands. In Superman II, for instance, Phillip Morris paid $40,000 for the Marlboro brand name to appear some 40 times in the film.
in india , one constantly hears some dumb reactions from the film folk who -
a - say banning smoking scenes infringes on their right of freedom . ( this is as inane as fanatic groups beating up girls and saying they have a right to freedom of action that they deem fit . ridiculous !! in law we say " your fundamental right to swing your arm ends where the other man's cheek begins " )
b- we can't depict real characters if we don't show them smoking on screen . can we show Churchill without a cigar , they ask . ( no , you can't . but when was the last time they made a film on Churchill ? )
c- just because a star smokes on screen , it doesn't mean that the youth will ape them and start smoking . ( if that was true then why do advertisers pay them crores to show them drinking / wearing / driving their products ?. a superstar's obligation to the people who made them superstars doesn't end by photo ops with the downtrodden . they have to , as a serious social responsibility , ensure that they don't do anything wrong on screen or in life in front of their fans , that will inspire people to do wrong things . )
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
iGoogle
iGooglefelt very proud of himanshu roy and others in the mumbai police force . the way they cracked the j dey
murder case is amazing .
when mr sivanandan was the d.g. maharashtra , he had introduced me to mr roy, mr seven bharti and other senior officers . mr rakesh maria ( who had cracked the mumbai bomb blast case ) i had known from before . and all these guys came through as being more professional , more capable and more knowledgable than most guys i have met in the highest echelons of private sector corporate world .
time and again our police force has proved that they are on par with the best in the world , and somehow we only remember them for the bad eggs in the force . come on guys , give credit where its due . you and i are not half as efficient as these guys .
take a bow , mumbai police !!!
Sunday, June 5, 2011
corruption as a hindi film
i suddenly realized , why i couldn't get myself to support baba ramdev .
his movement was suddenly , unlike anna hazare's fast , unfolding like a bollywood film . long , verbose speeches , then closed door meetings with senior congress ministers . where neither party com out transparently about which demands were accepted and which were still unsolved issues . then both sides call each other names like good old bollywood dialogues . ( " i am katti with kapil sibal , will never talk to him in my life ." " ramdev is a thug" . etc etc ) then a midnight swoop by the police , baba jumping off the stage , changing into a ladies salwar kurta , hiding his beard with a dupatta , then caught ( i was waiting for a song to happen " baba badman hua , darling tere liye type " , then he is bundled off in a waiting plane to haridwar , then he comes out with statements about how the government brutalized women and children ( in spite of not a single omni present television camera capturing anything like that ) then more bollywood style dialogues " madam sonia gandhi is an italian , not born in this soil , so she doesn't have any feelings for indian women and children ( with voice choking at that stage in a way that would put shah rukh to shame ) and this is just the interval . rest is yet to come .
then laloo parsed yadav jumping in with statements that only he can make " this baba has nri supporters , so why don't they sit outside the gates of THE swiss bank and do fast unto death and get them to hand over illegal money etc ) then bjp , then bahen mayawati , then mulayam singh , all adding their two bits worth of dialogues .
i would still like to support him , because he is against corruption ,
and aim still hesitating . sigh !!
his movement was suddenly , unlike anna hazare's fast , unfolding like a bollywood film . long , verbose speeches , then closed door meetings with senior congress ministers . where neither party com out transparently about which demands were accepted and which were still unsolved issues . then both sides call each other names like good old bollywood dialogues . ( " i am katti with kapil sibal , will never talk to him in my life ." " ramdev is a thug" . etc etc ) then a midnight swoop by the police , baba jumping off the stage , changing into a ladies salwar kurta , hiding his beard with a dupatta , then caught ( i was waiting for a song to happen " baba badman hua , darling tere liye type " , then he is bundled off in a waiting plane to haridwar , then he comes out with statements about how the government brutalized women and children ( in spite of not a single omni present television camera capturing anything like that ) then more bollywood style dialogues " madam sonia gandhi is an italian , not born in this soil , so she doesn't have any feelings for indian women and children ( with voice choking at that stage in a way that would put shah rukh to shame ) and this is just the interval . rest is yet to come .
then laloo parsed yadav jumping in with statements that only he can make " this baba has nri supporters , so why don't they sit outside the gates of THE swiss bank and do fast unto death and get them to hand over illegal money etc ) then bjp , then bahen mayawati , then mulayam singh , all adding their two bits worth of dialogues .
i would still like to support him , because he is against corruption ,
and aim still hesitating . sigh !!
Friday, June 3, 2011
corruption bandwagon
corruption , or actually anti-corruption is a good bandwagon to jump onto .
This is not to belittle any efforts against corruption. today's India is so steeped in corruption, at every conceivable level, that any person standing up against corruption is a much-needed and welcome move .
when anna hazare went on a fast against corruption, the very simplicity of the man and his track record was so appealing that everybody from young to old thronged to support him. his agitation also had a single focus about the lokpal bill . he had also proved his mettle by spearheading , successfully , the RTI bill. he wasn't a great, fiery orator nor did he have a ready-made following from another vocation.
And that brings us to ramdev baba . leaving aside my basic skepticism that people in Saffron clothes are sanyasis who are supposed to have renounced the world and all the worldly matters including politics and corruption and have gone beyond to seek spiritual enlightenment. And ramdev baba is not even a spiritual leader. He, like, sri sri ravishankar , is at best a pranayam and yoga teacher . I have never understood how educated people from all walks of life fail to make this distinction and start treating these people like saintly god-men . and fall at their feet asking them for spiritual advice. its a lot like asking your gym instructor/ trainer the meaning of atharva ved or after life .
yesterday on television I heard sri sri very smugly declaring that he will not answer certain questions because it would cause an international upheaval because of his following across the world.very non sanyasi talk . and the more I see ramdev baba , in spite of my urge to support everybody who is standing up against corruption, there's something that holds me back. he is a complete contrast to anna . he is more like a digvijay singh or some other crony mouthpiece of a political party . a bit too smooth , a bit too flashy , a bit too filmy .
and that's what saddens me. I want to support everybody who is fighting against corruption, because I firmly believe that our political system and politicians have failed to do so. And maybe we have to look at, common people/aam aadmi /civil society to take up this fight.
and yet I hesitate to support ramdev baba . I wonder why.
as far as I am concerned, he has done both good and bad to our society.
he has popularised yoga and pranayam through television very successful. he has made phrases like kapalbhati , and anulom-vilom household words across our country and maybe amongst the Indian diaspora across the world. and that's good. what's bad a is , / yoga/pranayam , from what little I know, do not work like' one size fits all'. it has to be taught taking into account individual needs, individual goals and has to be tailor-made differently for each person. So thousands of people following one form of yoga or pranayam is going against the basic principle of the discipline .
and in spite of all this, I wish I could get to support him, just because he is against corruption .
This is not to belittle any efforts against corruption. today's India is so steeped in corruption, at every conceivable level, that any person standing up against corruption is a much-needed and welcome move .
when anna hazare went on a fast against corruption, the very simplicity of the man and his track record was so appealing that everybody from young to old thronged to support him. his agitation also had a single focus about the lokpal bill . he had also proved his mettle by spearheading , successfully , the RTI bill. he wasn't a great, fiery orator nor did he have a ready-made following from another vocation.
And that brings us to ramdev baba . leaving aside my basic skepticism that people in Saffron clothes are sanyasis who are supposed to have renounced the world and all the worldly matters including politics and corruption and have gone beyond to seek spiritual enlightenment. And ramdev baba is not even a spiritual leader. He, like, sri sri ravishankar , is at best a pranayam and yoga teacher . I have never understood how educated people from all walks of life fail to make this distinction and start treating these people like saintly god-men . and fall at their feet asking them for spiritual advice. its a lot like asking your gym instructor/ trainer the meaning of atharva ved or after life .
yesterday on television I heard sri sri very smugly declaring that he will not answer certain questions because it would cause an international upheaval because of his following across the world.very non sanyasi talk . and the more I see ramdev baba , in spite of my urge to support everybody who is standing up against corruption, there's something that holds me back. he is a complete contrast to anna . he is more like a digvijay singh or some other crony mouthpiece of a political party . a bit too smooth , a bit too flashy , a bit too filmy .
and that's what saddens me. I want to support everybody who is fighting against corruption, because I firmly believe that our political system and politicians have failed to do so. And maybe we have to look at, common people/aam aadmi /civil society to take up this fight.
and yet I hesitate to support ramdev baba . I wonder why.
as far as I am concerned, he has done both good and bad to our society.
he has popularised yoga and pranayam through television very successful. he has made phrases like kapalbhati , and anulom-vilom household words across our country and maybe amongst the Indian diaspora across the world. and that's good. what's bad a is , / yoga/pranayam , from what little I know, do not work like' one size fits all'. it has to be taught taking into account individual needs, individual goals and has to be tailor-made differently for each person. So thousands of people following one form of yoga or pranayam is going against the basic principle of the discipline .
and in spite of all this, I wish I could get to support him, just because he is against corruption .
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
terrorism as a religion .
these days the only thing that brings different religions together is their support for terrorists.
inspite of the oft repeated cliche that terrorists have no religion , nobody seems to really believe in that .
thats why political parties are scared to hang a convicted terrorist because he is a muslim , and they are scared of alienating muslim voters . and sikh politicians clammer in support of clemency for a terrorist because he is a sikh . and hindu politicians support some two-bit sadhwi involved in terrorist activities because she is a hindu . they even malign and hound an upright , professional police officer who was doing his duty in arresting and prosecuting her . ( till he dies of course , then they put up his photographs and garland them at street corners .
i mean , come on . a terrorist is a terrorist . if the due process of law has been followed and if the highest court in the country has passed a judgement , then hang the bloody guys and gals , regardless of which religion they belong to . or otherwise stop this sham of a legal process through trial courts , high courts and supreme court , stop wasting public money and time of the learned judiciary , and make a straight clemency petition to the president at the very beginning and let that person decide . why go through this legal charade ?
in a play of mine called 'just another rape ' , a raped school teacher , who is made to run around seeking justice , which is finally denied to her , cries in frustration and says " may be those people in the middle east are better , they hang their rapists summarily . and we call them barbaric , and ourselves civil ? "
if we don't do this , then our legal process will finally become like the wwe or the ipl , ongoing spectacle that gives fodder to the media to keep masticating ( that means chewing , in case you didn't know ) and waste of a lot of money , time and resources that can be utilized better elsewhere .
come on people , a terrorist is a terrorist is a terrorist .
inspite of the oft repeated cliche that terrorists have no religion , nobody seems to really believe in that .
thats why political parties are scared to hang a convicted terrorist because he is a muslim , and they are scared of alienating muslim voters . and sikh politicians clammer in support of clemency for a terrorist because he is a sikh . and hindu politicians support some two-bit sadhwi involved in terrorist activities because she is a hindu . they even malign and hound an upright , professional police officer who was doing his duty in arresting and prosecuting her . ( till he dies of course , then they put up his photographs and garland them at street corners .
i mean , come on . a terrorist is a terrorist . if the due process of law has been followed and if the highest court in the country has passed a judgement , then hang the bloody guys and gals , regardless of which religion they belong to . or otherwise stop this sham of a legal process through trial courts , high courts and supreme court , stop wasting public money and time of the learned judiciary , and make a straight clemency petition to the president at the very beginning and let that person decide . why go through this legal charade ?
in a play of mine called 'just another rape ' , a raped school teacher , who is made to run around seeking justice , which is finally denied to her , cries in frustration and says " may be those people in the middle east are better , they hang their rapists summarily . and we call them barbaric , and ourselves civil ? "
if we don't do this , then our legal process will finally become like the wwe or the ipl , ongoing spectacle that gives fodder to the media to keep masticating ( that means chewing , in case you didn't know ) and waste of a lot of money , time and resources that can be utilized better elsewhere .
come on people , a terrorist is a terrorist is a terrorist .
Thursday, May 26, 2011
mnc ( cont )
this is just an addendum .
having posted the blog about mnc yesterday , i didn't really want to add anything on the subject . but then i saw this outdoor campaign of sunsilk condioner/shampoo and i was amazed that companies like levers continue doing it with such impunity . and gullible consumers continue to fall or it .[ there was an old advertising adage that consumer is not a fool , she is your wife . ( then of course , somebody later modified that to say ' consumer is a fool BECAUSE she is your wife ) ]
this campaign said " sunsilk challenge ! it makes your hair 2x softer in just 7 days . ". wow , what more can i ask for ( means not me personally , i don't have hair ) , till i read the small print in the same hoarding . it said " scientifically tested against non-conditioner shampoo ". aha !!! , comparing apples and oranges ? of course sunsilk will make your hair two times softer than NON -CONDITIONER shampoos .
why not go whole hog and say sunsilk makes your hair 16x softer ( compared to sand or charcoal or cement ) . this is funnier than anything i can write as a joke in bottoms up .
i stand humbled !
another example of ethics that i had forgotten to mention .
mr sylvester dacunha , the founder chairman of dacunha associates, who gave me my break in advertising and with whom i had the privilege of sharing 15 years of my advertising career , ( forgive him , he knew not what he did ) had a strict principle . ' tobacco is harmful to people and we will never handle a tobacco advertising account ' . no matter how profitable it maybe , no matter how badly the agency needs the billing , we will not handle it . i have not met too many advertising people with this courage of conviction ( i myself don't have it ) .
sylvester dacunha had it.
having posted the blog about mnc yesterday , i didn't really want to add anything on the subject . but then i saw this outdoor campaign of sunsilk condioner/shampoo and i was amazed that companies like levers continue doing it with such impunity . and gullible consumers continue to fall or it .[ there was an old advertising adage that consumer is not a fool , she is your wife . ( then of course , somebody later modified that to say ' consumer is a fool BECAUSE she is your wife ) ]
this campaign said " sunsilk challenge ! it makes your hair 2x softer in just 7 days . ". wow , what more can i ask for ( means not me personally , i don't have hair ) , till i read the small print in the same hoarding . it said " scientifically tested against non-conditioner shampoo ". aha !!! , comparing apples and oranges ? of course sunsilk will make your hair two times softer than NON -CONDITIONER shampoos .
why not go whole hog and say sunsilk makes your hair 16x softer ( compared to sand or charcoal or cement ) . this is funnier than anything i can write as a joke in bottoms up .
i stand humbled !
another example of ethics that i had forgotten to mention .
mr sylvester dacunha , the founder chairman of dacunha associates, who gave me my break in advertising and with whom i had the privilege of sharing 15 years of my advertising career , ( forgive him , he knew not what he did ) had a strict principle . ' tobacco is harmful to people and we will never handle a tobacco advertising account ' . no matter how profitable it maybe , no matter how badly the agency needs the billing , we will not handle it . i have not met too many advertising people with this courage of conviction ( i myself don't have it ) .
sylvester dacunha had it.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
multi national cheaters ( cont )
( there was some problem and only half blog got posted last time .)
.....mr darbari seth , once said that there were two types of big multinational corporates . thieves and dacoits . hindustan lever , he said were both . what they sell as premier products in india , they will not be allowed to sell in any western country . they sell sub-standard products by creating attractive scientific sounding words and phrases which consumers don't understand and so believe completely . because you only doubt what you understand . if you collect all the claims and slogans of levers products over the years and publish them as a book , it will be the biggest best-seller in the fiction category . take the case of their annapurna salt . they happily claimed that , because its iodized it will improve your childs brain power , memory and resultantly he will do better in school . in one parliamentary word , its bullshit . salt is iodized because in some hilly parts of the country , peoples normal diet is deficient in iodine which causes goitre , thats all . those little traces of iodine in annapurna did not improve anything in your child;s brain . the only thing it improved was levers profitability .
their recent surf campaign is very honest though , 'dag achhey hotey hain ' , is right . but achhey hotey hain not for your clothes but for levers bottom line . nirma was so so much more honest and so much more cheap ( or economical , as we are taught to say in advertising ) . but then levers is such a big international company , who would believe that they would lie blatantly .
take kellogs . they had an uphill task in india . to replace traditional indian breakfast with corn flakes . and they have done it quite successfully . so if they had to tell a few lies on the way , does it really matter ? . iron - shakti is , to say the least , the height of exaggeration . the little bit of iron in your bowlful of cornflakes does not sharpen your memory , your general knowledge or your intelligence . it only improves kellogs profits .
similarly eating nothing but two bowls of k cornflakes for two weeks , does not give your wife a slim , sexy , curvaceous figure of a bollywood starlet . the only figure it improves , is the one in kellogs balance sheet .
but then these are big multinationals , supposedly run by cream of professional managers . how can we distrust them ? they are above your cheap indian baniya /marwadi / sindhi mentality , aren't they ?
in law we have a doctrine of ' buyer beware '.
follow that .
.....mr darbari seth , once said that there were two types of big multinational corporates . thieves and dacoits . hindustan lever , he said were both . what they sell as premier products in india , they will not be allowed to sell in any western country . they sell sub-standard products by creating attractive scientific sounding words and phrases which consumers don't understand and so believe completely . because you only doubt what you understand . if you collect all the claims and slogans of levers products over the years and publish them as a book , it will be the biggest best-seller in the fiction category . take the case of their annapurna salt . they happily claimed that , because its iodized it will improve your childs brain power , memory and resultantly he will do better in school . in one parliamentary word , its bullshit . salt is iodized because in some hilly parts of the country , peoples normal diet is deficient in iodine which causes goitre , thats all . those little traces of iodine in annapurna did not improve anything in your child;s brain . the only thing it improved was levers profitability .
their recent surf campaign is very honest though , 'dag achhey hotey hain ' , is right . but achhey hotey hain not for your clothes but for levers bottom line . nirma was so so much more honest and so much more cheap ( or economical , as we are taught to say in advertising ) . but then levers is such a big international company , who would believe that they would lie blatantly .
take kellogs . they had an uphill task in india . to replace traditional indian breakfast with corn flakes . and they have done it quite successfully . so if they had to tell a few lies on the way , does it really matter ? . iron - shakti is , to say the least , the height of exaggeration . the little bit of iron in your bowlful of cornflakes does not sharpen your memory , your general knowledge or your intelligence . it only improves kellogs profits .
similarly eating nothing but two bowls of k cornflakes for two weeks , does not give your wife a slim , sexy , curvaceous figure of a bollywood starlet . the only figure it improves , is the one in kellogs balance sheet .
but then these are big multinationals , supposedly run by cream of professional managers . how can we distrust them ? they are above your cheap indian baniya /marwadi / sindhi mentality , aren't they ?
in law we have a doctrine of ' buyer beware '.
follow that .
Multi National Cheaters
Indians , like a majority of people from a large part of the non-Western world , haven't lost that white- skin- sahibs- are -superior complex . it extends to this deep-rooted belief that they are better than us , that foreign companies are more honest , hugely more ethical and far more trustworthy .
nothing , absolutely nothing can be further from the truth .
i am not saying this out of some great sense of patriotism , or a great desire to knock everything foreign.
I have had this great fortune of working with some of the most honest and upright people and companies in India, and they are all Indians.
a few Scenarios.
when amul was Launching India's first milkshakes, we had found out that the most popular flavors were strawberry and chocolate. when dr kurien was told about this, his instant reaction was “I have access to your chocolate throughout the year, but don't have access to real strawberries. and I will not launch an artificial strawberry flavor, no matter how successful it will become". so we launched chocolate and ilaichi flavors. ethics winning over profit.
When Mr r.k. krishnakumar was the managing director of tata tea , in a presentation of a media plan for a new campaign of tata tea , he was told that although getting spots on mahabharat ( which at that time was the most popular, must–watch program on Indian television) was extremely difficult, we will manage with our contacts in doordarshan . his immediate reaction was, if there is any underhand dealing or bribery involved in getting those spots, then he is not interested. not only that but if he ever found out that we had resorted to some such dealings, he will sack the agency regardless of how much he liked the creative work produced.
ethics winning over profit.
when we were launching India's first iodized salt, tata salt , mr darbari seth , but then chairman of tata chemicals said , " while we're doing this campaign to sell packaged salt, we have to release a campaign to educate people that the usage of salt should be minimized in their cooking, because too much salt is bad for the health . as a responsible corporate citizen, we owe it to the people. Imagine India's biggest salt company telling people to eat less salt .
ethics winning over profit.
while working on a new advertising campaign for vice vajradanti , i pointed out to mr gajanan pendharkar , the chairman of vicco , that as a regular user of his toothpaste, I find that sometimes the paste is too watery and can something be done about that. his instant response was the consistency of the paste depends on the water content in the bark of one of the ingredients, and it will always differ from batch to batch. And he will not add anything artificial to get uniform consistency. In fact he went ahead to advise me that in every advertising created for this company, strict attention should be given to being honest and not claim anything that the product does not have or deliver. When the price of sandalwood oil became so high that the entire pricing of vicco turmeric and sandalwood cream would go haywire unless he switched to using artificial sandalwood essence , he chose to launch a cream without Sandalwood oil and proudly called it so.
ethics winning over profit.
now let's look at some of the biggest international names in business. mr darbari seth
nothing , absolutely nothing can be further from the truth .
i am not saying this out of some great sense of patriotism , or a great desire to knock everything foreign.
I have had this great fortune of working with some of the most honest and upright people and companies in India, and they are all Indians.
a few Scenarios.
when amul was Launching India's first milkshakes, we had found out that the most popular flavors were strawberry and chocolate. when dr kurien was told about this, his instant reaction was “I have access to your chocolate throughout the year, but don't have access to real strawberries. and I will not launch an artificial strawberry flavor, no matter how successful it will become". so we launched chocolate and ilaichi flavors. ethics winning over profit.
When Mr r.k. krishnakumar was the managing director of tata tea , in a presentation of a media plan for a new campaign of tata tea , he was told that although getting spots on mahabharat ( which at that time was the most popular, must–watch program on Indian television) was extremely difficult, we will manage with our contacts in doordarshan . his immediate reaction was, if there is any underhand dealing or bribery involved in getting those spots, then he is not interested. not only that but if he ever found out that we had resorted to some such dealings, he will sack the agency regardless of how much he liked the creative work produced.
ethics winning over profit.
when we were launching India's first iodized salt, tata salt , mr darbari seth , but then chairman of tata chemicals said , " while we're doing this campaign to sell packaged salt, we have to release a campaign to educate people that the usage of salt should be minimized in their cooking, because too much salt is bad for the health . as a responsible corporate citizen, we owe it to the people. Imagine India's biggest salt company telling people to eat less salt .
ethics winning over profit.
while working on a new advertising campaign for vice vajradanti , i pointed out to mr gajanan pendharkar , the chairman of vicco , that as a regular user of his toothpaste, I find that sometimes the paste is too watery and can something be done about that. his instant response was the consistency of the paste depends on the water content in the bark of one of the ingredients, and it will always differ from batch to batch. And he will not add anything artificial to get uniform consistency. In fact he went ahead to advise me that in every advertising created for this company, strict attention should be given to being honest and not claim anything that the product does not have or deliver. When the price of sandalwood oil became so high that the entire pricing of vicco turmeric and sandalwood cream would go haywire unless he switched to using artificial sandalwood essence , he chose to launch a cream without Sandalwood oil and proudly called it so.
ethics winning over profit.
now let's look at some of the biggest international names in business. mr darbari seth
Saturday, May 14, 2011
akala chalo re
at first I didn't know how to start a blog. Then a kind friend helped me out. And now after a week of blogging I have suddenly realized that all the people I know from my e-mail list are as ignorant about how to follow a blog and comment on it as i was . As a result I have no followers of my blog. so following gurudev thakur 's advice " akala chalo re , akala chalo " , i blog alone .
Some years ago, a knowledgeable friend had commented on how India used to be, not one big country, but many big, small, and smaller independent states which fought wars with each other/ married into each other's royal families/ and generally formed a loosely hanging around Federation. And then British, for their own administrative convenience, managed to almost cobble them together in a sort of a nation.
Every election in the recent past keeps making one aware of how from being one homogenous country since our independence, we are again heading towards progressive fragmentation into smaller states. a significant number of new states have been formed in the last 20 years or so. And with the demand for independent telangana , gorkhaland , vidharba etc , the fragmentation will further continue.
The power of regional leaders and regional parties in swaying elections after elections is a solid testimony to this. in our democracy the concept of a two party, or at the most a three party, system seems to be fast fading. Congress did not win Assam. gogoi did . Congress did not win poschim bangla. mamata bannerjee did . Congress did not lose Tamil Nadu. dmk did .
and this story will continue in all the elections to come in the future. may be at some point of time we need to examine if we need a new form of democracy, where we vote for individual leaders rather than parties ,both at state levels and at the centre. but then that's a long drawn debate.
but talking of the elections that just got over yesterday, the most significant factor, is the victory of mamata bannerjee . not only because she won so decisively, not only because she won against a firmly entrenched adversary , but because she is the first woman leader who represented woman–power in the true sense of the word. She is the first, and so far the only, woman leader who is not there because she's somebody's daughter/ wife/ daughter-in-law/ girlfriend or companion (or to use a more politically correct word, protege ) of some powerful man. She's there because of herself. And that's a huge statement. No lady leader in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka or Bangladesh can claim that honor. Take a bow mamata didi . !!
thats the good news .and that it happened in poshchim bangla , which worships a woman deity more than any other part of the country ,is a true feather in the cap of that state.
now the bad news . the most worrisome fact of such landslide victories is the unreasonable expectations that go with it. that's where , what I call ' the Obama syndrome' comes into play. you can do a bloody good job but the dissonance between what people expected and what you deliver always pulls you down. and that's a scary thought.
Here's hoping that she manages well the tightrope walking between being populist and being progressive . not just for herself but for paschim bangla . and for india .
amen .
Some years ago, a knowledgeable friend had commented on how India used to be, not one big country, but many big, small, and smaller independent states which fought wars with each other/ married into each other's royal families/ and generally formed a loosely hanging around Federation. And then British, for their own administrative convenience, managed to almost cobble them together in a sort of a nation.
Every election in the recent past keeps making one aware of how from being one homogenous country since our independence, we are again heading towards progressive fragmentation into smaller states. a significant number of new states have been formed in the last 20 years or so. And with the demand for independent telangana , gorkhaland , vidharba etc , the fragmentation will further continue.
The power of regional leaders and regional parties in swaying elections after elections is a solid testimony to this. in our democracy the concept of a two party, or at the most a three party, system seems to be fast fading. Congress did not win Assam. gogoi did . Congress did not win poschim bangla. mamata bannerjee did . Congress did not lose Tamil Nadu. dmk did .
and this story will continue in all the elections to come in the future. may be at some point of time we need to examine if we need a new form of democracy, where we vote for individual leaders rather than parties ,both at state levels and at the centre. but then that's a long drawn debate.
but talking of the elections that just got over yesterday, the most significant factor, is the victory of mamata bannerjee . not only because she won so decisively, not only because she won against a firmly entrenched adversary , but because she is the first woman leader who represented woman–power in the true sense of the word. She is the first, and so far the only, woman leader who is not there because she's somebody's daughter/ wife/ daughter-in-law/ girlfriend or companion (or to use a more politically correct word, protege ) of some powerful man. She's there because of herself. And that's a huge statement. No lady leader in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka or Bangladesh can claim that honor. Take a bow mamata didi . !!
thats the good news .and that it happened in poshchim bangla , which worships a woman deity more than any other part of the country ,is a true feather in the cap of that state.
now the bad news . the most worrisome fact of such landslide victories is the unreasonable expectations that go with it. that's where , what I call ' the Obama syndrome' comes into play. you can do a bloody good job but the dissonance between what people expected and what you deliver always pulls you down. and that's a scary thought.
Here's hoping that she manages well the tightrope walking between being populist and being progressive . not just for herself but for paschim bangla . and for india .
amen .
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Against terrorism
Some years ago, I had written and directed the play 'purush ' which was about a fight of a young schoolteacher who is raped by a politician. When things get tough for her to fight against power and money she turns to her Dalit boyfriend, who is always actively involved in taking up causes for the Dalit downtrodden. When he refuses to help her in her fight because she is a Brahmin, she turns on him like a tigress and says “I now realize, that you are not against injustice, you are only against injustice done to your people".
While watching all the media coverage about how Indian government should now petition America to put pressure on Pakistan to get dawood ibrahim kaskar . or launch a strike against him the way they did to get Osama bin Laden .
and I said how naive can we get. America is not against terrorism or terrorists. it's against acts of terrorism against Americans . They would spend billions of dollars and sanction huge manpower to avenge acts of terrorism against their people and their land. and rightly so. the American government owes its foremost responsibility to the American people and not to the world at large.( unless of course it involves oil, money or other form of materialistic profit. but then that is being overly cynical. )
but the point that emerges from all these actions of the Western superpowers, is, why create these ' bhasmasurs '? any follower of modern history is well aware that these so-called evil creatures are created by them because it suits their purpose at that point of time. idi amin 'dada ' Was regarded by his British superiors as an iconic figure with tremendous leadership qualities that could help uganda ( till one-day he flexed his muscles and thumbed his nose at the white masters. And then he suddenly became this cannibal monster.) Saddam Hussein was promoted, trained, funded by America when it suited them to use him against a belligerent iran of ayatollah khomeini . just weeks before his invasion of kuwait ( which historically was a part of Iraq,till the British decided to hive it off for their own personal reasons) he was seen hobnobbing with the American Secretary of State/ Defence Secretary or somesuch in baghdad. now the ex-Satan incarnate Osama bin laden was promoted, funded, trained and otherwise amply supported by the Americans because he was fighting against the Russians in afganistan , and he was a good weapon to promote underground to do their own dirty work on the ground.
all these guys, and many others only became evil when they continued to do the same thing but now against their previous Masters. same people. same actions. different perspective. as is said' one man's terrorist, is another man's martyr.'
or as Hitler once said “history is always written from the point of view of the Victor'.
it always was like this. and will always will be.
While watching all the media coverage about how Indian government should now petition America to put pressure on Pakistan to get dawood ibrahim kaskar . or launch a strike against him the way they did to get Osama bin Laden .
and I said how naive can we get. America is not against terrorism or terrorists. it's against acts of terrorism against Americans . They would spend billions of dollars and sanction huge manpower to avenge acts of terrorism against their people and their land. and rightly so. the American government owes its foremost responsibility to the American people and not to the world at large.( unless of course it involves oil, money or other form of materialistic profit. but then that is being overly cynical. )
but the point that emerges from all these actions of the Western superpowers, is, why create these ' bhasmasurs '? any follower of modern history is well aware that these so-called evil creatures are created by them because it suits their purpose at that point of time. idi amin 'dada ' Was regarded by his British superiors as an iconic figure with tremendous leadership qualities that could help uganda ( till one-day he flexed his muscles and thumbed his nose at the white masters. And then he suddenly became this cannibal monster.) Saddam Hussein was promoted, trained, funded by America when it suited them to use him against a belligerent iran of ayatollah khomeini . just weeks before his invasion of kuwait ( which historically was a part of Iraq,till the British decided to hive it off for their own personal reasons) he was seen hobnobbing with the American Secretary of State/ Defence Secretary or somesuch in baghdad. now the ex-Satan incarnate Osama bin laden was promoted, funded, trained and otherwise amply supported by the Americans because he was fighting against the Russians in afganistan , and he was a good weapon to promote underground to do their own dirty work on the ground.
all these guys, and many others only became evil when they continued to do the same thing but now against their previous Masters. same people. same actions. different perspective. as is said' one man's terrorist, is another man's martyr.'
or as Hitler once said “history is always written from the point of view of the Victor'.
it always was like this. and will always will be.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
i recently participated in a star tv seminar on maharashtra in 2020 . top politicians , top journalists , actors , singers ......and me . lots of impressive statistics floating around about the bright prospects of maharashtra . i said , we know there are three types of lies " lies, damn lies , and statistics " . ( iam quite brave on tv seminars ).I said rather than self-congratulatory statements about how Maharashtra is the greatest state in the country, we need to do a SWOT analysis to effectively take the state forward.
Furthermore, there are two aspects to this. Maharashtra going forward, and maharashtrians going forward. Mutually exhaustive. Maharashtra will continue to prosper, with or in spite of maharashtrians. Since this was a function for a marathi channel, I said let's restrict ourselves to how maharashtrians will go forward. maharashtrians believe, and rightly so, that we have some of the greatest writers/ and poets/ fine artists/ playwrights/ filmmakers etc . but then so do Tamil Nadu, kerala , gujarat and most other states in India. and each state happily lives in, what in Sanskrit is called,' cupa manduka vrutti' . as long as people in your own state and in your own language know the gems that we possess, who gives it damn if anybody else outside your state knows about them or not. all states believe this . All except Bengal. Today if a ravindrnath thakur or a vivekananda or a ramakrishna is a household name across India and across the world, it's because Bengal took them beyond the confines of the state boundary and their own language. this is not to doubt their greatness, it is to point out how other states and other languages also had more or less similar great people that are not even heard of outside their states. this is where we need to break the umbilical cord of our mother tongue and take our great literature, great writers et al to the rest of India, in a language that they understand. how many of us have made the efforts to read gurudev thakur's 's gitanjali in bengai ( p.l. deshpande did . and how many amongst you, who are non-maharashtrians, know who p.l. deshpande is ) .
case rests .
Sunday, May 8, 2011
If we leave our america inspired prejudices aside for a while and impassionately look at osama bin laden' s face, isn't it the most pious, spiritual face exuding great inner calm? Don't jump.look without pre conceived notions and knowledge of who and what he was.now see his face.more serene and spiritual than most, in fact, all our so called godmen and gurus.right.they look more like terrorists and evil guys.
Strange but true.
In.
Monday, May 2, 2011
got up this morning and heard that the worlds greatest terrorist , responsible for the death of thousands of innocent men ,women and children across the world , a man who thumbed his nose at the world and did as he pleased , is finally dead . and i said rip george bush. but it turned out it was a much lesser guy .
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