Joinin' 'Em

A recent commercial for an online property dealings site Magic Bricks. com has plenty of potential for generating outrage. But I think it's a great ad. At least there's no smarmy pandering to the feminist ego, which is so rampant in Indian advertising nowadays.
Instead there's this:

So gutpunchingly honest is this ad that I'm inspired to fuel a new revolution in Indian advertising. I think it may appeal to more people than we think.

Bike Ad:

Refreshing Beverage Ad:

Beauty Products Ad:

 

Multi-purpose Ad For The Man-In-You (Who-Only-Listens-To-What-His-Mummy-Papa-Say):

What Women Want

Secretary of the All India Progressive Women’s Association, Kavita Krishnan, speaks here.
Unrelenting and extremely stirring articulation of what many of us are feeling right now.

Also, not going viral in India is this: Arundhati Roy speaks.

Really, People...Part V: Do Your Research!

Much annoyance & frustration has built up inside me following this Sunday's 'We The People' (NDTV), which for better or for worse is one of few shows on news TV that doesn't try to shriek you into submission. That doesn't however mean that the level of discourse is in anyway elevated. 

Sometimes it's amusing. Other times like this week when it's a question of free speech and the damage it may or may not cause to society, it's disturbing. At least to me. (Because why can't they just say the shit I want them to say?....haha)

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Remember when you were growing up and your elders taught you manners? Or didn't? And then you took your little bundle of good behaviours/ bad behaviours out into the world? Maybe your teachers whooped your little butt for saying a bad word, maybe you made your best friend cry by calling her fat. Maybe you decided to be nice to that shy guy in class, who no one ever spoke to and he turned out to be your best friend for life?

Then, when you became an adult, you decided once and for all who you wanted to be. You'd done the hard work, you'd made the faux pas', been politically correct, pushed on like a bulldozer, been sensitive to the pain of others. You'd figured out your balance. You'd figured out what worked for you. It was partly based on who you were in your gut, how you'd like to treat the world and how you'd like the world to treat you. 

Point is, who you are today is a consequence of research.

So when you talk to me about Free Speech vs. Censorship and ask me which one I think is dangerous, let's not debate decency okay? 

Let's not make grand generalizations about 'sentiments' or presume who can handle them and who can't. Let's not base the all-important decision of what to censor and what not to on what we kinda, sorta, assume or 'feel in our gut' will be the mass reaction. Let's be very sure if someone's words/art/expression are capable of intimidation, suppression or destruction of life & property.

Before we decide to be a 'hip & liberal' free speech advocate or a 'responsible & conservative' supporter of government censorship, I do hope we'll demand data.

Frankly, my research right now is shit. 

I don't know if social media is capable of inciting communal violence or not. I don't have hard facts or analysis to support either side. And when I turn to the the best of Indian news TV to help sort it out for me, I realize I don't even have someone to help me ask the right questions. No one is curious: How does dissemination of information through the internet cause mayhem? How does mob mentality work? And really, how many innocent lives has a parody Twitter account taken till date?

Help me do my research, people, and then we'll talk about decency.

Really, people...Part IV: Look Ma, I'm Racist

Saw this in the papers today and thought - Wow! India has truly become a global superpower if it's beginning to exhibit classic signs of xenophobia in the mainstream:


http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/news-interviews/Btown-wants-a-ban-on-Hindi-dubbing-of-English-movies/articleshow/10415428.cms

Excerpt: Speaking to DT, Bhatt said, "There are similar apprehensions in Bollywood and everyone is planning to come together and fight this practice of Hollywood films being dubbed in Hindi or Tamil. We cannot allow them to have a right over our mother tongue and use it to their advantage just because they have the budget. Hollywood studios have big budgets for promotions and we can never match that. Hindi film producers are now planning to come together against this. Letters have been written to the I&B ministry secretary in the past also, and I can say with full certainty that something similar is on the cards now. We face similar issues in other states at times. For instance, I cannot get my movie dubbed in Bengali."

Hey Mahesh, here's a revolutionary thought - Let's make films that are less crap and maybe audiences will actually want to watch Bollywood rather than Hollywood films.

Yeah, that'll be Rs. 500. Come again.

Really, people...Part III: Ad Nauseum

I love Indian advertising. The Bajaj bulb ad ("Jab main chhota ladka thha..."), the Fevicol series, the Happydent ad and Vodafone pug? Good stuff there. For the most part.

As for the rest...
Forget the rampant sexism (Tanishq wedding jewelery ad anyone?: the archetype of the independent Indian woman being lured by bling, like a cud-chewing cow...also commented on by fellow blogger).
Forget the ridiculous fear-mongering (fear of sunlight, aging, rice, singlehood, ad infinitum). That's staple.   

Because lately, there's been even more insidious shit going on. For some reason we have turned on Africans and it makes me cringe right down to my toe nails. The new Sprite ad shows two ditzes in a jungle. One of them with a handbook on how to deal with African tribals (because, God forbid there should be any other type of African), which he proceeds to do with a jhingalala type Vyjanthimala dance. I don't know how this ad ends because I can never see it through (if one must be racist & stereotype, I'm hoping the tribals turn cannibalistic and eat that porcine motherfucker).

I thought this ad was the most abysmal low we could sink to. Until I saw one so disgusting that my brain retched out any memory of the brand name. I do know it's for a lemon drink (tried searching for the ad online. Failed). The ad shows an African man (again, loin-cloth'd, hut-dwelling, cave-man type) in the desert, parched and trying desperately to collect water in some kind of pot. Hours go by and he manages to get a few drops. He lifts the pot above his head to take the much needed sip. A passerby (cave man 2) enters frame, distracts thirsty cave man 1. Cave man 1 misses his mark, water spills onto dry land and disappears into it. The ad ends when Cave man 1, enraged, chases Cave man 2 around the one straw hut that stands in the desert. Cut to look-ma-I'm-funny tagline and big graphic of beverage bottle.

It's bad enough that we reduce an entire continent to a caricature, that we're ignorant about its culture & people, but to mock its misfortunes and worse still, to use it to sell some lame-ass, over-priced synthetic lemon drink is something I simply cannot stomach (Not feeling well, madam? Nimbu paani?)

Here's a concept, then: How about an ad for a brand of luggage. Luggage so solid, it survives terrorist attacks at railway stations & 5 star hotels. Hahaha...look at that goofy Kasab-lookalike wasting his bullets on our faux-leather finish...that'll show him.
Buy that bag wontcha?

Bit much? Ya. It's late. I'm being stupid. That's what happens when I watch too much TV.
 

Really, people...Part II

I'm so sick of aam janta badmouthing politicians and distancing themselves from what those 'evil parliamentarians' do.
Yes, leaving a bleeding cop to die on the side of a highway as you drive away with your convoy of vehicles is despicable. Yes, you may call it inhuman and absolutely inexcusable.
But for fuck's sake can we not turn into this - 'them dirty netas' shit?
Who are these bloody netas anyway? Didn't we kinda, sorta elect them? Didn't we in effect say - you dudes are the guys I choose to take care of me. Then what's all the drama about? They're not from Mars. They're just like you and me.

And they did exactly the same thing that millions of us do on a daily basis when we see a road accident happen and drive by, when a woman is being sexually harassed in broad daylight and we look away, a dog being beaten with sticks and we walk past.

There's no difference between us and the inhuman politician. So enough with the self-righteous witch hunt already.

Really, people....

....for the last time - Global warming and unnaturally rapid climate change is real. It's not a dirty lie created by solar panel manufacturers, it's not propaganda launched by organic cotton farmers and it's not an urban myth perpetuated by Al Gore and Rajendra Pachauri.

It is unbelievable the number of people I've met who're in denial about this...the same people who're wondering why it's 'so hot' in september...I wish they'd pick up a newspaper once in a while or do something else on the internet besides playing Mafia Wars. And I really wish they'd think a million times before procreating.