There are billboards all over the city of Mumbai, and possibly the country, urging young India to choose their leaders. Called Lead India, it is a campaign by The Times of India, a leading English language publication of the country. That there should be such a campaign is not surprising, considering the upbeat mood in India, especially amongst the young in the cities and the small towns, who I imagine are the main beneficiaries of the recent and robust growth the Indian economy is witnessing. What is incredible is the faces adorning the billboards.
I don’t read The Times of India, so I’m not actually aware of the exact nature of the campaign. I write this piece as an observer, a non reader of the Times, who nevertheless notices and reacts to the overt advertising of the campaign. And my question is, surely we can do better than to incite our young to choose Abhishek Bachchan and Priyanka Chopra as their leaders? There is a certain respectability and responsibility attached to the word 'leader', which one can hardly expect filmstars to fulfill.
I can understand that filmstars all over the world are popular figures, and there exists a symbiotic relationship between them and the media. But they belong to the field of entertainment. Is it necessary to blur the boundaries so?
There was a time when the only brand one associated with filmstars was the soap, Lux. I try to delve into my earliest memories of Indian advertising, and that’s the only one in which I remember seeing filmstars. These days filmstars and cricketers endorse everything, from shaving cream to cars, cold drinks to underwear, hair oil to chyawanprash. So it is that we have an overdose of Shahrukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai, because they not only adorn the film posters plastered all over our cities, but also billboards and shop windows, and dance for us and smile at us on our television screens. Alarming as this trend is, it must work for corporate houses to sign them on for the huge amounts that they purportedly charge for endorsements.
However, having said this, and admitted to their mass appeal and ability to reach out to the Indian consumer, and maybe even the common man, I still fail to understand how they can possibly be projected as ‘leaders’? Leaders of what? Why is it that of all public figures, The Times chose to fall back on them even for a campaign like Lead India.
The saving grace is that neither is a finalist.
Though I must mention here that an actor is indeed one of the three finalists from Mumbai. The actor is Rahul Bose, and the little that I know of the man, I believe he is not entirely undeserving of the honour.
On an aside, I found this rather amusing piece on another blog. The inspiration is a passage from ‘Yes, Minister’, though neither that nor the author of the adaptation was credited, so I’m unable to provide any credits here.
INDIAN NEWSPAPERS
The Times of India is read by people who run the country (Many feel it should be rightly called Ads of India).
The Statesman is read by the people who think they run the country.
The Hindu is read by the people who think they ought to run the country.
The Indian Express is read by people who think the country ought to be run by another country.
The Telegraph is read by people who do not know who runs the country but are sure they are doing it wrong.
Mid-Day is read by the wives of the people who run the country.
The Economic Times is read by the people who own the country.
The Tribune is read by the people who think the country ought to be run as it used to be run.
The Hindustan Times is read by the people who still think it is their country.
The Asian Age is read by the people who would rather be in another country.
I don’t read The Times of India, so I’m not actually aware of the exact nature of the campaign. I write this piece as an observer, a non reader of the Times, who nevertheless notices and reacts to the overt advertising of the campaign. And my question is, surely we can do better than to incite our young to choose Abhishek Bachchan and Priyanka Chopra as their leaders? There is a certain respectability and responsibility attached to the word 'leader', which one can hardly expect filmstars to fulfill.
I can understand that filmstars all over the world are popular figures, and there exists a symbiotic relationship between them and the media. But they belong to the field of entertainment. Is it necessary to blur the boundaries so?
There was a time when the only brand one associated with filmstars was the soap, Lux. I try to delve into my earliest memories of Indian advertising, and that’s the only one in which I remember seeing filmstars. These days filmstars and cricketers endorse everything, from shaving cream to cars, cold drinks to underwear, hair oil to chyawanprash. So it is that we have an overdose of Shahrukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai, because they not only adorn the film posters plastered all over our cities, but also billboards and shop windows, and dance for us and smile at us on our television screens. Alarming as this trend is, it must work for corporate houses to sign them on for the huge amounts that they purportedly charge for endorsements.
However, having said this, and admitted to their mass appeal and ability to reach out to the Indian consumer, and maybe even the common man, I still fail to understand how they can possibly be projected as ‘leaders’? Leaders of what? Why is it that of all public figures, The Times chose to fall back on them even for a campaign like Lead India.
The saving grace is that neither is a finalist.
Though I must mention here that an actor is indeed one of the three finalists from Mumbai. The actor is Rahul Bose, and the little that I know of the man, I believe he is not entirely undeserving of the honour.
On an aside, I found this rather amusing piece on another blog. The inspiration is a passage from ‘Yes, Minister’, though neither that nor the author of the adaptation was credited, so I’m unable to provide any credits here.
INDIAN NEWSPAPERS
The Times of India is read by people who run the country (Many feel it should be rightly called Ads of India).
The Statesman is read by the people who think they run the country.
The Hindu is read by the people who think they ought to run the country.
The Indian Express is read by people who think the country ought to be run by another country.
The Telegraph is read by people who do not know who runs the country but are sure they are doing it wrong.
Mid-Day is read by the wives of the people who run the country.
The Economic Times is read by the people who own the country.
The Tribune is read by the people who think the country ought to be run as it used to be run.
The Hindustan Times is read by the people who still think it is their country.
The Asian Age is read by the people who would rather be in another country.
