Marketing Lara

I am not taking up cudgels on behalf of feminist groups and saying that youshould ban this vulgar display of flesh and what so-me newspaper groupsbelieve is also brains! But somewhere we have got to stop and take stock ofthe situation. We must, at least those who believe in shaping publicopinion, ponder and ask ourselves what kind of Indian brand do we wish topromote and how long will we continue to hawk beauty to promote a women’smagazine? The business is rigged as so many people have said before: thesebeauty crowns are the stairway to Bollywood for most of these supposedlybeautiful people (spouting Mother Teresa at the drop of a crown).

I can assure you that these beauty contests are more about marketing andless about beauty. They are designed to sell products and not the face ofIndia! They are about increasing market share for the Lakmes and thePalmolives of the world. So why do we begin to believe that Lara Dutta isyet another signpost which seems to suggest that we are a land of beautifulpeople? It is a clear marketing exercise where the imagination is whipped upinto a frenzy by media and advertisers alike. They have everything to gainand precious little to lose since the quality of our television programming(being so poor) will deliver high TRPs (television rating points) even fromkitsch such as beauty contests.

I was personally aghast when, as a business person, I saw the front page ofIndia’s largest selling business newspaper carrying Lata Dutta winning thecrown on the front-page with a photograph. But having pondered over theissue I was not surprised. It is after all an economic victory. Lara Duttawinning the title is more of an economic triumph for a nation which has sofew. A triumph for circulation; a triumph for market share but a sounddefeat for the nation as a whole. Yet again, we have allowed irrelevanttrivia; trivia that concerns about 1 per cent of our population, to be thefocus of attention and what is galling that every door is then yankedopen.

I am waiting for that chariot ride that Lara will take to Rashtrapati Bhavanwhere the President will wait to shake the hand of someone who is there onlybecause she has been made to look good. She will probably be ushered intothe same Durbar Hall where people have been honoured for gallantry andachievements of the highest order; the same hall which has feted freedomfighters and Nobel laureates alike; the same precincts which represent onebillion people and not one beautiful face backed by a powerful media group!It is this paradox that troubles me. The liberals will say that both mustco-exist; we must have pageantry alongside poverty. I agree. But then myissue is please give both equal attention. You cannot ignore the one thatseems to be a losing battle and hail the victory of something that doesn’teven concern the nation! You cannot force-feed me information in the manneryou choose; information and reportage which seem to suggest that all is wellwithin the state of India (with apologies to Shakespeare) and this is yetanother indicator.

It is indeed a troubling indicator if a nation of one billion people, withthe kind of powerhouse it is, has to hide under the sequined pallu of oneMiss Universe in order to become an achiever. The other myth, which readilycomes to mind, is that it is only India and Indians who are so fascinated bythese beauty contests. Contests such as these are held in every state in theUS but then that country has better things to do. But then I would imaginethat for us it is fine. We are after all surrounded by everything that’sugly. So a dash of beauty is uplifting for some. And revolting for theothers. In the final analysis, we as a nation, need a reality check. Allthis mumbo-jumbo can fool us coming as it does from a brilliantmarketing-driven media group or we can pause and ponder on the nation wewish to identify with.

This beauty parade conceals more than it reveals. It conceals our fears offacing reality; it conceals our desire to challenge and confront the severalwrongs. I am tired of writing about the Uphaar fire tragedy that occurredthree years ago in Delhi and the callousness of the theatre’s owners. Wewish to conceal the ills that plague us, be it in the area of primary healthor primary education and yet we wish to create role-models of the wrong kindusing the media as a willing tool which, in turn, bleeds myopic advertisers!It is one chain of deceit that is played on an unsuspecting people, yearafter year, roping in the highest of the land into self-congratulation ofthe kind we have never seen before.

As a citizen of India, I believe our prime ministers and presidents havebetter things to do; more significant issues to comment upon; better peopleto meet and greater roles to play. While we may deride the intellect of thereaders and viewers, let us not extend this farce any further. Let usunderstand the impact this will have on the nation. We still want to beknown as the land that gave the world Gandhi and Patel. We want the Nehrusand the Lohias to be remembered but if we continue in this manner, we willbe remembered for the Sens, Rais and the Duttas. It is not a very difficultchoice to make if we understand the art of deception.

Marketing can never replace the intrinsic value of a nation and don’t befooled into thinking that Lakme is India’s national bird or Lara’s screamour national anthem!

The writer is the New Delhi-based CEO of brandquiver.com