The year of the capitalist is finally here. New products ,increasing potential customers, big change in the economy ,everyone' s happy etc etc.
This also means more competition- from the company's point of view. Everyone's looking for the edge over their close competitors to get to the customer first. They may make surreal promises of quality or assured* free gifts (* ha ha) or just a fake smile - could be 7th sigma of quality improvement. But a method that's sure to work (or so it seems) is to sex up the advertisements to lure the customer!
For most home bound kids (like me) ,it's necessity to buy mint after a round of smokes ,Minto-fresh being the unanimous choice. During one of my own such routines, i noticed this poster on the minto-fresh box with a woman showing her almost bare back suggestively posing with a wicked smile on her face. Right below, the company logo...
Wat da heck?
I couldn't believe they were trying to sexually incite me into buying mint!
This is just one of the several absurd ads where a scantily clad women (who moan-ahhh ye... ) and give you suggestive poses and tell you to buy stuff.. That's pornography.
(I'm a fan of the ladies n' all , but you can't sex me up into buying stuff!)
When flipping channels ,this is a pretty common sight. The worst part is that even though these are the things that are actually demeaning and/or degrading ,they are let off without any outcry of any sort. This wouldn't be a problem when 'society' accepts it and takes it all in good stride.. but no.. they burst out with anguish when they air channels like FTV etc. (the ladies were just doing their job!) and complain about scantily clad women destroying today's youth.
Of-course ,the customer has the ultimate choice of purchase of such products .
Marketing strategists should be looking for other ways to promote their products. Tell us what it (the product) really does for a change.
People having sex on TV is not really obscene. It's just a natural phenomenon.
Woman pulling out a bottle of mineral water from her blouse IS obscene, pornographic & totally unnecessary .
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3 comments:
I agree with your view that there is sex everywhere, esp. so in the nascent and maturing Indian media industry. However guess what, their strategy worked. They managed to get your attention too on the product. Whether you were mesmerized by the seductive babe or disgusted and put off by the soft porn, the end result is you noticed the particular product as a consequence. You now know the brand exists. Viola, they have succeeded in what they set out to achieve.
So yes... in conclusion sex does sell and will continue to sell, the appropriateness of the context is not the question here. The sales is the ultimate indicator.
However much you curse those Page 3 journalists, you ultimately end up looking at those glossy pics of those voluptuous babes and more often than not end up reading the accompanying article and mentally curse yourself after going through it. But you still repeat the same procedure the very next day.
The defense rests...
Mood: Smug faced at the thought of sweet victory.
@sprinter
I agree that it did 'grab' my attention. But u should know that at that moment, i refrained from buying minto fresh and took my chance going home with nicotine breath.
My appeal here is to urge people to detach themselves from consumerism and really think abt wat they need (and not want). The point here is to establish your freedom of choice the right way and not be ,in this case, sexually obliged to buy a product.
Any more doubts?
Mood:"take that!" face with a wicked smile.
I quote 'i refrained from buying minto fresh and took my chance going home with nicotine breath.' thats a whole lot of rubbish. In this case you were obliged to NOT buy the product because of the sex factor and not because of the quality of the product. So in a way, you agree that the sex thing is affecting your decision on the product :) Caught you there again didn't I.
It is my belief that nobody is urged to buy the product because of the sex, if there are indeed people who resort to such things, my heart bleeds out to them for their foolishness.
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