The Big Picture : Strike One, You're Out...

As a toddler, l was fed on a fodder of fairy tales. More often than not, none of it made sense and I did not believe in any of it. I was a very simple logical kid, back then. According to me, amongst the plethora of all those stories, only one fairy tale made sense, as if it were a gospel. It was the Pied Piper of Hamelin. The soothing tune of the pipe led a million rats to their watery graves, and when the city failed to comply with the piper, it spellbound the village kids. It sounds pretty logical, doesn’t it…

Just think about it…

Today, we come across millions of such pipers. We tend to dance to their tunes of fashion, beliefs, trends, hidden truths, blatant lies, and absurd rationales. Our blind faith in those pipers will increase our chances of reaching the graves a little quicker. But we do have a choice now, a decision which should have been taken a long time back by each one of us, individually. Either we follow the pipers or try taking a path less trodden.

Why Shrink, Let’s Think… Let's just Uncomplicate.

The current political scenario is no less than a Bollywood potboiler. One do-good protagonist fighting the whole system, making it to bend on it's knees and even bound to succeed at that with an entire audience, pretty sure of the outcome, just like in our movies. Anna Hazare has become the household name for splashing tar on the UPA sarkar and is causing ripples…sorry my mistake…tsunamis in the political circles. But consider this, five words "Ever heard of Irom Sharmila". With a record ten year hunger strike, a tube thrust in her nose and arrested if the tube comes out. The only common point between these two campaigns is "Hunger strike for a larger cause". A simple solution for a big issue.

Analysing & speaking in Marketing terms...

Product analysis : Anna Hazare

Pages can be written on this Padma Shree, Padma Bhushan & Rabindranath Tagore awardee including Education, Ralegaon Siddi etc. But considering that one initiative took off leads for further initiatives to take place needs to be taken into consideration. The latest feather in his cap would be the Jan Lokpal Bill

Product analysis : Irom Sharmila

Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize…now how many of us knew that…

Target Audience : Irom Sharmila

Sharmila has been fighting the brutal AFSPA that empowers armed forces to shoot anybody without any empirical proof. A massacre that killed an 18 year old Bravery Award winner triggered off her strike. She has been on a hunger strike for more than 10 years now. Considering the target audience, her target group was limited to the seven sisters, and the seven sisters being one of the most ignored areas in India, her fight was largely ignored

Target Audience : Anna Hazare

Anna Hazare fought in the limelight. He managed the press to take attention as well as got a battery of high profile followers. He even managed to rub shoulders with prolific politicians and took the biggest names to book including Sharad pawar. The common man could relate more to corruption, as he is the part of the process and AFSPA is something, we are thick skinned to.

Positioning : Irom Sharmila

Sharmila- A common woman fighting for a cause

Positioning : Anna Hazare

The Gandhi cap, A cavalcade with the likes of Swami Agnivesh, big names, venues like Jantar mantar, Anna is a marketing managers delight. Sharmila was arrested at Jantar Mantar and a tube thrust in her nose for ‘attempted suicide’

We can go on & on about this and the analysis will soon lead to paralysis. One simple thought here. An agitation of this magnitude needs a lot of funds. The press won’t print a letter without amounts exchanged and powerful influential hands backing any agitation. If things were going hunky dory, Sharmila would have been on the front pages ages ago and the AFSPA repealed and she would have been married with two kids today.

What are these influences, why is this ‘specific’ agitation gaining momentum, who are the political beneficiaries…The UPA as the benevolent rulers or the NDA for getting most of the ruling behind bars…Maybe both, Maybe not.

Think again.

Think Out of the Box... 

 Since 4th November, 2000, Irom Sharmila from Manipur has been on a political fast demanding the Government of India to withdraw the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 (AFSPA). On 6th November 2000, she was arrested by the police and charged with an "attempt to commit suicide", which is unlawful under section 309 of the Indian Penal Code. With her determination not to take food or water, her health deteriorated tremendously; the police then forcibly had to use nasogastric intubation in order to keep her alive.
She has been in that state since 6^th November 2000.No bill has been passed against the AFSPA till date…

Regards,
Chaitanya Joshi
Copywriter
Think Out of the Box