Issue 13 - weekend newsletter
What kind of a society we want to leave behind and my boring digital marketing stories
The other day, my mother before leaving for another small trip was giving me instructions on how to manage her kitchen. Kitchen is her territory and she rarely likes someone(me) invading. While discussing some personal issues, she told me that girls/women are smarter than boys/men. “Society and families mould them from an early age,” she added.
I don’t agree with her on almost everything but here I nodded my head. The whole debate between men and women has been so long and one-sided that I don’t know where to start from. Rani Mukherjee is her latest film Mardaani 2 has a hard-hitting monologue that is so common that we ignore it.
It took me time to realise that men are not superior to women and if you are not strong enough then you are still a man. I am not a feminist but I believe that we should build a society that is of equals irrespective of your sex, caste, religion, skin colour, orientation, etc.
But then I am dreaming of a utopian world. I am lucky that I was born as a boy in a middle-class family with hard-working parents who raised me well. So I never understood the problems of others. Reading books and movies will just make you think momentarily but living it every day is a different experience.
In recent news, 68 girls in a college hostel in Bhuj were stripped to prove their menstruating status. The hostel has rules that students having periods will not stay inside the hostel room but in the basement area, they can’t socialise or enter a place of worship, etc. These rules are not new to me since I have seen this happening in some form in my family. But stripping the girls in front of teachers is blatant torture.
For me, menstruation was a matter of joke. In school, boys would make fun, and at home, we will look into our dishes when the TV would show any women related issues. It took a long time for me to understand what it is all about and how a female has to suffer every month.
This is just one piece of news that has come into the media. Every other day I find one such news that makes me feel privileged. In another incident, a 24-year-old Dalit youth was lynched by upper-caste men. His crime was that he stopped by the road to defecate.
Renowned Indian film actor Sanjay Mishra in one of his interviews said, “The day we leave this world we should measure ourselves on what kind of a society are we leaving behind.”
Today we are living in a technology-driven advanced world but are we growing as human beings. How many of us are ready to talk openly with our sons and daughters about menstruation and personal problems. My brother has two young daughters and I wish they should be a part of an evolved society. A society that beleives in equality.
After the gyaan on equality (I am also learning every day) here are my boring digital marketing stories that I wrote last week.
With Valentine's Day getting over, I thought it would be a great time to find more on the business of love and how brands are milking it. From boring love stories to the discussion about inclusivity, breaking gender myths and celebrations of being single; brands tried everything.
January is also the time when thought leaders pen articles about trends that are repetitive and boring. Most of these stories are written by the PR team and gets published on leading publications.
Long back a thought leader had copied my article and posted on a leading publisher. Obviously I made a big fuss of the whole thing and the thought leader told me that the PR team is responsible. When I asked what is the need of such things this is what he had to say: “We have to publish articles as a mandate and I don’t have time. So asked the PR team to do and they copied it.” Such is the pressure of being a thought leader.
But are we interested in knowing what the consumer wants? Well, the consumer isn’t interested in AI/ML or what is the next big trend. She isn’t spending in 2020 and wants her entertainment in the local language. I share my thoughts on what the consumer wants and what marketers can do.
Read: Hello, marketer, this is what the Indian consumer wants
Finally, the hard fact is that the Indian advertising market is going through a recovery mode and 2020 will witness muted growth. I have said this before and with the Pitch Madison Advertising Report 2020 revealed it becomes more evident.
That’s all for this week, enjoy your long weekend and read when you have time.
Even if you don’t it's fine. Spend time with yourself and your loved ones. After all, it is the weekend.
Peace and happiness.