Are our thoughts our own?
As we all sail through the rough and stormy seas of this pandemic, more people are realising that it is this maddening cycle of unending consumerism that we have been contributing to, which has got us into the sustainability crisis be it economic or climate. We are actively contributing to the problem, we are desperately trying to solve.
The matrix isn’t a mythical sci-?i based ephemeral object of our imaginations. It is more real than the street lights lighting up your way or the giant billboards telling you what’s good for you. We don’t need to be plugged-in, behind our necks, we are plugged in, sitting in our chairs, or walking, biking and doing just about anything. Listening to and/or watching that advertisement play three consecutive times, no matter what the program you’re watching or the songs you’re listening to, a constant voice telling you what’s right, not the truth, but what is popularly cool.
Do real products and services need that much selling? Is Colgate right in blaming the government for their failure to show any pro?its during the pandemic? In the 2 decades that I have actively seen the company, through the lens of their own built image of advertisements, the company seems to lack any innovation whatsoever. They have gone from demonising all the locally produced and consumed original products - now substitutes - to ?inally come back a full circle and starting to brand their own products as Ved Shakti. It isnt right to call out a single brand or a product if one is not funded exclusively by their competition, but the frenzy has reached such levels that people fail to see what they are being fed and they end up defending the right of a company to advertise as a fundamental right. We keep missing the problem. Advertisements such as these are detrimental to such companies themselves. If they spent half that budget on innovating genuine products, keeping in mind the customer’s needs, they might fare better, even during the pandemic.
The solution isnt going to come from just one direction, rather a holistic push from all stakeholders. The consumers need to be as aware of the locally produced products and services that should quench their needs, as much as the large corporations and MNCs that can match up to it and get the local producers to toe the line on quality and delivery.
How do we get a mass movement of this scale to make an impact that dents the skies? The only way through is with the youth of this country. Nothing sells better than what is needed. If what we sell not only quenches the needs of the consumers but ends up solving livelihoods and climate crises, we have a winner.
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