Of TV Shows and Consumerism

It is such a nice feeling to be back on Blogger. I have been missing a lot. However, things at home that kept me away were no less important.

A lot has been happening, and even though I was reading my daily dose of Times of India, I was missing the fun part of commenting on the many happenings. One of the happenings that has hooked me proper is the Voice of India – a singing competition on Star Plus. I really like the show and make it a point to catch it on Fridays and Saturdays.

But I somehow feel that the judging system isn’t all that fine. I mean, it is fine for people to vote and let the singers know what they think about them. But I guess the audience should play second fiddle to the ones who can actually judge. I feel when you open the judging process to the public, the biggest element becomes popularity. In strict marketing terms, you are not looking for the best nor the most versatile singer, but rather the most popular one – one who can sell your label. Well, that is frankly, the ugly face of consumerism.

A blog entry reads
“Big Business has always had a reputation for taking the common man for a ride. For instance I have been using Axe Deodorant for years now and EXCUSE ME BUT WHERE ARE THE WOMEN IN SKIMPY CLOTHES FOLLOWING ME AROUND GRADUALLY SHEDDING CLOTHES IN THE PROCESS AND GETTING ALL WORKED UP IF YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN? HUH? HUH?”

In this era, we have come to equate our happiness with material possessions. And most of these possessions have no practical utility. Hence, now the trend is to purchase and be happy. This is today’s CONSUMERISM.

During my days at the University of Calcutta where I was pursuing my Master’s degree course in Economics, the meaning of consumerism was something different. It was close to Adam Smith’s Invisible Hand Theory or the fact that when consumers choose freely, they dictate and thereby create the edifice of the economy – a holistic view towards the improvement of the consumption basket and therefore ensuring maximum utility and maximum satisfaction. All of it aimed for the consumer. But that was a few years back.

As my Strategic Management teacher at BHU would have said – In this era of tumultuous, turbulent and tectonic changes in the mosaic of our society, it would be rather naïve to stay put with such a Jurassic ideology. The present context of consumerism - that people would buy goods in excess of their requirements is, however, not a new phenomenon. The phrase simple living is not new. So if there was something called simple living, then there should also have been some living style that was not so simple.

It would be prudent to mention at this juncture that my thoughts channeled herein would have a tinge of communism, a tinge of Karl Marx, but I want to essentially stay away from any criticism on that regard. The most basic concept in Economics is to understand that resources are scarce and these scarce resources can be combined to satisfy certain wants, which in turn stem from needs. But wants are many and resources are scarce, so one has to choose. Loosely speaking, Economics is therefore the art and science of making choices in an environment of scarce resources and unlimited wants - to put resources to optimal use to maximize human satisfaction.

Does the reader get a feeling of a zero-sum game here?
If one combines 5 units of labor with 2 units of capital, therein exhausting all resources, then the economy may get 5 units of food and 5 units of wine.
But if one combines 3 units of labor with 3 units of capital, therein exhausting all resources, then the economy gets 4 units of food and 6 units of wine.

Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war. A food crisis develops. Prices rise. Inflation. People start consuming more wine to forget the pains and pangs of scarcity of food, depression sets it. Fights break out. People steal. Kill each other.

Look around yourself. What do you see?
Pick up a newspaper. What do you read?

The present variety of consumerism is peccably skewing the society’s matrix towards an abyss. A generation is being told what to consume so very aggressively that one would become confused. And I still remember a friend’s quote – to win an argument, a debate, first confuse, then tell them what you think most logically, they will buy it.

And yes we are buying it. We are buying it all. The aggressive line remains that one identifies with what one consumes – products and brands. Brands today have status-enhancing capabilities. If you are not spending half your salary on the latest mobile phones and the other half on cold drinks and pizzas, then are you man or woman enough?

I liked how Chetan Bhagat used a scene in One Night @ the Call Center. Please read the book to find more on that. It is a good one and not a waste, trust me.

Lifestyle. Parties. Junk food. Laptops and computers. Mobiles and digital cameras. Cars and bikes. I Pods. How could I miss one??????

No, seriously, as I said – economics is about choice. We have a choice. A better future or more butter?

War, Economics and the Female child

The last post saw cannons from the AP Archaeological Museum, Hyderabad, remnants of a violent past; these cannons bring to mind one word which has mixed reactions over centuries. WAR!

Without getting into the complexities of war, may I bring to the fore Carl von Clausewitz’s famous observation - war is nothing more than a continuation of political intercourse with the mixing in of other means. The 1970s movie Cross of Iron used it erronously – War is a continuation of politics though other means.

No wonder. Today politics is largely economic. Governments stay or are ousted depending upon how they strengthen their economy.

Politics is heavily loaded on the economic front and the guardians of politics, governments, make no mistake about it, would leave no stone unturned. They would rather embrace one of the easiest tools – WAR. It not only improves the economy of the eventual winner but also distracts its citizens from other, perhaps more serious issues.

And what rules in an economy?
Toothpaste, mobile phones and soft drinks. And beauty creams.

The countries today are largely capitalists and the private players in the commodities and products market constitute the very backbone of any economy. So, wherever you see war, is it for the profits of these private players. If yes, nice puppeteering!

Beauty creams. Targetting the young female population to change their fate once and forever, to make it big in career, life and love, one must use all those jelly-like substances. No wonder, some have adverse consequences upon long term use and incompatibility. But the makers are not concerned. They are not concerned so long as your pockets are depleted to fill their own. Zero-sum game.

The lack of concern is alarming. Not a single seller has come up with any societal issues concerning their target population – women. Look at the Indian example. The sex ratio is sliding. Here are the figures:

Source: Level and Pattern of Consumer Expenditure, 2004-2005, NSSO, MOSPI, Government of India, December, 2006
Table 1R and Table 1U, pages A-1 though A-24
The data reflects the position through estimation between July 2004- June 2005
Sex ratio is defined as the number of females per 1000 males

A country as large as India with such a highly skewed sex ratio does not auger well for its people. We are all aware of the adverse effects of such a skewed sex ratio.
• Social unrest
• Dowry deaths
• Child marriage
• Bride selling
• Kidnapping
• Rape
• Polyandry

And of course as one of my friends said, “...there wont be as many gals to marry...”.

As you can see in the above table for figures between the period July 2004 and June 2005, more reds are in the urban side. Whereas one would have expected that with affluence and education, at least the urban populace would bring in balance; one can well see that knowledge, information, power, science are being abused in one of the gravest crimes against humanity. Pre-natal sex diagnosis is banned in India, and though laws are in place, it is being blatantly being ignored. What with corruption raging the corridors of the nursing homes and people’s minds.

The central and state governments must enforce laws against sex selective abortions, as well as the killing of newborn girls. Daughters should get the right to perform the last rites of their parents’ equivalent to that of sons. The government should amend the existing laws of inheritance. The daughter should be accepted as heir to ancestral property legally as well as socially. Campaigns to encourage people to view girl-children as socially and economically desirable need to be launched. Rather than one more advertisement campaign on glowing skin and hair care.