MARKETING TRICKS & INNOVATIONS

      

ADs,  LIES  and  GULLIBLE  MODERN FOLK

This face shield which can be worn like spectacles is claimed to prevent corona spread.  Is it true ?  Another business trick ?

“Successful businessmen make people believe that a cat is a tiger.”

                                           --  T. Rama Prasad

          "When conventional wisdom takes a headstand, mischievously, technological and scientific evidence is twisted and presented out of context to cash on the gullibility of the ‘modern folk’ hypnotised by the heady perfume of desire."   Look at the glorified and bewildering range of cosmetics, anti-aging products and anti-obesity quick solutions; age-reducing ‘miracle’ creams and health-promoting gadgets; food supplements and exercisers; strength, height, memory, marks and intelligence enhancing beverages; dark to fair complexion in 7 days; obese to slim in 4 weeks; growing or getting rid of hair in 3 months;  fake ‘commercial’ centres of massages, meditation, yoga and spiritualism and you name it. There is a mix of ancient and modern; uniqueness and diversity. Most of the products don’t deliver most of what their promoters promise and advertise. But gullible people that we are, we succumb to the alluring ads and the product-promoting-activity of winsome young women who make one headier than sparkling champagne.  The gullible folk fall hook, line and sinker, losing all the common sense. Despite regulations, they are naively bought into the fashion industry’s whims by clever business barons who have the last laugh by laughing all the way to the bank. There should be more regulations on advertisements and sales of such stuff with incomprehensible and pretentious jargon.

         If Katrina Kaif and the like endorse a product, our vulnerable public believe that the  secret of the virtues of the celebrities lies in the products and start wasting money.  The celebrities would not have even cared to open the complimentary packs of the products they endorsed !  Advertisers take advantage of the tenuous and fragile nature of human mind.  They frame fashions, including whether one should look like size zero Kareena Kapoor or curvaceous Vidya Balan and Sunny leone !  Film stars come in handy.  The reason lies in the most fickle human trait – adoration.  The celebrity brand value (‘revenue generated by a celebrity brand over a weighted lifetime’) of Katrina Kaif is $33.5 million  whereas that of Shah Rukh Khan is 164.9 million (2015).

            It is the 'fashion press' that sets our goals.  The jutting hipbones and clavicles of 1990s supermodels have replaced the 'slim thick' appeal of Kim Kardashian.  The big 'fat global weight-loss industry' is projected to reach over $295 billion by 2027.  A diabetes drug called 'Ozempic' may become a money-spinning slimming pill,  and 'Psyllium husk - aka desi Isabgol' may become a poor man's 'Ozempic' !  And, the World Obesity Federation has made the term 'obese' as a medical diagnosis, not a description of one's appearance.

         

As I wrote elsewhere on this page, much is decided by genetics --  complexion, stature, figure, morbidity, mortality, etc.  We can modify to some extent.  The modifications do certainly help us.  Looking good improves self-confidence and makes us feel good.  Certain remedies may result in opposite effects.  The ‘quick-fix-crash-starvation-diets’ supplemented with commercial preparations of dubious value may make you look gaunt and unhealthy instead of making you look better.  And for how long is this speedy loss of weight      sustainable ?  Making changes in diet and exercise habits slowly on a long term basis would give more sustainable results.  Hospitals and doctors with sound and practical knowledge would give appropriate advice on diet, dietary supplements / substitutes, exercise and lifestyle to suit the individual needs.    It was revealed that a group of healthy Belgian women developed kidney failure and upper urinary tract cancer after ingestingAristolochia herbs to lose weight (The Hindu, April 12, 2012).

             

                                                        

They would convince us that this is the right design for spectacles ! And they make us believe that a skeleton is a voluptuous figure !  And we, the gullible public have the weakness to agree.    Ideas of fashion which may be funny or even downright silly;  otiose or even insane are promoted to be followed like sheep. It may be interesting to know that French law makers adopted a bill (2015) forcing ultra-thin models to furnish a doctor’s certificate confirming they are healthy.  And the annual work visa of Albert Buitenhuis, a chef working in New Zealand is not renewed because of his excessive weight.

PLAY  ON  PSYCHE

           Manufacturers of some “health foods”, “heart healthy oils” and “health beverages” are playing cleverly on the psyche of the gullible public by projecting that the products enhance MEMORY of students, increase HEIGHT of children, protect HEART, etc.  And a bizarre range of imported stuff of such items is available to woo the rich gullible folks. Such tricks certainly enrich the coffers of the manufacturers though may not the systems in the body.   It is said that glitzy marketing very often decouples capability from wealth.  I know of some international brands which do not play such tricks for their products in the West (but do it with impunity in India) as they would be prosecuted there according to their legislation.  Joining the race are the ‘health pills’ (‘supplements’ to use the marketing lingo, often supported by a brimming culture of ‘micro-theories’ and ‘boutique science’) with various exotic elements -- displayed in shops with seemingly authentic testimonies and ‘scientific’ evidence,  some for men, some for ‘vigour’, some for women, some for diabetics, some for obese, some for lean and so on.  If imagination catches up, some may be for leftists and some for rightists !   Retailers also play on the psyche.  They offer freebies and discounts which cost them only a few measly rupees but in return get them heaps of goodwill and huge business and which feed the buyers’ desire to acquire more.

            “ …  and the pills contain the powdered extract of an exotic fruit for which quasi-mystical claims are made.  It blocks fat absorption,  or at least it might.  It suppresses appetite,  or so a few people have reported.  It regulates emotional eating, in unproven theory.  …  the aggressively marketed pills, products and plans fail to make us any thinner, despite their lavish promises and the money we plunk down. …  Enhanced education and growing sophistication haven’t done away with fads.  There is still too much favour to be curried and money to be made by trumpeting them.  … millions of Americans duped annually into this manner of ridiculousness ( http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-opinion/diet-lures-and-diet-lies/article6055203.ece ) ...  ”

             

GLITZY  DISPLAY

On my recent trip to Singapore, I found a baffling display of products in glitzy malls.  In our malls also, a bewildering range of items are available.   They include creams containing ‘glacial proteins’, seaweed creams, under-the-ocean shells and stones,  desert plant extracts, tea tree essence, etc. with ‘evidence based’ incredible claims of  making skin soft, supple, shining, young, wrinkle-less, 'fresh as in the depths of ocean', 'delicious', 'romantic', vivaceous, and what not.  They also project that they cause reduction or increase in fatty bulk selectively of certain regions in the body !  Some brands do not display the composition of the product, and some conceal the presence of dangerous chemicals which may even produce cancer.   This is applicable to the bizarre range of food products including processed and semi-processed foods which may  contain various  colouring and flavouring agents. 

MEDICAL   MARKETING

The commercial tricks are played even in the medical field.  Commercial ads, commissions, cuts, discounts, offers, gifts, sponsorships, package rates, etc. have come into vogue.  So also, spurious drugs, needless  medicines, investigations, procedures and operations made their entry.  For more on this, go to my 'scribbling' under the heading "Modern Medicine ...".
Recently (2017), in a strongly worded letter to the Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, eminent dermatologists in India had demanded a ban on numerous skin creams and lotions which contain hazardous ingredients, including steroids.


SOPHISTICATED  INDUCEMENTS

One brand of soap (they call it ‘bath bar’) claims to act in six ways to reduce ‘stress’ on the skin. One more ad says that the soap is ‘handcrafted using a unique liquid crystal freezing technology’ – the technological terms are beyond my comprehension.  Another ad says that their soap gets rid of all the germs in the skin.  Prof. B.M. Hegde says: “Simple, inexpensive, oil-based soap is all that is needed with clean water to wash one’s hands or for taking bath. No antiseptic soaps are needed” (Germs – not enemies always, The Hindu, Open Page, October 28, 2012 – www.thehindu.com/opinion/open-page/germs-not-enemies-always/article4038823ece).

MODERN  MARKETING

          They are making a presence in our shopping malls also -- I saw in one mall in Mysore an item of ‘Waist and Tummy Gel’ claiming to reduce the waist line by 6 centimetres in 3 weeks !  And a vast array of skin whitening lotions are found on the shelves. “Whitening under-arm roll on deodorant” is printed on one product.  Does it whiten ?  “Ergonomically designed intelligent mattress” is the catchline for another product.  What intelligence does it radiate to the body ?  “Cosy, security companion” is the qualification of one panty brand as though it is a bodyguard. “Liquid Crystal Bar --  Zinc beads, High-tech Innovation – shed years of age,”  screams another ad for a soap cake. 

          One company with international presence states that their shoes are an ‘energy drink’ for the feet and that the shape of the shoe sends a wave of energy along the length of the shoe  and that it reduces leg muscle wear and tear by 20 per cent !  Another ‘high-end’ company says that their tooth brushes, among so many other ‘unique’ features have “New Accu-Pressure Wave + Ribs Technology” -- it is my ignorance that I don’t know the meaning of these technical descriptions.  The imaginative and clever ads may be full of alluring pretentious jargon which lure even the well informed and educated class.

INNOVATIVE  MARKETING

          Perhaps for a change, the market forces have shifted their focus from the ‘top’ to the ‘bottom’ this season.  Capsules containing derivatives of ‘citrus rinds’ named as ‘Beautiful Legs’ are making brisk business.  People are thronging a beauty parlour in New York for ‘Perfect Leg Pedicure.’  A hot stone calf massage and a full-leg application of bronzing mousse is a 75 minute treatment. Mixing up both ‘range and tempo’ when exercising thighs and legs is a new commercial creation.  ‘Pure Yoga’ in New York city has its own ‘Figure 4’ exercise routine. Bewildering options, if you wish your legs to be given a second look.  

            The following is a reprint of my post on the FACEBOOK:

A MIX OF OLD & NEW

Old fashions become new and vice versa. Narrow bottom pants & wide bottom pants. Skin-tight shirts & loose baggy shirts. Size-zero Kareena Kapoor & curvaceous Vidya Balan or Sunny Leone !!! Statements of fashion vary from time to time. And they may coexist -- see the photos of the main door and the bathroom in a resort. The attached photos are taken today at a resort which has both old and new inputs (DVARA resort, near ISHA, Coimbatore). I visited the place to have a feel of the beautiful greenery with a simple theme. To know a little more about fashion and the marketing tricks, click on the following link: http://drtramaprasad.blogspot.com/2017/…/advertisements.html -- Dr. T. Rama Prasad, Perundurai.

yam and 1 other

HOW  FAIR ?

           If the skin whitening preparations  are effective,  the US Vice-Consul, Maureen Chao would not have an occasion to utter the words“dirty and dark Tamils” on August 12, 2011 !!  Later, she expressed deep regret over her comment, and the American Consulate in Chennai termed the comment as “inappropriate” (TNIE, 14 August 2011).   Sometimes the dark racial discrimination peeps out of the white make-up !

FOOLING  THE  PUBLIC

          What a wonderful world this would be if ‘WYSIWYG’ is applicable to the alluring ads in TV !  (‘WYSIWYG’ is an acronym in computer glossary for “What You See Is What You Get” which means that what you see on the computer screen is exactly how it will come out as a print on hard copy.)   Sure, it would be wonderful if our “dark hard copy” faces get transformed into “fair soft copy” faces, within three weeks of massaging the miracle creams, like the ones on the TV ad screen.

The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) has recently (2014) issued a new directive that advertising should not directly or implicitly show people with darker skin as having disadvantages.  The Rs. 3,000 crore “fairness”  Indian market and many global skin care firms which ride on the ‘fairness’ platform have started using words like “glowing skin”, “clarifying cream” and the like instead of “fairness”.  Following that quintessential Indian desire,  preference for fair skin has become such a deeply ingrained idea that it would take a long time of efforts to change the mindset. 

CELEBRITIES  ROPED  IN

          One patient asked me whether a particular tonic ‘recommended’ by the President of India (Dr. APJ Abdulkalam) and the Prime Minister of India (Mr. Manmohan Singh) may do good for him.  I said that I was not aware of such a tonic. The very next day, he brought one pamphlet of the product with quotes and photographs of the two celebrities!  Morinda citrifolia fruit juice or extracts may be excellent health promoting tonics, but bringing the above two celebrities into the ‘trade’, most probably without their knowledge and out of context, is not a good business practice.  Of course, it is commonplace for  celebrities in show business, modelling arena and sports field to endorse products and make them popular and make themselves richer.

BIG  BRANDS

            Many go by the glamour of big brands.  They snobbishly declare that they use only this brand lingerie and that brand cosmetics.  Some adults excitingly blather with an air of conceit and vanity that they use only baby soaps and baby talcum powders !

‘Johnson & Johnson’ is a very popular brand name known for its ‘gold standards’ for cosmetic products for babies. The following reports give us a rude shock:

“ … A US jury ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay $72 million to the family of a Jackie Fox (62) of Alabama, whose family claimed her death in 2015 was linked to the use of the Baby Powder she used for decades …” (TNIE, 25 Feb 2016).  She died of ovarian cancer.

“…The Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has suspended the licence for manufacturing cosmetics of pharmaceutical giant Johnson and Johnson after residues of carcinogenic (cancer producing) substances (Ethylene oxide) were found in baby talcum powder produced by it … ” (TNIE, 25 Apr 2013).  God !  Save the babies from cancer.

Marketing is all about inducing the consumer into believing “chalk is cheese”

      

THIS  IS  AN  ABRIDGED  TEXT  OF  MY  ARTICLE.      CLICK  HERE  TO  SEE  THE  FULL  ARTICLE.   --  T. Rama Prasad