Of sobriety and text messages and the real wonder of the world

You cannot make a man sober by act of Parliament, goes the old adage.
Governments, over the decades, have failed to accept this simple truth.

And you cannot make a wonder of the world by totting up text messages.
You cannot make Shilpa Shetty a great actor by totting up text messages.
You cannot make Sanjaya a great singer by totting up text messages.

Consumers, over the next few decades, will fail to learn these simple truths.

And media houses and telecom companies, over the next few decades, will make fortunes because, as Barnum might have said a few decades ago, a sucker is born every minute.

And that, my friends, is a wonder of the world.

Because there are audiences -- and they are entertained

It’s always fascinating when I read something written about another country and another culture and discover parallels to what is happening in India. Here’s a great instance.
Till last night, Jamie Lee Curtis, to me, was a successful actor – no more than that. After stumbling upon a blog post by her, she’s much more than an actor – she’s a deep thinker and a brilliant writer and commentator.
And there’s so much in her post that could be transported out of the America that she writes about to the India that I live in that you know that globalisation rules; trends in media, especially television, are the same everywhere.
Curtis is baffled by the success of, and audience fixation with, reality-elimination shows – as I am. The truth, however, is that there are millions of viewers everywhere who feed this monster and the format is here to stay.

Snippets from her post:
“There I was trying to celebrate with my friend when my eye kept being pulled to the set on the wall. There were some chefs on the screen, all standing with their hands clasped behind their backs, at attention, as a panel of people (who are they?) told them mostly bad things about, I assume, their food. I knew they weren't nice supportive comments as the camera was close on the chefs' faces and they looked scared and sad. They were then marched in and out as a group until one woman was asked to leave. She was crying, packing up her knives. It made me so sad and sick to watch. Why was I drawn to this? I didn't want her to lose...did I? Do I? I don't even know her. Why would I wish her harm?
I understand there are many of these shows now. All "elimination"-based and faux reality. Real like a firing squad. I understand there is a good side, a jubilant winner getting their shot at fame and fortunes, but the bulk of the watching, I gather, is some communal elimination where the audience gets a hand in the stone-throwing. It begs the question of why we feel the need to watch this. Are we all so unhappy in our own lives we need the fix of watching another human go into the gladiator ring and come out a bloody, eviscerated mess? What does Russell Crowe scream in Gladiator -- "Are you not entertained"?
I am not entertained….”

The full post, here. Go there, get entertained.

Image: www.freerepublic.com

Reality show scams: "Don't shoot me, I'm only the piano player"

During his 1883 tour of the United States, Oscar Wilde saw this saying on a notice in a Leadville, Colorado, saloon.

And who cares about Oscar Wilde, and who cares about the Wild West, and who cares about shooting the messenger.

And what’s all this got to do with the price of fish? Or a blog on media and advertising?
Lots.
We’ve got this debate going on about Nach Baliye contestant Manav Gohil and his wife Shveta buying 200 BPL Mobile SIM cards which they gave to friends and urged them to send text messages in their support.

Someone figured this out, and Manav and his wife were branded cheats. In parallel, a witch hunt began for BPL Mobile, the unfortunate service provider to have been chosen by Manav as the solution to his popularity problems. How did BPL Mobile sell him so many cards? Is the show rigged?

The simple truth is, BPL Mobile had every right to sell 200, or indeed 2000 or 20000 cards to Manav, as long as the paperwork was in place.

The simple truth also is, Manav had the right to send 20 messages from each one of these cards to the short code number assigned by STAR.

And finally, the simple truth also is that STAR had the right to allow Manav to send 20 messages from each card that Manav had bought.

If we get out of this reality show nonsense, and find a parallel in the real world (I know this is complex, but you know what I mean), STAR is the equivalent of the Election Commissioner, Manav the equivalent of the candidate, and BPL Mobile (or any other mobile service provider) the equivalent of the ballot paper.

The Election Commissioner frames the rules: that the candidate can canvass for votes, and each eligible voter (in this instance, a mobile phone number) can use up to 20 ballot papers (in this instance, text messages).

So where’s the problem? None. The Election Commissioner, the candidate and the ballot papers are all within the rules and parameters framed.

If I am stupid enough to send 20 text messages to ANY number, that’s my problem. If, as Sameer Nair says (not quite, I've paraphrased and dramatised it), these 4000 votes wouldn’t make a damn of a difference, and he felt sorry for Manav, that’s Manav’s problem.

And the media has gone after BPL Mobile as the biggest culprit in this non-issue.

It’s gone back to the old days, they’re shooting the piano player.