Magical Indeed!

That is what learning is. You suddenly understand something you've understood all your life, but in a new way.  

 - Doris Lessing

The visit to a small village (a displaced people’s rehabilitation village for that matter) was waiting with a plethora of knowledge and learning for us to go there and devour it. It was one of those trips which gives a better understanding about people and their surroundings. It can sometimes prove to be a boon in disguise that teaches us to appreciate whatever we have. 

How many of us wouldn’t marvel at the beauty of a luxurious place, a dainty bungalow in a rich locale with well-heeled picturesque décor? We often root our wishes for a dream home or an aspired status of living based on the ones we see all around us thanks to the many forms of mass media that keep bombarding us with images of lifestyles, ranging from Television soaps(where heavily embellished settings are a given!) to glossy magazines that give you options to change the colour of the paint for the coming season because the previous one is ‘outdated’ now and you must be updated with the latest colours, textures and fabrics or else you are not a good homemaker. No doubt it does give options for people who are looking out for changing the styles of their mundane homes, but sometimes it does affect one's mind in such a way that it makes him/her feel that if the house is not the way they showcase in magazines and TV Channels then maybe he/she is doing it wrong and maybe he/she needs to work better on decorating the house. 

This is the framework of the Hypodermic Needle Theory or the Magic Bullet Theory which suggests that the media has a direct impact on the minds of the people. Media messages are injected straight into a passive audience which is immediately influenced by the message. Since they do not have any other source of information, people end up thinking what they are told to.

New assessments that the Hypodermic Needle Theory was not accurate came out of election studies in "The People's Choice," (Lazarsfeld, Berelson and Gaudet) conducted during the election of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1940 It was revealed that the audience was not entirely passive and that many people do remain untouched by the various propaganda that is often undertaken by the mass media.

The best example of this can be seen in the following picture – 

Curtained Cocoon

Ofcourse, they were not the ones with much money to refurbish their houses every now and then but much more could be done to make it look better which was in their hands. But that was not of prime importance to them. They seemed to me like a group that was not influenced much by the starry set-ups of the daily soaps or by the rich studio set-ups used in movies.

If I go on speaking about them, then probably I would have to keep speaking for a long time. This journey to the village was like being witness to a demonstration of media-theories in a real life setting.

I would always be indebted to the organizers of the trip as well as to the one because of whom I got a chance to finally segregate so many of my observations in one place .

 

Thank you.

-Divya Nambiar

Bridging Gaps

In the last post, I had written about an India out there in the rural villages which sometimes knows about various products through an amazing things called mass media but then is unable to get them because of various reasons ranging from problems in distribution channels to the mentality of advertisers who often think that a product would be useful to one section of the society but not to the other. And then there are the ones who are absolutely unaware of various products that the urban India can't do without! 

We see a 'knowledge gap' here which can result in an increased gap between the people of the higher and lower socioeconomic status. The attempt to improve the lives of people with information via the mass media might not always work the way it is planned to be. 

People from all strata may learn new information as a result of a campaign by the mass media but there is a chance that those with higher levels of education are more likely to learn more than those with lower levels of education, and the informational gap between the two groups expands in the process.

Break open those doors to fill the gaps!

The best example I found when I visited Mahalunge was that of the hand sanitizer. I have seen girls becoming cranky if they couldn't find their precious bottle of hand sanitizer to make their hands germ-free to consume a plate of Bhel-puri from the roadside vendor! That's incredible, indeed. When one of our group members used a little bit to clean her hands, one of  the residents from there, a teenaged girl asked us what it was. 

In this case who could be the gatekeeper or in other words who was the one who decided which of a certain commodity – materials, goods and information – may enter the system? Was it the advertisers who thought that this village was just not worth selling hand-sanitizers or was it the basic thought which gets into the minds of people that villagers are a set of less developed people who barely have the desire to improve their living standards as they are busy trying to meet their ends meet. At such a point, who would have whims of things like these. Right? Not necessarily!

Agreed that the city is more polluted and hence full of germs (according to popular belief) but don't the villagers have a right to be healthy and safe too? Ofcourse promoting hand-sanitizers is not the ultimate option but the sheer ignorance of the existence of such a product startled me and that's when I realized the importance of particular types of communication in specific regions. As a student of Advertising, it gave me a plethora of knowledge about the ways in which the society functions. 

Advertisers and Marketers need to have a real knowledge about communication theories and models as that is the framework which can go a long way in guiding them to design and implement successful ad campaigns and ultimately selling their products. 

 

Being Socially Active - Pure Joy!

The villagers of Mahalunge eagerly await the fair takes place in the premises of Vajreshwari temple every year, in honour of Vajreshwari Devi.

The Vajreshwari temple and the makeshift shops

The villagers told us about the fair that was to commence on the 14th day of the fortnight of the waning moon of the month with ceremonial worship of the Goddess. On the first day of the Hindu month called Vaisakha, the ceremonial procession with a Palkhi (palanquin) carrying an image of the goddess, was said to be taken out.

This fair was like a festival for villagers. In a village where there is only one shop which dosen't have all the products required to satisfy their demands ,the fair gave them the opportunity to see and buy things which they wouldn’t be able to get otherwise. Ofcourse they do get the basic requirements but then there lies an India out there in the rural villages which sometimes knows about things but then is unable to get them and then there are the ones who are absolutely unaware of various products that the urban India can't do without! (I will get into the details of that in another post).

The humble shop that boasts to have many products there

The children and the ladies were the most excited to go to that fair. It was one of those rare moments when the entire lady-folk of the village assembled to share some stories (except that of their daily chores and woes)  and the kids got an opportunity to have their share of fun with their parents a bit more lenient for the time- being. Here we  get to see a glimpse of the Social Exchange Theory which argues that satisfaction of both people's self-interest is the major force in interpersonal relationships. It also says that self-interest may not necessarily be a bad thing as it has the potential to actually enhance relationships.The Social Exchange approach views interpersonal exchanges as analogous to economic exchanges wherein people are satisfied when they obtain a fair return on their expenditures.

Mahalunge, according to me, had customers whose potential for buying could be tapped into. There could be educational programmes as well as promotional campaigns of products that would give them a chance to see and feel things that they would have only seen on television or might not have seen at all. Infact keeping track with the Social Exchange Theory, the marketers could conduct games wherein the winners could be rewarded.Central to the social exchange theory is the idea that an interaction that has the capacity to elicit approval from another person is more likely to be repeated yet again rather than an interaction that elicits disapproval. If the villagers like the gift, they would definitely want to have further interactions with the marketers. That would be the time for them to introduce the villagers to their product.

Social platforms for communication, interactions and maintaining relationships is of prime importance to human beings. Man cannot exist alone. He needs to be in a social atmosphere in order to survive and develop or else he withers and dies. Sometimes in these very interactions are lasting bonds formed!

- Divya Nambiar