What
kind of a question is that? What are they selling?
Well
Bill Gates has left the job of selling MS software to his chosen unlucky ones,
down the hierarchy of the company. Who is Paris Hilton? She is the celebrities’
celebrity – a celebrity for being a celebrity! And, Paris Hilton seems to have
started selling her brand of perfumes.
Not
too long ago the London based newspaper The
Economist used to try selling itself by trumpeting that Gates rushed to get
his copy of the publication hot off the press (It really should not bother us
whether that was true, and if true how much he was paid). That was then and in
London. What is it today and where?
It
is Paris today—Paris Hilton, that is—and in London. The Guardian is published from London and today I saw the first
advertisement for its Sunday edition in India, at a metro station in Delhi. It
said something like it will not be publishing Paris Hilton’s views on the Middle
East this week, and adding, any week. Ouch! I heard PH’s PR man go!
The Economist carries
a double identity. On certain moral issues like death penalty, abortion, it advocates
what may be termed borderline liberal thinking. On economics, extended role for
private capital, and other such matters, it unabashedly aligns itself with
finance. Indeed, I tend to believe it may well like to be tagged the “mouthpiece
of global capital”, intended as an epithet by Prof. Jayati Ghosh.
The Guardian
used to be called The Manchester Guardian,
Manchester having been the hotbed of British left. I think it went through some
ownership metamorphosis, yet retained its consistent and strongly leftish
stance.
In
the ad campaigns The Economist tries
to sell itself by invoking the aspirational vanity of the public, “One day I
too can be Bill Gates!” It is not innocent. The
Guardian is equally guilt ridden. It appeals to leftist sentiments. No one
who reads the paper would admit to have even glanced at any frivolous news item,
like the opinion of Paris Hilton on global affairs, outside of fashion. It
helps to be assured as the advertisement does! To make the message hefty, it
adds as the tag line, “Mind over chatter”. I wondered why the paper did not say,
“Matter over chatter”. Such cheap rhymes? Tut, tut …
That
gets me to the title question. Both The
Economist and The Guardian are promoting
the vanity of the reading public, through Bill Gates and Paris Hilton. And, I
cannot believe that on this score Bill and Paris can be differentiated and it
would not matter even if they could be.
Raghuram
Ekambaram
P.S
The last I heard, PH’s PR man is suing The
Guardian for unauthorized (more importantly, unremunerated) use of the
celebrity’s name!
6 comments:
this
is a strategy
to create some chatter
create a chatter
by applying your mind..and
it really does not matter about the matter..so called values...
Thanks for acknowledging my sidewinder comment DS sir!
RE
Today Paris Hilton surprised me too because of the association with the Sunday Guardian. At the AIIMS Metro station I saw an ad with a Hilton like bikini clad woman in the background and a contrasting message in the foreground. The message was that the Guardian doesn't depend on Hilton's opinion; it depends on expert opinions. How nice. How nice of them to use Hilton for this!
You have brought out a very important point which many readers may not realise. We are on the way to a huge sell-out! A sell-out of Bill Gates to tradesmen and advertisers!
Matheikal, don't you think all our so-called celebrities are already sold out - think Tendulkar, Dhoni, the youngest of the Bachchans, Anand (NIIT)and on and on. Let gates join them!
I am very glad that you too noticed Paris Hilton. The advert I saw did not have any bikini clad woman for me to drool. I am going to AIIMS station pronto :)))
RE
Nice post and contrast.
Regards
Ravi
Thank you so much Ravi
RE
Post a Comment