One Question Too Many

Ramadan

In the world of Pakistani advertising, the holy month of Ramadan has been dominated by Olper's milk over the last few years - the brand has delivered appealing, perhaps memorable, advertisements that effectively integrate culture and religion with the brand.  My dad usually switches the channel when the adverts air but he always watched the Olper's milk advert last year.  This year they're missing in action so far.  Ramadan also sees some brands become "holier" via their supposed sensitivity towards their consumers' special needs during the month, some go the extra mile to sign the country's religious celebrities for their advertisements.

Pepsi in 2010

Someone else brought joy before Eid

Pepsi, however, decided to take a different route this time last year.  Not cricket, no celebrity, not even religion or culture as rivals Coke did (though I don't think this was Coke's campaign last year but it's all I could find).

Instead, Pepsi went for something that was, on the surface, fun.  Unlike other advertisers that targeted families and housewives belonging to different socioeconomic classes, Pepsi seemed to have the youth in mind.  Unfortunately, and I really mean UNFORTUNATELY, I cannot find the first of the two advertisements from last year so I'll just describe it:

A teenage boy is hyper going around a supermarket with a shopping trolley looking for something. I don't even remember whether they show us it's Pepsi or not. What I do remember is how the ad ends - boy brings shopping trolley to a screeching halt at the feet of his mother, or is it older sister? Or is it young aunt? Or even stepmother as a friend of mine proposed! Regardless, she is HOT! Anyway, the shopping trolley is loaded with bottles of Pepsi, he looks up at her and gives a little shrug which says don't look at me, I couldn't help it. She then shakes her head, camera zooms in on her face and then that was the moment - a moment that took me to an unholy place during this holy time - she squinted her eyes a little, and gave a smile that bounced back and forth between naughty and dirty and simply said

Kis nay kahaa tha, Pepsi ko 5 Rupay kam kar do?

Seem ridiculous?  It was.  For two reasons:

1. There was a complete mismatch between the facial expression and what was said - a naughty-dirty look for asking about a price reduction?!    
2. 5 Rupees?!  That's not much of a price reduction!  Definitely did not justify the hyperbolic actions of the boy; and, sort of deflated the impact of the line.

I Loved It!

Why?  Because it registered!  That phrase was so easy to remember because of the manner in which it was delivered.  That phrase/question conjured an unforgettable image.  More importantly, from the advertiser's point of view, that memorable phrase has Pepsi in it.  That final shot made the advert memorable, not the crap that preceded it; none of that was remotely appealing.

Within a couple of weeks the second spot appeared (apologies for the out-of-sync audio-video):

Personally I did not find this as effective or appealing; well, mostly because the model did not re-create that same facial expression as in the first spot.  She went for a more innocent look this time which, I must admit, can be appealing as well.  Nevertheless, the impact had been made.

The Buzz

What followed was the creation of over 20 Facebook fan pages begging the question "kis nay kahaa tha Pepsi ko 5 Rupay kam kar do?", boys begging the same question via their statuses and plenty more boys suggesting answers or having a good laugh.  One status and comment I can recall was:

Status: Kis nay kaha tha?
Comment: Waise aapas ki baat hai, aunty kaafi hot hain

Some people went further and created parody videos - there are a good 6-8 parody videos which tackle the "issue" of kis nay kahaa tha Pepsi ko 5 Rupay kam kar do? in their own unique fashion. 


Implications

The Facebook pages collectively have over 2000 fans while the parody videos, collectively, have over 50,000 views.  In comparison to what other brands, especially in the USA, and people like Rebecca Black have achieved in numbers (into the millions), these numbers are rather small.


However, compare this to other Pakistani brands, especially the ones who've made an effort to build a social media presence, this campaign actually pushed people into action rather than pull.  Other brands rely on games, applications, contests and giveaways to drive their social media plan.  Okay so do Pepsi to some extent; but, for this particular campaign, no social media support.  One can't even find the original ad on Youtube, the one I've put up is someone's recording off Geo News!

Regardless, for once, the content of the advertisement pushed people into action.  The ad itself did not become viral due to the small matter of it being unavailable; but, the campaign did.  Success on social media is usually measured by factors such as

• Number of fans on a page
• Number of followers in the case of Twitter
• Interaction rates
• Consumer participation 

...and more!

The numbers are not huge, but I personally feel if a communication can make people get up and put in their own effort to praise it, mock it or simply recognize it; then that's a more laudable achievement than putting up a fan page and attracting fans via contests that require them tag themselves in a picture.  Of course all this goes down the drain if Pepsi themselves created the fan pages but let's give them the benefit of doubt!

Critical Question - Did Pepsi mean for any of this?

As far as the campaign becoming viral, I highly doubt it.  A campaign or an ad/communication going viral, ideally, is not a controllable result.  Content decides whether a campaign or an ad/communication goes viral.  You can't "make a viral ad" - though I think Unilever Pakistan would beg to differ - you can certainly hope your ad goes viral, but you can't create one unless you put in the mega effort of contacting thousands of people and ask them to share the content etc.  

Making us accept ridiculous questions

As far as Anupama Verma (the model, correct me if I'm wrong) making an impact, then yes, maybe Pepsi had that done on purpose.  Why wouldn't they?  Sex sells and this was a very subtle form of it.

Of course, there will be guys out there who would either deny that she is the reason why they enjoyed the advert or would genuinely have other reasons - at the end of the day, the parody videos sought to answer the question in humorous ways and completely ignored Ms. Verma (if it is her).



Ramadan 2011

This Ramadan, Pepsi, obviously based on the success of their campaign last year - it'd be interesting to know what they measured their success on:  was it social media?  Or was it an AC Nielsen survey of 400 people testing ad recall rates? - churned this out:

Well, Pepsi, based on whatever research it must have done, obviously discovered, to no surprise might I add, that Ms. Verma was a hit hence she appears at the end trying to look sultry and all-knowing (usually a hot combination).

The ad itself is kinda lame and the model is underused - though I like the line "mera roza bhi hai" if you think along my lines.

Out With the Old & In With the...Old  

If Pepsi is looking to recreate the impact of last year's campaign then I feel it is trying to do so in vain.  Why?  The charm is lost.  It was ridiculous last year, it's the same ridiculous this year only with more people.  It's nothing new.  Simply put, the question

Kisnay kahaa tha Pepsi 65 kar do?

is one question too many!   

  

"We were little, not lame!"

There are three major brands in the anti-bacterial soap category in Pakistan - Safeguard, Lifebuoy, and Dettol.  Safeguard has been targeting kids with all their school programs and the unforgettable superhero Commander Safeguard.  Dettol has been targeting mothers using the 'mothers know best' concept.  Lifebuoy, has also been targeting kids - at first it was the Koi Darr Nahin campaign which made kids the heroes as "germ busters" and the use of animation was something that should have attracted the kids as well because it would've been something cool to watch.  NOW, the kids are cool in a different way - please watch the clip below:



This was the original Indian TVC by the way; in Pakistan it has been "localized" via dubbing - replacing the word kitaaron with jaraseen and the name Bunty replaced by Babloo, resulting in the classic out-of-sync audio-visual.

Anyway, I saw this ad and thought "not bad son, it's got humour, it's educational, and there's a slice of life in it".  I saw this ad a few days later and I thought "great slice of life - especially the kid removing the lettuce from his burger - have to hand it to Lifebuoy."  However, the third time I watched it and the same thought struck me but in a different manner - "slice of life?!" i.e. are you friggin kidding me

When I was a Kid

I had a flashback to my lunch breaks in school and hygiene was the least of my concerns!  When I was a kid, back in school, during lunch break this is what I did

• Check out the girl I had a crush on, get enraged in jealousy while feeling like a loser at the same time as some other guy macked on her
• Open my lunch box with enthusiasm and be disappointed by the same old food
• Check out other people's food and wallow in self-pity
• Talk about wrestling, football, cricket, computer games, and how Pamela Anderson was hot
• Talk about which girls in school were hot, and what made them hot (we weren't into personality back then so you can imagine how those conversations - aided with hand gestures - went)
• Gossip about who saw which couple do what on campus or in the compound
• Gossip about who picked their nose

Did we discuss hygiene?  No.  Were we aware of washing our hands before/after eating?  Yes.  Did we always wash our hands?  Perhaps not.  Did anyone point it out?  No.  When we laughed at someone, it'd be because s/he did something stupid and "stupid" by our definition did not encompass not washing hands before eating!  We would play pranks on each other, trying to make one look stupid for falling for it.  Once this kid brought a bottle of this spices mix he made at home i.e. mixed every spice he could get his hands on and we duped another kid into drinking the mixture convincing him it's a great drink etc.  It was a mean thing to do if I think about it now.  Oh that reminds me of another mean thing we did during lunch!  We used to pat the person next to us (somebody would start the chain) and say "Hayley's germs, pass it on!" Hayley was this girl who was accused of picking her nose; kids can be so mean.  My teacher caught me once in class passing on "Hayley's germs" and threatened to call both our parents in!  Yup, that taught me a lesson.

When My Friends were Kids

Anyway, I asked some friends what their lunch breaks were like (my childhood wasn't spent in Pakistan so perhaps I was being overcritical) and the responses I got were

• We used to put chips in our coke
• Boys used to pee in the bush
• We ran around and played sports.  Yes we did eat, and while eating we'd discuss what we were going to run around for.  Of course there was the gossiping and bitching and studies.  General hygiene?  No.  We were little, not lame!

Final Thoughts

Yes I understand that Bunty/Babloo is supposed to be a mama's boy; those kinda boys in my day would ensure they did not get into any trouble (I was sort of a mama's boy) - did not participate in toilet fights, did not vandalize school property etc.  If I was Bunty/Babloo, the only thought going through my head would've been "damn that girl has zinger-esque burger and I've got a crummy sandwich!"  Hygiene and bacteria was stuff that our parents told us about and/or our teachers taught us about.  We didn't discuss our soaps, shampoos etc.

One question always asked in advertising is whether advertising is led by society or leads society; obviously the answer is a mixture of both.  In this case Lifebuoy is trying to lead society - educate children/parents about the importance of clean hands and of course how its product is equipped to do so.  I don't know how to express myself clearly but it's just not cool!  The thought of our current crop of kids' defining cool as having the latest fastest liquid hand wash, is depressing!

Of course IF this ad is targeted to parents, and it may very well be, then it's all good because they'll want what's best for our children.  If Lifebuoy's targeting kids, which it seems to be doing so, I plead they keep the hand washing coolness promotion to BTL activities; that'll educate as well!  Of course I'm not giving a serious suggestion but my point is let kids be kids!  Yes Unilever have done their studies in the past (that two building experiment they did) and there is a need for awareness; but kids grow up and they'll become conscious of these matters as they grow up.  Till then, let their parents worry about this stuff!

A special thanks to Aania Alam for the title of this post!  

The Revitalizers Need Revitalizing!

“Another ad using a mehndi scene, which random product could this be for?” are the words that ran through my mind when the TVC started playing. By the end of it I could not BELIEVE which product this advertisement was for! Please take a look (unfortunately the beginning of the clip gives it away):

What the f*** was that?! Seriously…WHAT…THE…F***?!

I like “Nestle ka juice” or Nestle Fruita Vitals as it’s trying to be commonly known as after its re-branding effort. I liked a particular outdoor campaign as well where a very strategically placed billboard (a spot which ensured a decent amount of the target audience would see it) had simple artwork displaying a glass full of juice and a carton of the juice with the words “rise and shine to life” covering most of the billboard. In fact, if we take a look at some of their print adverts you’ll know what I mean about their artwork:

Not bad eh?

I don’t recall any TVCs before this one though, and how are why Nestle approved this one is beyond me!

The Ad Itself

Production - the production is of a quality one would expect from a homemade video or by an unknown local brand.

Storyboard - there is such a dead feel to the whole ad! The music is anything but upbeat, the choreography is anything but upbeat or inspirational if we look at the “solo“, the facial expressions…seriously…what the f***?! The protagonist’s face going pale…are you kidding me?! Poorly executed!

Voice Over - is Nestle Fruita Vitals a niche product? No. Is it expensive? No. Are the burger bacchay of our society the only ones who appreciate juice, or participate in mehndis for that matter? No. So what’s with the blehh accent?!

Any Positives?

Unfortunately, yes. I can see aunties smiling when the guy messes up his step; and, even use it as a reference if there’s a mehndi practice going on and someone messes up:

“jao nestle ka juice pee lo, jaise woh ad mein hota hai naa? *giggle giggle*”

(“you should drink some Nestle juice, like that guy in the ad. *giggle giggle*”)

Apart from that, no other positives!

Critical Question - why? Just…why?! I mean, is this advertising for the sake of advertising?

I don’t have a definite answer to this. What bothers me about this advert is whom it’s trying to target. Are Nestle trying to reinforce its juice brand among a target that already consumes its product without a second thought i.e. the elite westernized type? The advert certainly is not appealing to other psychographic segments!

Juice is a product that can be consumed by all ages, at any time of the day, by any type of person, and all for the same reasons - good taste and health. A wannabe westernized Pakistani is likely to drink juice for the same reasons as the traditional urban Pakistani. Since the latter is greater in number than the former, hence the there are so many people out there to be captured, I just do not understand why such an advert was produced.

I wish I had stats on the juice market in Pakistan so I could delve deeper into this! Or perhaps there isn't anything to delve into at all, and this really is a case of advertising for the sake of advertising!

Owsum Insight?

My mother, after taking a four year break, has started following several Pakistani dramas which are aired on Hum Tv, Geo Entertainment, and ARY Digital. Consequently, I get to hear the advertisements while I’m in my room. Recently, I heard a lot of “dum dee dee, dum dee dee, dee dee dum! Olper’s ka flavored milk hai Owsum!” At first I thought “not that I can remember properly, but wasn’t their first jingle better? This ad probably isn’t that good either!” hence I never bothered trying to view the ad. For reference’s sake, this is the previous ad I’m referring to:

Nonetheless, my curiosity got the better of me and I finally got to view this new advertisement for Owsum:

I was surprised because this ad was good! Why? The consumer insight! It just clearly came out in this ad! The jingle not so appealing, the lifestyle portrayed was very typical of many advertisements in this country and I’m not a fan of those portrayals; but, the consumer insight had me smiling.

I grew up in the Middle East where cow’s milk is widely sold and consumed. In Pakistan and India, it’s buffalo’s milk. There is a major difference in taste! So, personally I have never enjoyed a glass of plain milk in Pakistan or India. Although I cannot speak for the millions of children in this region, I have noticed a preference for adding Horlicks or Nesquick to the milk.

Anyway, these are the factors that make this ad admirable:

The Insight

The opening shot in which the boy makes a face after taking a sip of the milk just said it all - us kids do not like plain milk! At the same time, mothers want their kids to drink their milk; hence the look on the mother’s face. Flavored milk is a lot more desirable than plain milk for children since it tastes a lot better and if it's packaged then it's easier and more fun to drink. All very simple, all very true.

Any adult watching this ad should be able to relate to the consumer insight portrayed in this ad.

The Milk Monster

Firstly, hats off to the agency for the quality of the animation! The Milk Monster has a feel of credibility about it - plain milk is an unpleasant prospect and can be a spot of bother for kids! The addition of such a character gives the Owsum team a sort of mascot that can be used many a times in their communications in different ways.

Any child that may've viewed this ad would have enjoyed the Milk Monster!

However, the way the Milk Monster is dealt with is lacking in imagination! They could have easily borrowed a Ghostbusters concept - a chocolate ghost-sucking device that captures the Milk Monster and instead of disposing of the monster, it churns out a pack of Owsum Chocolate Flavored Milk. Now THAT would have made the advertisement more entertaining for children!

So those two factors made me smile. I'm indifferent to the jingle, it may be catchy for Pakistani kids, I really don't know! The lifestyle displayed in the advertisement, I feel, is unrealistic but then again the argument of aspirational v realistic is brought up and that is not the focus of this piece.

Critical Question - has the Owsum brand team hit the right spot?

Answer - Not quite. As far as the TVC is concerned, they've got it right mostly. As far as outdoor is concerned, unfortunately I do not have pictures of the billboards just yet, I feel their communication is not as appealing as it can be nor can it compare to Nestle's Nesquik billboards.

Marketers/advertisers are very careful in the way they depict human beings in their advertisements because they want to ensure that the target audience can relate to the characters. This concept makes a lot of sense; but for kids, it may not necessarily apply! Kids are captivated by non-human characters as compared to human characters, unless they're superhuman characters!

Nesquik's billboards have their iconic bunny/rabbit/hare, covering most of the billboard, sipping out of the new Nesquik tetrapak; the latter is mostly off the billboard as well so it actually looks cool and for a child it'll look even cooler!

On the other hand, the Owsum billboard has its products displayed at the top left corner, the word OWSUM covering most of the billboard, a defeated milk monster at the bottom right corner, and the supposed cool kid drinking the product at the top right corner - not as appealing! There's too much going on!

Billboards flash by us relatively quickly so the artwork needs to be simple so the message is delivered in a simple manner. The Nesquik billboard has "bachpan zindabad" (long live childhood) written on it - the line doesn't make much of an impact because the imagery does! The tagline may be for adults, but it's the imagery that'll capture the kids.

Therefore, the Owsum team should look to leverage its Milk Monster in its outdoor communications - display an unhappy Milk Monster being drained in one of the flavors is one possibility.

Getting Below-the-Line (BTL) - Possible Activities for Owsum

BTL activities are effective tools for capturing customers due to their interactive nature. What can Owsum do?

Anyone who's lived in the Middle East will remember the juice drink Sun Top, its cola-flavored Sun Cola and the brand's infamous cool polar bear that became the brand's identity in a way. Sun Top used to have stickers on the sides of their tetrapaks, these stickers were numbered and displayed the polar bear in a some landscape or the other wearing different clothes. Sun Top had booklets which had spaces for these stickers. The idea was to collect all the stickers, stick them in the right places in the booklet and you could win a prize.

Owsum can replicate this; the polar bear becomes the Milk Monster, the booklet can contain a story, etc. If executed correctly, this will not only increase positive associations with the brand among its consumers, but also increase sales.

Another idea is to have a Shoot-the-Milk Monster competition. I don't have any intricate details in my head but the general idea is to have children use paint ball guns to cover a Milk Monster (a man/woman dressed up in a Milk Monster costume) in either chocolate, strawberry, or mango color. The top 5 finishes can be winners or something. It's fun, competitive, and memorable.

Though its more of a sales activity, why not try using the concept of the ice-cream man and have "milkmen" carry Owsum in refrigerated carts with fancy music and what not?

To finish this off, the Owsum team have tapped one aspect of children and the mother-child relationship, they need to tap a lot more and apply it in their marketing strategies to gain a foothold in the flavored milk market while expanding it at the same time.

'Too Easy'

A couple of months ago KFC Australia, a major sponsor of Australian cricket, ran this TVC causing an outrage in the USA on the grounds that the advertisement was racist - something I completely disagree with, but KFC Australia had to take the advertisement off the air:

Now I came across this TVC by chance as it was mentioned in a headline on MSN or something; obviously it caught my attention and I watched the ad on YouTube.

My first reaction: What's racist about this ad?!

Actually, I thought that line out loud at a friend's place so he asked me what all the fuss is about so I explained and showed him the ad.

Friend: That is SO racist!

Me: How? Why?!

Friend: You know, they're making fun of black people...

Me: Firstly, they're not the African-American black, they're West Indian (if that's a proper term))...so once again, how?!

Friend: You know, that black people love fried chicken!

Me: Are you friggin kidding me?!

I've come across several stereotypes in my life - oriental kids being kick ass in math, Indians shake their heads while talking, black people are violent, blondes are dumb - but never had I come across this one! Perhaps it's because I don't live in the USA that such stereotypes are meaningless and non-existent to me due to the difference in the cultural environment.

The Australians are in the same position. This is how I, and I'm pretty sure most Australians, viewed the advertisement:

Australian cricket fan stuck in middle of partying West Indies supporters (a well-known characteristic of supporters from that region) and the Windies are probably kicking Australia's ass. So the Australian fan uses the lure of KFC's finger-lickin' good chicken to distract them. Simple.

Apparently not! What got to me about the reaction of the Americans was the ignorance! When I saw the ad I was able to put it in context straight away because I was aware that the West Indies were on a tour to Australia or were about to go. When an American saw the ad s/he probably saw:

White man shuts up black folk with fried chicken because...all black folk love fried chicken?! How racist!

So who exactly created this stereotype? I have a feeling the answer lies somewhere between Canada and Central America. How many Americans know about cricket? How many know Australia's status in cricket? How many are aware of the West Indies?!

Americans need to realize that what is SO apparently common in their culture, is quite uncommon in the rest of the world! It's ridiculous how they have the audacity to jump to their own conclusions without bothering to try to understand, in this case, why such a reputed organization would run a commercial like that!

It was sad to see KFC HQ force KFC Australia to pull the ad off the air. Whatever happened to glocalization? Glocalization - for those who do not know - is not a term hatched up in "Up in the Air" but is a very common marketing term. It simply means adapting a firm's global strategy to suit local needs. In this case, KFC's finger lickin' good global appeal used in the context of a cricket - a popular sport in Australia (coz the nation's so darn good at it!). The non-African-American blacks being West Indians - people from a group of nations that love cricket as well.

I'll end this here, I know I haven't written for a while, I guess I wasn't provoked by anything for that time period! Plus I was supposed to have written this more than a month ago but I just got lazy! I apologize for any grammatical mistakes, I really can't be bothered to proof read at this moment!

"How does it work in Pakistan eh?"

I was standing in line at the counter of a book-cum-computer-cum-office supplies store, actually I wasn't in the line, more like on the side because I had just bought a new laptop, and the store was closing, so they were getting rid of customers who had small items first. Anyways, this man kinda cuts in front of me as if I don't exist and says in an irritated and loud voice "you accept cards YES?" He had blondish hair, with a beard and mustache thing going, a pinkish complexion and wore a pair of glasses. He was obviously not in the best of moods, taking of the plastic wrapping off the software he had just purchased, I think for his wife who was standing behind him. As he waited impatiently for the customer ahead of him, I looked at my cousin and made the comment "looks like the machine is working a little slow today" referring to the credit card reading machine thingymajig. He turns around - now this man was a good 5 inches taller than me and definitely twice as wide; plus, not in a good mood - looks at me, gives me one of those forced fake grins and I knew straight away he did not like what I said. However, his following question caught me by surprise: "How does it work in Pakistan eh?" actually, now that I think about it, it also surprised me that he was able to say Pakistan instead of Bakistan due to the lack of the alphabet "P" in the Arabic language, anyways, the conversation went like this:

Irritated man: "How does it work in Pakistan eh?"

Surprised me: "Well, it depends, we have our good..."

Irritated man in patronizing tone: "In Pakistan you don't need these things eh? You can just give anyone money and khallas it's done eh?"

Surprised and a little frightened me: "Sir, I wasn't..."

Irritated patronizing man in a are-you-trying-to-say-Pakistan-is-better?-well-you're-f***in-wrong-coz-Pakistan-is-a-shithole tone: "No no, is that not how it works over there? You can just bribe anyone and they do anything for you, who cares if the machine doesn't work eh?"

My raised-in-Saudi cousin: "Yeah, in Pakistan it's all good, they don't care, just take it and go"

Irritated man now smiling and happy: "Right?"

Irritated man turns around, his turn comes, hands over the crumpled up plastic wrapping to the attendant at the counter, makes his payment, thanks the attendant for his cooperation in a sarcastic tone and leaves.

That little exchange rattled me because I had never faced racism so blatantly! Back in school I felt underlying racist attitudes from most of the Arabs towards the subcontinental folk, but it was okay because the worst it resulted in was not hanging out with the supposed 'popular' kids in school who would pre-dominantly converse in Arabic amongst themselves with totaly disregard for any non-Arabic speaker, or lack of invites to parties where once again one would feel left out if he was not Arab and/or did not share the same shift in culture trend and/or was not of Western origin. However, this incident got to me!

I have seen numerous Saudis addressing the hard-working labor class Bengalis, Indians, Pakistanis by their nationalities: Ya bengali! Ya hindi! Ya Bakistani! in the most irritating "I'm superior to you, serve me!" tone. I just flew in to Saudi Arabia a few days ago on board Saudia Airlines; the attitude of the flight attendants was appalling! The flight was filled with Pakistanis and the Arab flight attendants seemed so reluctant to attend to anyone! In a way it was not surprising; and personally I know how hard it can be to deal with the common Pakistani on flights, but I am pretty sure the job description does not mention 'may act according to racial biases'. Some family friends flew in yesterday from Lucknow, India, on board a Saudia Airlines flight and they had the same complaint. Furthermore, I was at a dinner last night and some top management folk from a large organization here in the KSA were complaining about how the Arabs favor and look up to Westerners in the company despite how incompetent some of them may be while the hard work of the Subcontinental employees is taken for granted.

At first it reminded me how racist a region this is; especially in the KSA. In school, Jew was used as an insult - "you're such a Jew" or "stop being so Jewish"! Arabs get a huge kick out of imitating the Indian accent and shaking their heads while at it. The Arab girls loved the white boys (sorry, I just cannot keep using the term Western!) after their own type. I don't even know what to blame for this attitude - it could be the fact that the majority of Subcontinental people in the Middle East are found in what is known as the 'labor class' so stereotyping takes place, the fact that there is blatant pay discrimination at the workplace; hence, the Arab expatriates are earning a lot more, living more lavishly as compared to their Subcontinental counterparts, or maybe the fact that we do, as a people, do not mix with the other races as much so we are misunderstood.

The talk at the dinner moved onto, somehow, this product called Fair & Lovely (a beauty cream) and the implications of the name itself - something I had thought about many a time and reminded me of the stark reality of the racism problem.

Arabs are not the only racists around - us Indians and Pakistanis are bloody racist! The immense success of the Fair & Lovely brand in our region personifies our racist attitude! Fair skin is good, dark skin not so good!

The following phrases are so common:

"Yeh kitna kaala hai" - He's so black/dark

"Woh kitni kaali hai" - She's so black/dark

"Hai Allah bechaara, itna kaala hai" - Poor soul, he's so black/dark

The worst I heard was my friend's sister, who saw this scene from the Indian movie called Fashion in which the lead role, a model, ends up sleeping with an African man she dances with randomly at a club because she's lost control of her life and gets drunk and that's what she ends up doing. The lead wakes up, realizes what she's done and breaks down into tears. My friend's sister:

"Is she upset because she slept with him or because he's so black?"

!

Exactly.

I once told my friend that originally we're all African, due to the whole all land being one once upon a time - the Pangeas etc. and he just did not want to believe it because he did not want to be associated with Africans!

I do not even want to get started on how we love categorizing all East Asians as chiny-chong or chinky-japani and love referring to their facial features, or how Christians are referred to as karantay (which I have no idea as to why or what the term means). Pakistanis living abroad pride themselves to having better accents than Indians - ignoring the fact that the Indians are probably more well-spoken than they are. North Indians get a kick out of South Indians - categorized as mallus.

On a positive note, neither Arabs nor Asians have carried out racist attacks in their countries as compared to the attacks that take place in the much revered civilized Western world. Nonetheless, it's just frustrating that racial factors affect the way people have to live in these regions - dark-skinned women find it difficult to get married off in countries such as Pakistan and India, organizations in the Middle East will pay the Westerner or Lebanese a lot more as compared to the Pakistani or Indian despite the latter two having equal or more capabilities, living as an expatriate Pakistani or Indian you have to make sure you do not upset Saudis because the law enforcers will favor them eventually.

I'm not saying all Arabs are racists, nor are all Pakistanis or Indians. The attitude is prevalent though. I must have been 10 years old and made fun of an Arab while talking to my dad and he had a go at me for being so intolerant. A lesson I've never forgotten.

The arrogance that some carry pisses me off! People need to realize that their race is in no way better than any other. To discriminate will never help any cause. We are all human at the end of the day, working together is the only way. Racist attitudes not only instill fear in the 'victims' but also demoralises them - very counterproductive!

I don't know how the KSA will address the issue - one which they believe does not exist, but if I were to address the issue in Pakistan via advertising, I would start by taking a dig at Fair & Lovely and what it stands for!

I am going to end this with an ad by Nike that was particularly for eliminating racism from football, but I believe the message can be applied to a broader forum.

"Just go on my blog, you'll find it all there!"

The heading above is what not to say in an interview.

So it's been 12 hours since my last post. I went to my uni in the morning to find out if I'm eligible for the MBA program, turns out that they had extended the deadline so I'm eligible! The sinking feeling set in again. One of the employees at the placement office suggested I just fill the registration form then and there, I resisted and just brought the form home with me. I am just unwilling to accept my fate at the moment. From there I was on my way to Mindshare for my job interview; revising my media planning notes on the way.

Nervous? Not really. I was nervous for my interview at The Resource Group (TRG) a month ago. Not for this though, probably because it was of my field of interest. I reach there a good 15 minutes early. I met a senior of mine from a couple of years ago, he was leaving the office for a smoke. 5 minutes later a young lady by the name of Sana received me and took me to the interview room I suppose. Two of her colleagues - Sahar, I think, and Tariq, joined her.

I was first asked about my background and, more importantly, my future academic plans. I elaborated on my options for my Master's and told them I was inclined to working and that I would be there for a minimum of two years. Sana pointed out that could work against me, I simply said that the way I see it is that after my Master's I could easily rejoin them. We moved onto my internships, they had a special interest in what I did at Brandcom Middle East. Next set of questions were related to a couple of projects I did in uni:

"You did a project on Clean&Clear, what was that about?"
"The project was simply video interviewing a brand manager about a certain marketing topic relating it to their brand, we went a step further and interviewed consumers to match what the brand manager claimed about the brand's positioning and personality with its perception amongst consumers"
"What is the position of Clean&Clear?"
"Well it's a brand for young females, it's a fun brand, a girl's friend"
"What about Pond's?" (it turned out that Sana dealt with Pond's as a Senior Planner)
"Well Pond's is seen to be for young ladies, it has a graceful touch to it..."
"Have you seen the latest campaign?"
"The Hadiqa one?"
"No that's anti-ageing, the Mehreen and Anoushay testimonials..."
"I can't quite recall"

What I liked so far about this interview was the fact that it was discussion-like, that they showed an interest in what I had to say. This is how my 5 minute TRG interview ended:

"Would you be interested in a position other than Management Trainee?"
"What sort of position?"
"HR, or maybe administrative"
"Well, it would depend on the job description"
"Well, what do you want?"
"I don't quite know what departments you have here, because from what I've understood about your company is that you convince companies in the States to outsource their processes to Pakistan..." Here I looked for some sort of correction, or guidance from the interviewers as to what the hell their company does - instead, they just looked at me blankly as I made pathetic attempts at making sense, they didn't seem to care one bit!

Back to Mindshare. I was then asked about campaigns I have recently liked, and I mentioned how I did not like the Touch Condoms campaign and that led into a good discussion. They threw some questions at me to test my marketing mind I guess - what would I do differently, why, what would I do if I HAD to use this TVC only. Just as we had started this discussion, I mentioned that I went on the Greenstar website for the purposes of my blog. After answering and explaining what I would do differently, this is what happened:

"Have you seen the Indian campaign?"
I smile, "just go on my blog, you'll find it all there!" feeling like such a smart-ass when saying that.
"As interviewers, we expect you to answer our questions, not send us here or there to check this and that..." Reality check! How did I get to this? Perhaps I was enjoying the interview a little too much that I got carried away, nonetheless I tried to clean up the little mess I created...
"You're right, my bad, yes I've seen the bindaas bol campaign and the i-pill campaign, thought they were brilliant. In fact I first saw the bindaas bol campaign a couple of years..."

The interview ended on why I wanted to get into media planning. I asked what kind of work I would get and it sounded good I must say.

Apparently there'll be a second interview and I'll know in a couple of days if I'm selected for that. God I want to work so bad! I don't want to do a bloody work-project and return to IBA! It would be so difficult to make a phone call and tell them "I'm sorry, but I'm opting to do my MBA so if you could consider me for a work-project instead..."

Depressing.