There are a lot of funny memes and talk about the famous advertisement in which the most popular actors are selling us a product that is a cause of great tragedy in many families from the lower and the middle class of India. While there has been a critique offered in the form of humour, I haven’t seen much serious commentary about this phenomenon. A phenomenon we have been witnessing from the past three decades since the emergence of media and broadcasting in a big way. I guess a serious reflection on this topic leads us to a very dark realisation about our own lives. If you continue reading this you might see it for yourself. 

The many national and international stars from the films, sports and now social media are part of campaigns that sell products and services that are very detrimental to the wellbeing of the masses, mainly the working class. With great pride, excitement and charm these socially prominent individuals appeal to the people to gamble with their hard earned money, consume products such as pan masala which is smartly sold with the unadvertised tobacco on the side. 

I do not know how as a society we are quietly accepting of a betrayal of such a huge scale. I call this a betrayal because a huge part of their material success comes from the fact that people are interested in their life and they find a sense of hope and relatability in them. They leverage this popularity and fan following to pursuade people to buy things that come with huge potential risks to their mental and physical well being. Our society is caught in this vicious cycle where we create heroes by showing our admiration and interest in them and they reach a point in their stardom where they start selling us lifestyle choices that we absolutely do not need. 

If you go into the rabbit hole of social media, one of the many scrolls of yours would lead you to the short clips of the interviews of these stars who are saying something very wise and mature. These are supposed to be short bits of motivation to give you a sense of inspiration while you are being served a buffet of micro video blogs about food, fashion, talent, slapstick, sensual visuals, music etc. A cinematic edit displaying the words and anecdotes of these stars, their struggles, their wisdom, wit and intelligence. Then you keep your phone away to watch a cricket match and you see the same stars asking you to gamble, chew tobacco, have a lifestyle that you cannot afford, buy products that add no value to your life etc. I really don’t know what to do about it. I guess these stars themselves do not know what to do about it. The cheques that these big businesses offer them must contain magic numbers too hard to resist. It is probably true that most of our life is now owned by big businesses. They make choices on our behalf without us noticing that we are not in control of our life and lifestyle. A world created by the nexus of powerful stars, big corporations, media and advertising where there is a consistent and persistent subconscious persuasion and manipulation. 

Most of our educational attempts today are oriented towards creating individuals that are well adjusted to a world that looks very similar to the food chain in ecology with producers and consumers. Producers create food from raw materials, primary consumers consume food from producers and the secondary consumers consume primary consumers as food. However, contrary to the ecological food chain in which the primary producers (photosynthetic plants and algae) are the most altruistic and vulnerable, the social food chain of modern civilization consists of industrialised and corporatised producers who are extremely powerful, exploitative, manipulative, insecure and full of self interest. The competition between these producers is a competition for monopoly. Most of the people in the society are consumers aspiring to be producers and producers aspiring to attain monopoly. Therefore we have an education that teaches children about the many roadmaps to become producers from consumers. The value of integrity, equality and compassion are like those insignificant reels of stars being wise and vulnerable between all the other sensational mind numbing clips on social media. 

As a society we have successfully transitioned from having heroes that persuaded us to have values of equality, non-violence, humility and integrity to having heroes that sell us aerated drinks, air conditioners, anti dandruff shampoo, pan masala, gambling and betting. Congratulations to us on this amazing team effort. 

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