Brands Attack!!!!!

Profits are everything today. Profits fall down, companies resort to all sorts of tactics to get them uphill, from changing just the packaging to offering deals of 20% extra and what not!!! Some even claim to turn you into tiger if you eat their product!!! But this technique works on mature, adult consumers too although the strategy may vary a little. Recently a few quite famous companies have taken a very noble approach to increase their sales; they are selling the idea of goodness and charity, associating/selling their black drink with a mystical noor-e-khuda playing in the background. for a second one is confused at the connection or link that is being attempted to establish. A literally black drink is used to establish an indirect analogy with Noor-e-Khuda? Am I to drink this unhealthy-proven drink and assume that I'm doing something noble? Can i not just do something noble without putting my own health and well being at stake? Why do i have to fall for this to feel spiritual? And why are so many well educated media icons endorsing this brand? Similarly some fried chicken brand tempts you to buy their bucket so you can donate a small amount to an NGO! Next you know, tobacco companies will come with a campaign to donate Rs.1 to cancer patients on sale of one pack of cigarettes!! While there is nothing wrong in offering such noble deals, what product are they being offered with is very important to understand. It is a known fact that many who manufacture, sell, promote and advertise a product are themselves not user of the product as they know the various hazards it may cause them be it beauty products, food items or any drug. Then why fool the consumer into thinking it is going to bring a revolution of happiness, success and fulfillment in his life!

Isn't that sort of cheating and lying, something we are meant to consider wrong? Then how does it become right when adorned with all the glitter and glam of the corporate world? Doesn't the consumer have a right to know what exactly is 'in' the product that you are offering to sell instead of painting a vague and hazy picture of happiness and goodness? Spare me the names of all the fancy stuff (Monosodium Glutamate,Sodium Phosphates.Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, Sodium Bicarbonate, Monocalcium Phosphate,carbonated water, phosphoric acid)and tell me in lay man terms what will this do to my system and how will it actually make my life better?Whats in it for me? And if the truth is too harsh and bitter, then think of what it is doing to the millions out there using your product. Poison doesn't become honey by changing just its name!!

I often wonder if it were made mandatory for these companies to use their own product, would they still be so profit driven, or would their own health and wellness account for something! Isnt it human to offer others what you would like for your own self too, then how and when did the corporate world get so blind to this very basic ethic and value of humanity? When did profits start meaning everything! And then I wonder if they are all in it together, if somehow those who sell the illness also sell the treatment and cure, if the villain is the hero and the hero is the villain too, if all this goes deeper than the naive understanding and imagination of the everyday consumer! I remember a great tip I learned from an online course I was taking. It said, before buying something, read the list of ingredients on the label. If the list makes sense to you like salt, pepper, sugar, dried herbs, etc, it is safe but if it is something that sounds alien, think twice!