Dear Friends
I have been rather vocal about the malpractices and corruption rampant in the private sector in our country. While almost all our attention is diverted by the majorly pro-private sector (and corrupt) media towards the corruption in the Government sector, the daylight dacoities and frauds being committed by the private sector on the hapless consumers are happily ignored. In this article, I will try to bring into focus one of the biggest frauds being committed on the Indian public daily by the private sector, in full public view (literally !!). It is a fraud that people have made careers out of and one in which the most respectable of celebrities in our country participate on a daily basis. This fraud is the biggest scam in the nation-much bigger than the 2-G scam or the Commonwealth Scam or any other scam that has been or will be !! Moreover, its perpetrators live respectably in the society and enjoy and flaunt all their ill-gotten wealth with aplomb. The fraud-indeed scam-that I am talking about has a very attractive name. It is called "Advertising".
Now-now, before you proclaim me a cynic consider this. A certain company launches a brand of cream that "Guarantees" fair skin for men. In order to bolster this claim, they market the cream saying that it contains an agent called "American Luminopeptide". Now, I have been a student of Life Sciences and have studied subjects like Biochemistry and Physiology in quite some detial. In my entire student life, I don't recall ever having come across any protein or amino acid known as "American Luminopeptide". In fact, just before writing this article, I googled "American Luminopeptide" in order to be doubly sure that it is not a very recent discovery in the field of biochemistry. However, even the all powerful Google refused to acknowledge the existance of any such protein or amino acid and only confirmed that it is some mysterious chemical or agent that the company under discussion seems to have added to its cream. The marketing of the cream on the basis of an ingredient that does not exist is just one part of the fraud. The second part of the fraud is committed by the reigning superstar of Hindi film industry. A much respected, talanted and intelligent Shah Rukh Khan comes on the screen and declares with impunity that he uses this particular brand of cream and that is has helped to make him fairer since it contains "American Luminopeptide"!!! Of course, the fact is that Mr.Khan has never used this cream and nor will he ever use it. He is simply "Promoting" this cream in return for a hefty sum of money. So, what does this mean ? Translated into simple terms, it means that Mr.Khan is lying to the entire nation when he says that he uses this brand of cream to make himself fairer. I would like to ask that before endorsing this cream with an imaginary ingredient known as "American Luminopeptide" , has Mr.Khan bothered to enquire as what this ingredient is ? Can he provide us with a record of the period for which he has used this cream ? Has he undergone any medical tests that may prove that he has actually become fairer after using this cream for a certain period of time ? You know as well as I know that the answer to all these questions is 'No'. But still, Mr.Khan stands tall on the TV screen and lies in broad floodlights in front of the entire nation and assists the company to fool an entire nation in return for a fat fee. I have given just one example. Every day we see scores of celebrities competing with each other in their bid to pursuade us that this cosmetic is good for our skin and that one is good for our hair. We also see the same kind of unsubstantiated claims and blind promotion for products like food supplements, toothpaste, white goods and the like. To illustrate further, one brand of toothpaste claims that it has "Extra Calcium". They also run an ad showing their brand of toothpaste being applied to two sea-urchin shells (which are inherently brittle and are made of calcium carbonate). Then-post application of the tooth paste, the shells are hit against each other, and the one which has not received the application of the tooth paste breaks. Now, one thing that the tooth paste company has not told the consumers and the viewers of this ad is that there is nothing in common between a living tooth and the dead endoskeleton of a sea urchin ! So what works on a sea urchin shell will sure as hell not work on a tooth ! The tooth paste company also does not cite any study or scientific evidence to prove that their tooth paste that supposedly strengthens sea urchin shells will also strengthen teeth. But still, such mindless advertising continues. Its a free for all. Companies continue to rope in celebrities who continue to make unsubstantiated and largely unscientific claims about the efficacy of products that they have never used in front of the whole nation in return for huge sums of money. And, the poor consumer, blinded by all this glitz and glamour continues to spend his hard earned money on products which leave him cheated in the end. This national fraud continues unabated, making everybody richer at the cost of the poor, hapless and gullible consumer.
