Skip to main content

Royal Rumble

As condolences gather for prince consort, the British royalty has made it again into the international columns. The gossip around racist allegations on the royal family and of a prince who relinquished his right. But amidst, of this chaos, there is a hugely undermined player in royal politics. And this unlikely character is that of British media. Although media stories and rumours are often dismissed as trivial indulgences, the case here is different and disheartening.

To start with, only a few people have a kinder impression of the majesty's sibling, Princess Margaret. And perhaps, hers plays a minor role to play in this perception. As a younger child of the household, she was indeed free-hearted and spoiled by love. But those aren't sins to condemn at. But, when suddenly her father was crowned the king of England, the media flushed into their lives. Scrutinising Margaret for her failings and rewarding Elizabeth for her triumphs. It was a great story, portraying the future queen as graceful and her sister as wicked. What seemed innocent gossip hammered its way into the princess' life. They called her the 'bad sister' so much that she ended up as one.

The media was never reprimanded for its role. And thus, it has taken up the task of presenting the new characters of the royal family in whatever light suits public opinion. When Princess Dianna was engineered as a coquette. Her cars chased down the British alleys until her unfortunate end. Such was Meghan when the pamphlets took it upon themselves to establish Kate as the better queen. To put Meghan, her origin, and life under a scanner, whose out was already made to fit a story. A story so merciless that it does not spare the baby bump of the expecting mother from comparison.

Sadly, media has steered away from the truth, but unforgivable that it has today hampered lives to the extent that people gave up on it. Meghan chose to evade history, relinquish her throne and live the life she deserved, a decision both Margaret and Diana couldn't make when they had some time. 

Popular posts from this blog

Politics of Perpetuity

There are obvious downsides to democracy. When we look at the distribution of opinion on a particular issue, it generally follows a normal distribution. This implies that to achieve the majority, it's theoretically advised to stick to the centre. And this love for mediocrity makes democracy allergic to politically solid decisions.  Along with it, democracies tend to be the rooster for sweet talkers. And that is an outcome rather than a voluntary trait. Primarily because most voters need to be equipped to deal with the complexities of the field. For example, it could be more practical for an electrical engineer to comprehend medical patterns and the pandemic's effect on production. Thus, democratic institutions need people managers who have two keywords to watch out for - sweet talking and status quo. However, democracies have been hugely popular. And people have reported being happier. Whether this is induced, indoctrinated or influenced is another question. But history has cho...
dive in...

Turning back from pull to push

Two recent campaigns deserve attention from marketing enthusiasts, one of Campa Cola (reenergised by the Reliance Group) and of Tata Sampann's species. The challenges these two brands face are too distinct from one another. Campa, on the one hand, aims to fight the global brands like Pepsi and Coca-Cola, whereas Sampann looks to create a market in indian spices that has been dominated by local players like MDH and Everest. However, their strategies have something in common: getting the distributors to stock more of their products on the shelves. Campa is offering the distributors twice the margins, while Sampann is leveraging its vast portfolio to make stocking only Tata products a win for the distributors. Image credit: Economic Times To understand why this is happening, and what makes this interesting, one has to look back on the history of marketing, more specifically the shift from a push to a pull-based marketing, where the focus of the brands shifted from pushing their produc...
dive in...

The Theatre Era

As tough times await us, it's frivolous to talk about theatres. But doesn't it look like theatres would go out of fashion before the pandemic ends( But would it ?? ) With the footfall on OTT platforms rising daily. Looking at a screen stuck to the chair, with no ability to pause or even play subtitles, sounds so technologically inferior. The blockbuster release has increasingly been  generously funded , mega-multi-starrer films, which keep running sequels until they go unprofitable . In fact, content is sometimes the second priority; the fan base and the festive season come first. Over the years, movie houses have mastered this art. Roping in top actors into characters that have gone synonymous with their name. The OTT platforms, however, are earmarked for the content. Their promise to give a shot to the aspiring director who doesn't have funds to compete against the mult-million movie releases. Thus i n its cast and crew shines the raw, untamed art which any critic would b...
dive in...