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Advertise & Relax
Advertising will deliver us from the present imbroglio. Why doesn't the government simply follow this?
As an advertisement professional, one can only pity the government which is fretting as it is sitting on top of a mess, partly inherited and partly the one it created. The solution to this entire problem is simple: Advertise with innovation.
In fact it is not an entirely new strategy for the government. The only thing needed is to do it with the new loktantrik vigour. The old style that worked with the old regime is not going to work during the new regime. Take untouchability for instance. Why was this problem not so serious during the old regime? Because it was advertising so consistently since 1960 against untouchability, and that worked. But immediately after the establishment of the new regime, the problem of untouchability resurfaced and the government made a stupid move. Instead of giving a new loktantrik ad, the Parliament made a declaration causing a lot of hue and cry over it. Had there been the advertising, everything would have moved smoothly. That's why I say: Advertise and relax.
The same explanation holds true in case of child labour, sending girl children to school and the like.
Advertisement is an art to sell dreams, not the reality, and the Nepali advertising has taken smart strides over the past few years in this art.
For effectiveness of the advertisement, you have to understand the underlying trend. The underlying trend among Nepali people is that their purchases are dictated by freebies that you promise, not by the brand name. Gone are the days when people used to buy goods by looking at the brand names. Nowadays, consumers are guided more by the Shakespearean question "What is in a name?" Now a bar of soap does not sell on its own accord but for the chance that the manufacturer offers the buyer to either win a gold coin or some thing else as exciting with the purchase. So, you have to be careful and highlight the gold coin offer in your ad and not just the soap. Going by the same logic, you can easily see that the people now are not going to buy an idea on the basis of the brand name of the political party. The idea has to be accompanied by a freebie.
The lesson: Whenever there is a demand raised by one group or other, either by putting forth a memorandum or by holding a street demonstration, chakka jam or fast-onto-death, the government should not do anything else, but just give out one or several advertisement with the promise of a freebie.
For example, the ads to address the problem of flood and landslide victims, could read something like: "Anyone giving advance warning of flood will be rewarded with a jhool to ward off mosquitoes and everything bad that may come with these natural calamities. Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and Prime Minister of Health". Similarly, the ad to address the problem of a cabbie stabbed to death by unidentified criminals would be: "Cabbies of Nepal Unite! Instead of holding jakkajam, come to the airport to pick up kuires who are pouring in to visit the loktantrik Nepal . Ministry of Cabbie Welfare." To address the problem of food scarcity in the Karnali zone the ad could read: "The Government of Nepal is studying feasibility to form a separate ministry for the Karnali zone. Send your feasibility study to us and get Rs. 10. Department of Information and Communication." Don't to forget to offer the freebie.
You may wonder how simple ads like these work wonders. The secret is that if you give the ad, you don't need to deliver. This has been proved so conclusively by both the private and the public sector. You may not need any example from the public sector as you might have noticed plenty of such ads with lot of promise but zero delivery; still they have taken care of the problem. Similar is the case with the private sector. To take the example of the gold coin offer with the soap, how many times have you actually heard or read about the gold coin being given to any buyer? Hence the mantra: advertise and relax.
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