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For as long as I can remember people have bemoaned the negative influence of the western world.
From asking the kids to leave the room when ‘the bold and the beautiful’ is on, to giving teenagers the stare when they’re watch Phoebe give birth to the children of her brother :D
Yes, western culture has influenced us. No, we're not delivering our brothers' babies.
Substituting punctuation with ‘like’ or whatever-ing ever unhandled-able situation; we are pretty American in our talk.
But just last night while watching Jimmy Kimmel Live on Star World I saw two videos which were picked right out of India.
Video 1: Dadagiri slap video
This is the one where a rather moronic TV host slaps a contestant, only to be slapped right back.
Video 2: Indian dance video
I’m sure plenty of American shows have picked up stuff that’s Indian and this isn’t the first time, but I still thought it was cool.
While I may not care for that awesome soap produced out of Taiwan, I am still open to watching something interesting on youtube irrespective of where it comes from.
Youtube's influence on TV programming
So in a way, the internet is opening up a lot of cultures to the world and thereby perhaps influencing even TV programming and making it more open. (by ‘culture’ of course I don’t mean values and snake charmers, but simply a way of living)
So while a Texan farmer may not surf youtube; through his TV he might just get to watch programming inspired by the world. He might just gain a perspective that goes beyond 'y'all' and double negatives.
Everyone talks about a global culture, but what's interesting is that it really does have a ripple effect that lasts beyond just the web. Making it a true 'culture' and not just a passing fad.
PS: i get that the dadagiri video is too silly to help me prove my point. Hoping you will overlook that :)
Recently I saw this Martin Lindstrom video about Crayola's odourless marketing mistake.
For those of you who did not use Crayola while growing up, here’s a quick refresher course.
Crayola is the coolestest brand of crayons in the world. They’re fun and they’re the bestest :D
And yea, they have a distinct smell that’s waxy and quite pleasant.
Crayola’s smell brings back memories of rainy afternoons spent colouring Cinderella books. Which is why Lindstrom’s video is of great importance. He tells us that Crayola no longer smells that way and neither do their stores.
A brand isn’t just the logo or the colour right? Smell is an important part, especially when it’s as distinct and happy like the crayola one.
I can only think of Lifestyle when I think of a brand with a distinct smell in India. Maybe Parachute would qualify too.
Anything else that comes to mind?
Okay so I know that I shouldn't have tried out BigFlix anyway. For the simple reason that Reliance cannot run a basic online business because their customer care is really the worst in the whole wide world. But anyway, I thought I'd give it a shot. You know, try the one month rental and take it from there.
Day 1
I decide that I want to register for BigFlix. I go online, choose the appropriate plan. Register. I choose the pay-by-cash option in which a BigFlix associate visits you to collect the money within 24 hrs of registration. You're given an Order number.
What happens
Nobody comes to collect the money for 2 days. No phone call nothing.
A call to their customer care leaves me shocked because apparently they can't do anything till the time become a member. But I can’t become a member till the man comes to pick up the money.
Day 3-4 (don’t know which anymore)
I almost think of chucking BigFlix, but something makes me give them a second chance.
I decide to go to a reliance webworld and pay the money there so that they can activate my membership. It was obvious that nobody would come and collect it.
What happens
I walk around, find the damned store but they tell me they have some network issues and I'll have to come back tomorrow.
Thankfully, quite unlike a typical Reliance response, an employee agrees to help me out if I pay in cash and fill out a second form for membership so that they can do it all offline. I agree.
I'm asked to wait till afternoon the next day to receive my login ID and password to be able to order movies online.
God bless that man's soul.
Day 4-5
its afternoon and I haven't yet received the loginID.
I decide to call customer care and after explaining my problem thrice I give up and just ask for the reliance webworld's number so that I can deal with this myself.
guess what? They don't have the telephone numbers of their stores.
And like always, the customer care cannot help till I become a member.
Which I will become once reliance webworld inputs my request.
Which reliance webworld will do once I remind and threaten them.
Which I will do when I find their number!
*tearing my hair out*
PS: the nice guy at reliance webworld offered his personal number to me when I went there but I refused thinking I can always customer care. Naive!
Faith restored
Okay so I knew they'd come around! :) so my faith in bigflix was justified... to some extent.
they delivered my movies to me today.
but i still maintain that their customer service sucks.
I received no mail or call about my account activation and the call centre was hopeless.
Update: A bigflix delivery guy asked my friend for Dussehra bakshish :D that's really weird. God forbid Dominos Delivery guys start that too!