Lasswell's maxim, "who says what to whom in what channel and with what effect," will determine the future of not only the channel owners but also of those of the ownerless ones. As we steadily move from an industrial age into an information age, it becomes more and more imperative that we learn to structure our own information and be capable enough to decode anothers, inorder to establish the rhetoric.
This project is an effort to reintegrate the Charra community with the mainstream society by breaking the myth of ‘Born criminals' The project aspires to construct a strategy of marketing human dignity for De-notified tribes in the country. The language of marketing and advertising has been restricted to the fields of tangible commercial products only. The rhetoric of marketing, if applied to social advertising with the same fervour, keeping in mind the psychology of the viewer, may yield the same success as aggressive marketing has done to the consumer market. The strategies of mass communication of appealing to the emotions, rational, and cultural facets of the targeted audience to persuade, can structure the given information to exhort change.The emphasis of todays advertisements has shifted from the product to the life style of the buyer. Advertisements today no longer tell us what to buy but how to live our lives and so they say ‘think apple’ and not buy apple, ‘just do it’ and not just buy it. This is very much true for social advertising and persuasion.
In the social rhetoric, one is not involved with the oppressed object but with the ‘upliftment’/ ‘empowerment’ of the attitude of the un-oppressed lot. The change in perception to a loftier attitude automatically changes the code of conduct of a person towards the socially under-prieveliged without preaching the non-enticing morality of goodness.
But today voicing an opinion for your rights and needs requires you to not only be conversant in a foreign language (English/ Hindi in the context of India) but also in that of the media- a media that has no place for the marginalized.
Theater advertisement is a pastiche of the languages of theater and advertising. It is said that the Chharas were born on the stage. They are excellent actors and singers with many productions to their credit. This unsung genre of theater has been used repeatedly by these artists to voice their opinion, but the galmour of other medium have always faded the lights in their stage. Considering this, I propose that the entire spot be created in the language of theater with heightened emotions, strong lights, limited space, props and exagerrated make up to highlight the unknown side of the Charras as artists. The recordings of these theater pieces ‘glamorously’ edited could be then used as spots.
If ‘the medium is the message’ today the vehicle of the advertising language driven in celluloid can become the message that theater has failed to convey. These cryptic advertisements of 30 seconds to 1 minute would be a participatory process where the Chharas would not only determine what is said about them but also how it is said- something that has never been in their hands. The actors will decide not only what needs to be said but also how it is said through their acting.
This project is an effort to reintegrate the Charra community with the mainstream society by breaking the myth of ‘Born criminals' The project aspires to construct a strategy of marketing human dignity for De-notified tribes in the country. The language of marketing and advertising has been restricted to the fields of tangible commercial products only. The rhetoric of marketing, if applied to social advertising with the same fervour, keeping in mind the psychology of the viewer, may yield the same success as aggressive marketing has done to the consumer market. The strategies of mass communication of appealing to the emotions, rational, and cultural facets of the targeted audience to persuade, can structure the given information to exhort change.The emphasis of todays advertisements has shifted from the product to the life style of the buyer. Advertisements today no longer tell us what to buy but how to live our lives and so they say ‘think apple’ and not buy apple, ‘just do it’ and not just buy it. This is very much true for social advertising and persuasion.
In the social rhetoric, one is not involved with the oppressed object but with the ‘upliftment’/ ‘empowerment’ of the attitude of the un-oppressed lot. The change in perception to a loftier attitude automatically changes the code of conduct of a person towards the socially under-prieveliged without preaching the non-enticing morality of goodness.
But today voicing an opinion for your rights and needs requires you to not only be conversant in a foreign language (English/ Hindi in the context of India) but also in that of the media- a media that has no place for the marginalized.
Theater advertisement is a pastiche of the languages of theater and advertising. It is said that the Chharas were born on the stage. They are excellent actors and singers with many productions to their credit. This unsung genre of theater has been used repeatedly by these artists to voice their opinion, but the galmour of other medium have always faded the lights in their stage. Considering this, I propose that the entire spot be created in the language of theater with heightened emotions, strong lights, limited space, props and exagerrated make up to highlight the unknown side of the Charras as artists. The recordings of these theater pieces ‘glamorously’ edited could be then used as spots.
If ‘the medium is the message’ today the vehicle of the advertising language driven in celluloid can become the message that theater has failed to convey. These cryptic advertisements of 30 seconds to 1 minute would be a participatory process where the Chharas would not only determine what is said about them but also how it is said- something that has never been in their hands. The actors will decide not only what needs to be said but also how it is said through their acting.
