our wonder kids

sadhuji

The news of a nine year old kid Mridul getting acceptance as the youngest software engineer in the World makes us feel proud as a Nation.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/a...ow/1179306.cms

Simultaneously, we are shocked at the news of an 11-year old boy in far off Kent who was arrested by the police because he had a toy gun that resembled a real one. It seems he pointed the gun at a fellow student during lunch recess and demanded – ‘hand over the money.’

These are the wonder kids of today. They are wonder kids because they are one of the strongest mediums to carry home any message whether it is of detergents or toothpaste or undergarments. Rope in the kids (they don’t demand much), make them mouth those catchy phrases and the item invariably pops up in your shopping list. Kids have influenced the purchase decisions of families since long, probably one of the first was the ad of the kid who runs away from home and is located by his grandfather who brings him back with the inducement of ‘garam garam jilebi.’ Then there is the ad ‘yeh andar ki baat hai’ (pertaining to under garments). One of the recent ones shows a kid holding on to the overhead rod in as the school bus and letting his body hang on the grip. His friend comments – ‘you can’t become tall in this way’, and then suggests that he tell his mother to switch his brand of drink – ‘mummy ko bolo Complan deney key liye’ (tell your mummy to give you Complan). This is followed by ads that teach the girls in pre-secondary classes to cultivate the habit of using shampoo daily and specially designed body soaps in attractive shapes to entice the kids to bathe. The one by the kid who has come for admission in school and keeps on asking ‘ab puchiye na kya pooochna hai’ (why don’t you ask me what you want to ask?) is a gem, especially the innocence on his face. He is the brand ambassador for the advanced white version of RIN, one of the detergent powders. Alongside, we have another pair of kids who imitate a live interview session and say – ‘mere mummy super mummy, mere mummy key paas hai super white NIRMA’ (my mummy is super mummy, my mummy has super white NIRMA). Also in the league is the ad of Britannia TIGER biscuits where both the mother and the son prance like tigers and proclaim - ‘swasth khao, tiger ban jao’(eat health and become a tiger).

And, to cap it all, we have parents who gift computers to their children on their birthdays. A father even goes to the extent of meeting one of the Gods and requesting him for something that will make his son shine in his studies. The God suggests computers on EMI of Rs 499.00. The computers come at concessional installment plans and are offered by leading brands.

Kids of today are on the move and make the world move with them – no kidding, this is no kid stuff.

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mooning over a moon journey

mira4bai4

Yes Sadhuji, they have us eating out of the palm of their hands. Do we not have any dignity, are we to be coned by the advertisers, harassed by the children and mortgaged to the computer companies; when shall it end.

Nick-H

I guess there was a time when kids got their parents to sculp the latest hammer shape in a piece of rock. I don't think it was ever any different, although modern marketing has turned up the volume level. Perhaps the way that the Fast Food chains (I wouldn't want to mention any names; I might get sued ) are so succesful in programming children demand their rubbish for the rest of their lives is the most worrying.

I guess there have always been child genii too, world-wide. It does seem to me that India produces more than its fair share of young musicians, but that's probably skewed by my interest in Indian music.

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Just one member of the IndiaMike Mod Team