Of Advertisements............and ? Marketting

Of late it is rather amusing to see ads both in the visual as well as print media making efforts to lure young men and women in to the Services. One liners like “Do you have it in you”……attempting to rekindle the hidden traits of chivalry among the youngsters prodding them to choose the Military career option. Another one shows a senior military commander speaking of the “luxurious lifestyles “ lead in the services, the best medical facilities (which I certainly do not doubt), the best schooling facilities for the children…………..hold it ….now , I may not agree with that one…….
And thereby hangs a tale!
Several years ago, I was posted to a small place called Bakshi ka Talaab – 30 odd kms from Lucknow – a peace location. There was a small Kendriya Vidhyalaya at BKT having classes upto class X. I had never in my life seen a more disinterested bunch of teachers. Of all the children who had appeared for the class X board, only 6 could pass the exam and the topper had scored 48 % marks !! Some of the children who failed had scored 12 % marks in English! I wonder what happened to those children .After all they were the wards of Military personnel who had put their children in that school not by choice but out of compulsion!! ……….so much to speak of the “best “ schooling facilities…One can well imagine the situation in other God forsaken places. Yes, there are Army/ Air Force schools at every base where teachers are invariably the spouses or wards of the local service personnel who are taken not solely on their merit.
There are of course good schools….for example The Air Force School at Subroto Park (TAFS)………..perhaps one of the best schools at Delhi. But how many of us are fortunate to get at least one posting to Delhi ? I for one could never make it to Delhi ….no cribs though….

Quite naturally , all this brings us to ask a few questions to ourselves.

How is this ad different from………let’s say about the personality who says “Boost is the secret of my energy”……..for all you know he may never have tasted Boost all his life !! Therefore are these ads misleading the potential entrant to the Organization ?
Traditionally a job in the Forces was perhaps the most coveted one . It was indeed the royalty which had the privilege to send their sons to the Armed Forces. But today we have reached a state where we have to advertise to get the youth to join the NDA/ Army. Have we reduced ourselves to ordinary merchandise that needs to be marketed ?
Why don’t we see similar ads luring people in to the IAS, IPS, Forest Service etc?
Why don’t we see children of politicians joining the Defense Services ? There are several of them whose kids are Bureaucrats…

Where have things gone wrong ?..............Food for thought folks…….. Naren