Chandrababu Naidu: Gimmicks Galore!

“Doing business without advertising is like winking at a girl in the dark. You know what you are doing, but nobody else does” – Steuart Henderson Britt.

Britt a marketing guru in this famous quote was making a sharp case for the need for advertising for a business. In case of AP Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu it seems that we need to make a reverse case and remind him yes it’s good to advertise and businesses need to advertise. But Babu please get the business in place before you go ahead and advertise!

So if Steuart Henderson Britt were to have a look at the Chandra Babu model of today he would turn the quote upside down to read - “Doing advertising without business is like winking at a girl in the dark. You don't know what you are doing, but everybody else does.” 

None really today knows what Chandrababu Naidu is doing! His business was to get special status for the state. His business was to fulfill his poll promises and put all efforts to secure the future of the youth and children of Andhra Pradesh. Now he seems to have abandoned the real business and moved into advertising mode which he thinks will take him places.

His gimmicks galore - Special package , Foreign trips , foreigners visiting , the latest brain wave of applying to the Guiness book of world records for selling bricks online or spending crores of rupees from the Government exchequer and justify it by saying that the world is watching, so I have to splurge cannot fool the people .They are already seeing through the lies - the promised sops getting reduced to a package and being traded off for special status and the focus on real estate business rather than people's business. The people's capital only in words but not indeed!

He forgets that times have changed since his last stint. People in today's world have access to information and can decipher right from wrong, lies from truth. Yes, they cannot be hoodwinked.

Andhra Pradesh has a predominantly young population, the youth has ambitions & aspirations and is rearing to reach out for the stars and fulfill their dreams. With them Babu's model of advertising without business will not work. Only his own coterie can see him winking in the dark, not the youth, not the farmers and definitely not the marginalized people across the state. They are faced with real issues, a need and a want and an uncertain future is staring at them. Will the youth watch him in silence while he is trading off their future or will they march out, claim their rights and reach out for their dreams?  Will they challenge the gimmicks galore?

By
Rani Reddy