AIDA & Sheroes
It was not too long when during one of my Agra trips; I was exposed to this café and initiative called Sheroes—a café run by the acid attack survivors.
How nice, was my initial reaction. After all, like most of Indians I am also vulnerable to emotional antics. Overwhelmed by the cause and the effort of these crusaders, I decided to do something for them. I did make a proposal and shared it too but for some reasons it could never see the light of the day. However, I liked their page and followed them.
Well, somewhere around that time, I saw a post on Facebook. It was some ‘Hug me’ or ‘Kiss me’ campaign launched by the team Sheroes. A group of acid attack women, attired in Sheroes tee, were going around Connaught Place, creating ripples, likes and heightened awareness. No wonder, their Facebook page was inundated with support and kind words.
However, I was a little surprised. To accentuate my confusion, I saw snippets of fashion shows where one of the victims walked the ramp. On the face of it, you could question my doubt, as catwalk could never amount to crime or sin.
Yes, I understand that. But I also understand AIDA—the well-used model used by marketers. AIDA—the product of Dr. Kotler, stands for Awareness, Interest, Decision and Action. Most of brand-marketing strategies are developed using the same. I was compelled to ask myself if Sheroes was using the same?
The emotional Indian chided me for being the cynic. Of course, it is imperative for every social cause to create a broad-based awareness. What was wrong if they were doing it by using the acid victims as props?
This got me to a larger question. Awareness for what? Eradicating acid attacks? Creating a behavioral change amongst the strata that used acid to settle scores or generating awareness for large funding?
Hate me if you want to but please pause for a moment. I am sure, in no time you would be on my side.
Any attack has two parties. The attacker and the victim. The attacker gets reported and law takes its own course. There are laws in IPC and it is a matter of debate if they need to be amended or suffice in their present form. Coming to the victim part, what is required to set the course right? If not right, what could be the corrective course? Of course, treating the victim, giving her the best of medical facility and then…
For sure not using her as a prop. Going by the warped logic of Sheroes, rape victims should also be used to spread awareness about rape. But then, we understand that there are certain issues that require sensitivity of a soul, not the aggressive mind of a marketer.
It is the sensitive soul, if any, who should hold the hands of the victims, making them join the main stream of life, easing them into normal lives. Agra as a city has got so many tanneries, handicraft units and shoe factories. Also, with a plethora of social organizations that regularly post pictures of their respective emotional bytes, do you think rehabilitating acid attack victims would be aproblem?
Why can’t the victims be trained and then get placed? With time, the scar would start to heal.
Now comes the dark side. Despite all the emotional banter, lofty talks, would you employ a woman whose face has been disfigured? Be honest, answer me. Would she be taken as a receptionist, nanny to your kid, helper in the accounts department, a caregiver at an NGO, maybe a nurse in a hospital? Well, you know the answer. Don’t you?
Akhilesh Yadav having a coffee and promising a piece of land and grant is not the answer. Kiss campaign, fashion show just covers the ‘AI’ part of the AIDA model—Awareness and Interest. What is required now moving to the third and fourth part of the AIDA—Decision and Action. Would Akhilesh Yadav hire five of them for his office or fifteen for UP Secretariat?
We know the answer, don’t we? Lip service is in vogue as it is the easiest thing to do.
Believe me, they need support not sympathy. They are woman with heart and soul, dreams and aspirations, wings and their sky. Let them fly, don’t cage them to suit your own purpose, help them in rehabilitation, not making them dependent on grants and subsidies. Real women empowerment is about strength, not pity.
The talks have been going for too long. Let us stop this circus of liking their page, using them as trophies to showcase our social consciousness and bleeding heart. Get to the action and decision, now.
How nice, was my initial reaction. After all, like most of Indians I am also vulnerable to emotional antics. Overwhelmed by the cause and the effort of these crusaders, I decided to do something for them. I did make a proposal and shared it too but for some reasons it could never see the light of the day. However, I liked their page and followed them.
Well, somewhere around that time, I saw a post on Facebook. It was some ‘Hug me’ or ‘Kiss me’ campaign launched by the team Sheroes. A group of acid attack women, attired in Sheroes tee, were going around Connaught Place, creating ripples, likes and heightened awareness. No wonder, their Facebook page was inundated with support and kind words.
However, I was a little surprised. To accentuate my confusion, I saw snippets of fashion shows where one of the victims walked the ramp. On the face of it, you could question my doubt, as catwalk could never amount to crime or sin.
Yes, I understand that. But I also understand AIDA—the well-used model used by marketers. AIDA—the product of Dr. Kotler, stands for Awareness, Interest, Decision and Action. Most of brand-marketing strategies are developed using the same. I was compelled to ask myself if Sheroes was using the same?
The emotional Indian chided me for being the cynic. Of course, it is imperative for every social cause to create a broad-based awareness. What was wrong if they were doing it by using the acid victims as props?
This got me to a larger question. Awareness for what? Eradicating acid attacks? Creating a behavioral change amongst the strata that used acid to settle scores or generating awareness for large funding?
Hate me if you want to but please pause for a moment. I am sure, in no time you would be on my side.
Any attack has two parties. The attacker and the victim. The attacker gets reported and law takes its own course. There are laws in IPC and it is a matter of debate if they need to be amended or suffice in their present form. Coming to the victim part, what is required to set the course right? If not right, what could be the corrective course? Of course, treating the victim, giving her the best of medical facility and then…
For sure not using her as a prop. Going by the warped logic of Sheroes, rape victims should also be used to spread awareness about rape. But then, we understand that there are certain issues that require sensitivity of a soul, not the aggressive mind of a marketer.
It is the sensitive soul, if any, who should hold the hands of the victims, making them join the main stream of life, easing them into normal lives. Agra as a city has got so many tanneries, handicraft units and shoe factories. Also, with a plethora of social organizations that regularly post pictures of their respective emotional bytes, do you think rehabilitating acid attack victims would be aproblem?
Why can’t the victims be trained and then get placed? With time, the scar would start to heal.
Now comes the dark side. Despite all the emotional banter, lofty talks, would you employ a woman whose face has been disfigured? Be honest, answer me. Would she be taken as a receptionist, nanny to your kid, helper in the accounts department, a caregiver at an NGO, maybe a nurse in a hospital? Well, you know the answer. Don’t you?
Akhilesh Yadav having a coffee and promising a piece of land and grant is not the answer. Kiss campaign, fashion show just covers the ‘AI’ part of the AIDA model—Awareness and Interest. What is required now moving to the third and fourth part of the AIDA—Decision and Action. Would Akhilesh Yadav hire five of them for his office or fifteen for UP Secretariat?
We know the answer, don’t we? Lip service is in vogue as it is the easiest thing to do.
Believe me, they need support not sympathy. They are woman with heart and soul, dreams and aspirations, wings and their sky. Let them fly, don’t cage them to suit your own purpose, help them in rehabilitation, not making them dependent on grants and subsidies. Real women empowerment is about strength, not pity.
The talks have been going for too long. Let us stop this circus of liking their page, using them as trophies to showcase our social consciousness and bleeding heart. Get to the action and decision, now.
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