Blog@GraceJunction

I was reading in an English daily how Coca Cola had come out of the blues with it’s new CEO at the helm and how they have come out of the Dipping sales and profits with the focused approach on aggressive marketing of it’s product ! Also how it’s Coke Zero brand, primarily targeted at the youths is planned to change the dynamics of the company!

Another article said how the new generation was focused on getting it picture perfect and zero flab when it comes to their bodies and how the models across the world are thinning down to the extent, you will be excused to think that they are representing Somalia or some other drought effected country! Although there are many activists crying foul against this gross neglect of their health, but nothing so far deters them from being the best in their modeling careers! Jo diktha hai wahi biktha hai (What is seen, gets sold) goes the old saying for many marketing professionals but that stands true for the generation today. Anything less than perfect is not tolerated, for that matter, they themselves decide what is perfect for themselves and those who want to hang out with them.

Club Zero(s) if I may call them are all set to rule, zero tolerance is the mantra. From tiny tots to new age politicians, they have everything going for them. The whole world is changing with the changing preferences of this club. Wherever you see, any brand, any idea, any movement is targeted at the youth. Without them you should be joking to think that you can make it big! The youth drives the economy today, with the ever increasing youth population of India, the country seems to be betting big on this generation to take it ahead. That probably holds the biggest advantage against the next door dragon, China, which seems to be struggling to maintain a productive population, with so many over the hill, an ageing population!

A recent study on measuring youth well being pointed out that the youth of India is driving the bulk of mobile services and related products. Youth across India spend up to Rs 9 billion in pocket money every day. A good deal of it on mobile phones and related services. Two years is the utility expectancy of a cell phone for 63% of young Indians; 57% of youth across Asia state that they’d like to replace their MP3 players with a music enabled mobile. The eagerness to add ring tones, music and games is good news for promoters of value added services.

Another interesting fact, India is the only country where family (65%) trounces friends (61%) as a contributor to well-being. Even in China, friends at 63% are considered more important than family (44%). Family also contributes to India scoring highest on well-being and culture. The publisher believes an interest in spirituality could also be a possible contributor. The writer says: “It’s the right here, right now generation that believes in double impact in half the time. Style clearly supercedes substance. Young people are not into fighting but negotiating.”

That’s right, you read it correctly, behind the hep and happening youth culture is a youth struggling to keep his identity. Picture a mountain climber holding tightly to the rope after a free fall, as his whole life depended on it. That’s what the youth is doing. Spirituality, it seems is a desperate search for him to connect with his Creator and in this tryst he is not fighting but negotiating his way to the best deal possible. He is trying to keep the maximum in his hands, which is flowing out like water between the fingers.

In fact this whole study was earlier done to find out the facts of contemporary youth culture, which had pointed out that on most of the user generated content on the web, only 1% of young visitors actually upload anything fresh and original. 10% or less actively participate and leave comments, while 90% are passive spectators. But somebody found it convenient to ignore this trend and data, rechristened the whole study to look at the numbers and how it can be put to the best possible use of the Corporates.
The Club zero is a confused lot, not knowing where life is taking them in this bustle of the mega cities, mobiles, laptops, ipod’s and style! They have become as the study put it rightly, passive spectators. One among the crowd they love to be and that is what they don’t want to risk avoiding.

The problem here is that a few decide what needs to be done and the rest just blindly follow, they don’t want to risk standing against what the majority do. Approval of the crowd matters to them. The marginal tilt towards spirituality, traditions, family and friends is a veil under which they would like to hide when life takes them for a ride and are hit hard by the truths of life. No wonder so many old age homes are supporting so many old age people fully sponsored by their children, their parents have become an insurance in times of trouble, may be just add them to the family get together to make it picture perfect. And some parents have become the backup to take care of their children when both husband and wife are busy making their careers.

The spineless youth is what the system is churning out except for a few who really search and stand for the Truth. In this age when I find so many in the crowd and a few standing against it I am remembered of Jesus Christ who in the most hostile of times as a young man did not consider making a style statement because he was there to make a more lasting impact on the things around and the impact would last for generations. One day I looked behind my veils and found not spirituality but the WAY to life, through Jesus Christ whose ways are different from the crowd and he does not make you a follower but a true leader in every aspect of life.

I went back to the story on Coca Cola and found that, the CEO was one man who was overlooked for the post two times in 1997 and 2000.He then was well in to retirement at Barbados when the Coca Cola Board swooped down on him to wear, what was arguably as the reporter put it a ‘crown of thorns’ in 2004. Sales had slipped, growth strategy was wavering and there was a sense of ‘loss of confidence’ all across the Coca Cola empire.
The turnaround story from there has been quiet spectacular and he says that he is waiting for the right time to declare victory, there is still time before the work is complete.

I can’t stop myself from comparing him to my saviour Jesus Christ, although there is no comparison between the two. The latter is much above any man made pedestal. HE wore a crown of thorns 2000 years back, the Bible says that there was nothing desirable in his appearance and a man acquainted with sorrow. There is nothing that we can today identify with him in his appearance or lifestyle but in everything he showed himself a better example than all the youth icons the world has ever seen. Not only that, he is not waiting for the right time, but he has already declared victory over everything that we fail against today, his work is complete. He is just waiting for the day, when he will rightfully takeover what is HIS, the people who have stood for him when everything was against them. Club zero will definitely be not a part of that. Time we rethink our ways and consider a change of our club membership.

Tags: Brand, Coca Cola, Jesus, Mobile Phones, Youth

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 26th, 2008 at 2:13 pm and is filed under Articles, Economy, Navin, Society, Youth Issues. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.