The Nazar Suraksha Kavach makes good bait as many are easily sold on this particular anti-evil guardian charm. In a country where people are more or less ruled by superstitions, it is not surprising that such companies are using the very fact to their best advantage.[break]
But it is not only the Nazar Suraksha Kavach. There seem to be quite a garden-variety advertisements being broadcast on television of other such products which claim to guard the wearer from evil and harm.
These advertisements are misleading, and in a country like Nepal where the adult literacy rate is 38% – and individuals here are considered “literate” if they can read and write, be it just their names – it is not hard to find people who are trapped into believing without a doubt what is being portrayed in a very convincing manner.
Recently, the Ministry of Information and Communication decided to ban these ads on the basis of its false promises and baseless claims. Why this sudden official decision against the ads? Why did the government finally decide to ban these ads and why didn’t it stop it before it had been broadcast for months, and the common man had already been conned?
“Television is a medium which affects and influences masses, and these companies were misusing this powerful means of communication to trick people into buying these pointless things and making easy money,” says Gokul Khadka, Section Officer at the Ministry of Information and Communication. “I believe we should’ve taken action quite a while back but now it’s done and it’s better late than never.”
Upon receiving complaints that people had been duped by the so called anti-evil guardian called Nazar Suraksha Kavach or its counterpart Dhana Laxmi Kavach, the Chief District Officer (CDO) of Kathmandu, Laxmi Prasad Dhakal, took the initiative to question the Ministry on this matter.
Upon coming to know that these advertisements had not been approved by the Censor Board and hence were illegal, the decision to ban these ludicrous ads was then taken.
The classifieds in various national dailies still host a variety of ads for products that claim to make you taller, fairer or thinner. Just state your problem, and there is a solution to it. These ads claim to have products that make bald men sprout hair in matter of weeks, products that can make alcoholics stop drinking and smokers quit smoking or even guarantee degrees without pursuing formal education.
“A circular was sent to all the local television channels requesting them to stop showing these misleading ads,” says Dhakal.
The channels that were broadcasting these advertisements were initially opposed to the idea of such a ban and tried to re-launch them with a disclaimer because advertorials are good business for them. Many felt that since they were not pressuring the public to buy these things as the choice was theirs, the decision of a ban was a bit too harsh. But they had to relent and comply with the government after receiving a second circular.
Subha Shankar Kadel, News Chief at ABC Channel, says that products like the Nazar Suraksha Kavach are just one of the million ways to con people. “It’s not the marketing department’s job to censor ads since they are purely there for revenue generation and these advertorial were a good income source.”
He was nevertheless a wee bit concerned about the impact it could have on the public in the long run. “We, as media people, need to be committed to providing true and ethical information, be it in the form of news or advertisements,” he admitted.
It has been a little over two months since these ads have been banned from broadcasting in local channels with the exception of Nepal 1 which, being registered in Delhi, is not required to follow the Government of Nepal’s rules and protocols. But even then, Rajendra Pradhan, Marketing Executive at Nepal 1, makes sure that these advertorials are not slotted to be telecast under his supervision; but he clarified that he has no control over what gets broadcast from Delhi.
Danda Gurung, Chief Reporter at ABC Channel, applauds the government in taking such a step as he believes that these senseless ads were creating unnecessary hypes and confusion among the public.
Nanda Raj Maharjan, Senior Marketing Executive at Image Channel agrees with Danda. “These advertorials were advocating something that fed a wrong idea to the public. So I stand by the government’s decision to stop telecasting them,” he said.
Slowly, the electronic media has come to realize that it plays a pivotal role in the lives of people whose staple diet of entertainment is local television. They have understood the impact they have on the community, and hence they want to do away with misleading ads and only provide information that are substantial and worth the footage.
Mukunda Swar, Marketing Executive at Kantipur TV, says, “We’ve had negative feedback and complaints from people regarding these ads. So the decision to ban them has been in the best interest of the public.”
On one side, we see this revolution happening in the electronic media but the print media is yet to get there. The classifieds in various national dailies still host a variety of ads for products that claim to make you taller, fairer or thinner.
Just state your problem, and there is a solution to it. These ads claim to have products that make bald men sprout hair in matter of weeks, products that can make alcoholics stop drinking and smokers quit smoking or even guarantee degrees without pursuing formal education.
How true are these claims, or how baseless, rather? And when is the print media going to head the electronic way and put a stop to these fraudulent ads?
When contacted to talk about the placement of such advertisements on behalf of its company, Global Fitness Shop of Chabahil, its employee Ashok Dahal got outright offended and refused to answer even simple questions. A general enquiry like how effective was the so called height increaser or the magic hair oil was received with animosity.
“Why should I answer such questions?” said a heated Dahal over the phone. He was clearly uncomfortable discussing the products and their so-called benefits, and the worrying part of it is the “why” aspect.
On similar lines, Sebika Niroula, sales representative at Global Tele-shop of Jamal, was too busy to talk about their products – the height increaser and hair oil among other things.“We have good feedback and our products are very effective,” she said but would not elucidate further and hung up abruptly, citing business hours.
A host of other such companies The Week contacted had similar hesitant reactions to offer, fuelling more doubts about their dealings. The public is left to wonder about the legitimacy of these businesses, the kinds of products they sell and the claims they make.
Media executive Yam Bastola at Prisma Advertising of Dilli Bazaar condemns these kinds of baseless advertisements.
“I personally feel that these kinds of ads should just not be made. These kinds of fraudulent advertisements shouldn’t be taken up by ad agencies at all because business aside, ethics matters a lot more. We shouldn’t cheat the public for the sake of business,” he says with a conviction clearly resonant in his voice.
One sees a wide range of advertisements that make all sorts of illegitimate claims in the classifieds sections of various national dailies. These ads market fairness creams, hair oils, slim teas and other similar quick-fix products. Ads for the apparently no-side effect herbal medicines that help chronic alcoholics and smokers overcome their compulsion to drink and smoke are frightening, to say the least, because there is no validation yet for these types of drugs.
“These so called zero-side-effect anti-alcohol remedies and height-increasing devices have no concrete basis,” Dr Raja Ram Dhungana, an Ayurvedic doctor at Ayur Poly Clinic of Patan Dhoka, asserts. “Most of these herbal remedies have crushed metronidazole which causes violent vomiting, headache and dizziness when taken with alcohol. This can have dangerous repercussions. It’s not as safe as they claim to be.”
Dr Subodh Dhakal, Associate Professor at the Department of Medicine at BPKIHS in Dharan, adds, “These medicines haven’t undergone clinical trials. There should be some governing body to check these ‘herbal remedies’ before they are circulated in the market. That’ll be the best way of determining its legitimacy.”
Regarding the print media’s continuance in accepting ads for such medicines and claims under the classifieds section, despite having experts questioning its reliability, Sirish Bhandari, Senior Copy Editor at Kantipur National Daily, clarifies and says, “These ads are for revenue generation. It’s not false news that we’re circulating. It’s advertisements, and hence strictly a business dealing for us. If there’s to be a rectification, it has to be from the government’s side. Media houses alone can’t do anything much in such matters.”
Kuber Chalise, Business Chief at The Himalayan Times, however, begs to differ. He feels that though the initiative should come from the government, they are also equally responsible for what is being conveyed.
“The main problem seems to lie in the fact that the government is still unaware of many of these ads. The authenticity of these products is yet to be established but these companies are still marketing it with false claims, which is unethical and illegal. But it’s also our responsibility to try and do away with such ads,” he explains.
Laxmi Prasad Dhakal, CDO of Kathmandu, who has been instrumental in implementing the ban on the Nazar Suraksha Kavach, comments in the same line. “It’s imperative that whatever information is being fed to the public is completely based on facts. Media is influential and thus has a responsibility to showcase only what’s right.”
There is a saying, “With great power comes greater responsibility,” and the electronic media has already shown that they want to be responsible for creating a positive image in the minds of the public and hence have stopped featuring the Nazar Suraksha Kavach advertorials and are committed to broadcasting only genuine ads. Will the print media also stop publishing similar baseless advertisements?
As long as people are superstitious and naïve, there will be companies like Nazar Suraksha Kavach looking to exploit that and rake in the moolah. People’s obsession with financial success, their regressive terror of petty things like weight gain and hair loss and a strong conviction that there is no need to place any faith in logic and commonsense when they can live by blind faith in god or find easy solutions to most of life’s problems is what is troublesome.
They can play the blame game and accuse the companies for trying to cash in on their naivety, or point the finger at the media for publishing these ads and leading them astray; but there is also an epiphany to be had on their part.
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