Economists tell us that without advertisements, we would be poorly informed and unable to choose between competing products.
So what information is conveyed to us by two dancing superstars trying to fly a kite and singing that the sky isn’t enough for them; their heart asks for more?
As far as I can make out, Cola is a dark coloured sweet drink, stuffed with carbon dioxide and has thirst quenching properties. Neither Pepsi nor Coke ever gave me this bare-bones information.
So are they all wasting their ad-spend? Or are we customers getting fooled by seductive marketing campaign as alleged?
No. Pepsi is not just carbonated water. If it were, then the Taj Mahal is just an overblown tomb of marble, not a monument to love. The mango is just a fibrous fruit, not a sweet reminder to me of my summer vacations spent in Mangalore.
Objects do not have an intrinsic meaning. They acquire the meaning that we vest in them. When we buy a Pepsi, we are paying Sachin Tendulkar and Amitabh Bachchan to give word to our emotions and aspirations. They are symbols of society’s shared values. In other words, advertising is culture, not a distortion of culture. Advertisements refute the idea that we are moving towards materialism. If Pepsi has to create an aura of symbolism to make us drink carbonated water, then it is proof that what we seek is not just carbonated water and that we have needs beyond quenching thirst.

This is my second attempt to keep a web log. I am sure no one noticed my first. I did not go out of my way to publicise it because I was dissatisfied with what I was putting out.
So I am trying again. This blog will contain commentary on the stuff that interest me – management, philosophy, technology, economics, literature, politics and of course, et cetera. The operative word is ‘commentary’. I will be putting thought into what I write, which means that the posts will be longish by blog standards and will approximate one per day. If I really have a lot to say about something, I will be putting it in my articles section

• This will not be an online diary. I am too private a person for that, and my life is too boring for you. Some sketchy outdated information is available here. Careful there – don’t step on a broken link!
• There won’t be a post which simply links to interesting stuff, though I will soon add a continually updated list of links somewhere else on the site.

Bottomline: If I have nothing to say, I will keep mum.
Of course, there will be the mandatory blogroll. If time permits, I will soon add a section discussing books.
So that’s it for now, Tell me what you think of the concept, the layout and my posts Use the comments link below. I love hearing abuse