Faces of Credibility

As my Churchgate local crossed Mahim on a lazy Monday morning, proudly sitting on the window seat I saw a DTH operators hoarding. Being an Advertising disciple, I invariably encounter with all sorts of advertising mediums. Be it a “thiry seconder” on the small screen or a shabbily painted creative on the wall, my eye balls turn towards them like a youth’s in college - not missing to check out any single babe in the campus. Well, that is scientific and this is also scientific. Its possibly the “chemical locha” inside my brain. And trust me, there are many like me!!

Well getting back to the point, the hoarding showed a prominent face of Indian Film Industry (popularly known as Bollywood). The guy was talking about the greatness of this product. He was made to look like a aam hindustaani. And successfully, he was looking like a common man. Totally convincing me to nod in agreement with the creative. As if I am saying to myself, “Oh! Ya. I trust in what he is saying.” And I would mostly agree with him because of the image that he has built on cinema. This guy has never played larger than life roles. His voice is trustworthy. This celebrity carried a lot of credibility with him.

Credibility! Yeah that’s the word. Credibility!

Rightly, wrongly or may be unknowingly, we all are slaves of the past. Remember invariably our elders quoting “humare zamane mein”. Lets go to their zamana. Those were the days of strong political phenomenon. Every house had giant, garland decorated wall paintings of political leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi (keeping controversies aside) . They worshiped them. Why? Because they were credible. If Nehruji had said something, the entire nation blindly agreed to it. So, the Aawam ki aawaz was Nehruji ki aawaz and vice versa. And that worked as mantra for fledgling India, just released from the clutches of Englishmen. These leaders guided the masses with their credibility. Again,

Credibility! Yeah that’s the word. Credibility!

Having said that, what is the take? Marketing to Politics, people are searching for credibility. Faces of credibility. Voices of Credibility.

This is interesting.
All of us think. All of us believe. All of us have opinion on the issues around. Infact rather than opinion we have conviction over them. Don’t we so many times say to ourselves “I know I am Dead Right! Par yaar..these people wont understand”

But how many times we speak out? not even 1% of the times. Why?? The reason is simple. We are apprehensive of the result. We are scared of the consequences. We are fearful of the disgust that might follow. “log kya kahenge”. Moreover we don’t want to fall into this “chakkar”. So we don’t speak out and look for someone to join us. To join us over the same conviction and strengthen our voice. Sometimes we look for people who can put forth our opinion. Else we don’t speak up. We accept silence as the virtue. Like peasants who never spoke against harsh zamindaars. We don’t realize the power of our voice and our face. We look for voices of credibility. We look for faces of credibility.

And there sums up the logic of Credibility. Someone takes the challenge and speaks up. He wins the initial battle and gains recognition. If he is genuine, his acts speak. (speaking up isn’t the actual voice from throat. Its connotations are different in different circumstances). So, even the acts speak. Like APJ Abdul Kalam and Swami Vivekanand. Like Kiran Bedi and Naina lal Kidwai. Like Sachin Tendulkar and Amitabh Bachchan. And when they say We agree. Their credibility infuses credibility in the issue, event and even brand.

But there are some who reign over false credibility. Some fanatics throne them with credibility. They dictate their terms and mislead goal-less youth. You know to whom I am referring to. There name shouldn’t be put here, else they might devastate some poor chaps cybercafe. They might burn some BEST bus in the city. They might beat some lovely couple at Nariman Point. So, these desi terrorists should not be named. And there are many other false faces of credibility, which I would give a miss here, as I simply hate them and I don’t want to give them any importance. Thus, Ignoring them…

Summing up, there is nothing wrong in raising faces of credibility and worshiping them, But following things should be taken care of;

1. The word credibility should not be used loosely.
2. Only right kind of people should be crowned with Face of Credibility.
3. Most important, there is no face of credibility like our own face.

Got the point??