Disclaimer: I did not write this as a representative of my current employer, nor am I personally pointing towards a particular company or brand.
I am truly happy and feel immensely proud for the historic moment that we all witnessed yesterday evening, a dream brought into reality by the hardworking folks at ISRO!
I’m not going to elaborate on the achievement further, as all of us here are more or less aware of the same and also, that’s not the point here.
Last evening, people celebrated and expressed their pride and happiness by putting up Social media posts and statuses, with self written messages or using pictures and videos… Great!
Come this morning… I could see a strange pattern in WhatsApp and LinkedIn posts about the Chandrayaan 3!
Marketing teams of various corporates created posts, trying to relate their product/service with the Chandrayaan 3 or with the Moon while also congratulating ISRO on their achievement. Many may have found the content creative, I personally found them immature, stupid and desperate. These companies may have also urged their Employees to post these media on various platforms!
My simple point being, Was This Really Necessary?
I mean, the scientists and the support staff at ISRO have spent their years working hard on being where they are (i.e. at ISRO); so many of them may have also been a part of the less successful Chandrayaan 2 attempt and finally it was their day yesterday!
Couldn’t we just let them have the entire nation’s focus and applause for even 24 hours after the historic moment? Why steal their thunder and push our own marketing agenda?! Are there not enough days/festivals/occasions in a year already, when we could’ve done all that?
If the real intent was just congratulating India and the ISRO on behalf of their brand, they could’ve plainly written a congratulating message and their brand’s name at the bottom (like “From xxx”), isn’t it?
What really irritated me to my guts is that these corporates put their Brand’s logo at the Top-Centre and a so called “Creative” Congratulatory Marketing message below that.
Some may conveniently call this rant my pseudo-patriotism. But this is just me and my candid expression and perhaps, a reaction, as a consumer of these brands and a common citizen of this country who thinks that the credit should be given wherever and to whoever it’s due!
Period.
Happy to hear different perspectives, if any!