Benetton and the ad controversy

The Benetton ads get better by the day. The latest 'Unhate' campaign shows world leaders making out to promote world peace.

Brilliant, but controversial. The picture of the Pope going at it with the Imam required a lot of balls to create. It got the desired effect and was taken down a day after. Nobody gave a rat's ass about the Supreme leader of North Korea kissing the President of South Korea or the fact that the Israeli Prime Minister snogging the Palestinian leader.
Benetton didn't have Manmohan Singh and Gilani going at it, which, perhaps, could have created more controversy than the Pope and the Imam.

But I don't know why people are complaining. Benetton's ad campaigns have always raised eyebrows. They got into trouble when they had a picture of a priest kissing a nun. They pissed off a lot of people when they did the death row segment where they took photographs of people facing the death penalty and even sent apologies to the victims of the killers.
The ad has been taken off and apologies have been issued. But where Benetton stands out in its ad campaigns is to have an extreme reaction to their ads. And for any ad, that impact always works.

The tale of the nail

Blogging using a mobile phone looks cool. If I didn't have a damaged right thumb, I would have enjoyed it. But that is the price you pay for biting your nails.

I have been biting my nails as far as I can remember. I have peeled skin, drawn blood and done other disgusting, unbloggable things to myself. Thankfully, I have never been caught by my family or else I'd have been tested to see whether my parents and I carry similar DNA strands.

Biting nails is like any other addiction. It is as bad as being a chain smoker, an alcoholic or drug addict. Yet since it is just you eating a part of your own body, nobody gives a fuck. They would had you been eating someone else's nails, however.

Right now, I stare at my missing nail on my right thumb, along with some missing skin and say that I will never bite my nails again.

Hopefully one day, after my time, there will be a nail biting anonymous.

Published with Blogger-droid v2.0

Smelly Goat, your time is coming

Smelly Cat, Smelly Cat,
What are they feeding you?
Smelly Cat, Smelly Cat
It's not your fault

-Phoebe Buffay

I will never eat mutton again, I promise. 

Actually, I don't have to promise that anymore. My doctor has instructed me not to eat mutton.

Why will I not eat mutton?

It's because I have two goats sitting outside my office. 

Bakri Eid is around the corner and it's tradition to stuff a goat kept at home with food and then slaughter it on the day of Eid. 

At least the guys who live in the room next to my office purchased the goats yesterday. There are families that raise goats since they are kids and then slaughter them after they have become family pets. 

But that is another story.

Coming back to our goats: they smell. They spend their entire day headbutting each other, drinking each other's piss (I swear that I am not making this up). Shitting while eating and smelling like barf mixed with shit. 

But then, you get used to the smell.

It's one of the various smells in Bombay that you get used to. Some of them include smog at Saki Naka, Mahim Creek, garbage dumps and shit mixing with sea water while you drive near the beach. Now a welcome addition is the goat during Bakri Eid.

Another thing that amuses me is that the kids want to play with the goat. A part of me wonders what they will think after it is slaughtered next Monday. Knowing a child, it will just be another memory. For the adult, it's part of tradition, so this tradition will be taught to the child as he grows older. 

What has it taught me? Given that I have a Gurudwara blasting loudspeakers outside my place and the fact that my neighbours sing hymns and bhajans on festive occasions, the smelly goats are another test of my religious tolerance. 

And funnily, despite the fact that I am anti-religion, I am fairly tolerant.

And that is a lesson smelly goats have taught me.

Oh yes, it's also taught me that I will never eat biryani again