Cricket

eBay India have gotten into the craze around the Cricket World Cup. If you check out their Cricket Craze splash page, there is a lot going on.

But the item that is getting the most coverage is the auction of saris worn by Mandira Bedi and signed by the entire Indian cricket team. Mandira Bedi is a “color commentator” and was also the first every woman commetator (as far as I know). She’s very rah-rah and somewhat annoying, but apparently the eye-candy factor more than makes up for it… Plus she says stuff like “Dravid across my chest” (meaning Indian captain Rahul Dravid happens to have signed the sari section which happens to drape across her ample bosom). Watch the video here.

Btw, eBay.in folks – the splash page is almost static now (there are only three links – two go back to the eBay India homepage and one goes to PaisaPay). Even if the auctions aren’t live yet, at the very least, put up a marketing splash page where users can learn more and see all the World Cup related auctions. That way when all the press events drive traffic to eBay, they’ll have somewhere to go.

_{[Story and video hat tip: Great Bong]}

Two pieces of information got me thinking about censorship in India — Niranjana’s post on banned books and news that the Government of India (GOI) was taking action against Neo Sports.

Let me restate – my Neo Sports post on their advertisements on the West Indies tour stated that I personally found the ads tasteless and borderline racist. I also stated that I don’t think racism was the intent behind them. And that I thought it was silly for a company to build a brand using the ad since it offended a section of their customers.

Today, Srini very kindly updated me (thanks, Srini!) that the Information and Broadcasting Ministry headed by Priya Ranjan Das Munshi has slapped a show cause notice on the channel asking it to explain itself.

What?? The way this should be moderated is by the market. If the public expresses their dissatisfaction to Neo Sports, that’s fine. If their shareholders hold them accountable, that’s fine. The Information and Broadcasting Ministry is redefining its bounds by overstepping them constantly. They’ve banned the Gandhi YouTube video, they briefly banned all blogspot.com domains, and they banned AXN Channel for showing “The World’s Sexiest Ads”.

Er, hello? No one is being forced to view any of these. Hate the YouTube video? Don’t watch it. AXN is a private channel that users pay for. If they don’t like the show, they will stop subscribing. The GOI has no business being in the censorship business – if they want, they can be in the ratings business. Slap an X or R rating on things, but let the consumer choose. Repeat after me, Mr. Priya Ranjan Das Munshi – the market, the market, the market.

Here’s what I said to Niranjana –

I’ve been in India watching the cricket live on TV, which is much better than on my computer! But one of the downsides is having to watch the advertisements.

The India vs. West Indies series is being shown on Neo Sports which brands itself as “The home of Indian cricket”. A lot of the ads on Neo are house ads for the channel itself. Since it is a new channel, that makes sense.

Now, here’s where things get tricky. For the India-West Indies series, they have come up with a couple of ads to promote the series.

Ad #1 – A West Indian visitor is at an Indian outdoor dhaba. He takes a mouthful of the curry and his mouth is on fire. As he runs around for water, the waiter walks away, the other guests put their hands in the glasses, drop their dentures in their glasses of water and other things that prevent him from drinking water. Finally, in desperation, he turns to a tap and even that has no water. Tag line – “It is tough to be a West Indian in India “. And then there are images of the West Indian and Indian teams playing cricket.

Ad #2 – A West Indian couple are snuggling on a boat in the middle of a large and serene lake. The boatman looks at them and then he stands. He throws the oar away and then starts disrobing. The couple look at each other, frightened (I thought he was going to rape the poor woman). Then, when he’s down to his chuddies (boxers), he jumps off the boat, leaving the poor couple in the middle of the lake with no oar and the West Indian guy calling out “Hello? Hello maan??”. Tag line – “It is tough to be a West Indian in India”. And then there are images of the West Indian and Indian teams playing cricket.

At worst, these ads are racist. At best, they shout out a message that Indians are not hospitable and treat our guests terribly.

Let’s address hospitality.

“Atithi Devo Bhava” – The Guest is God

Every Indian has heard that phrase – hospitality has been ingrained in Indian culture. In fact, India’s Tourism Ministry has adopted this slogan as part of their Incredible India campaign. Clearly, this is *not* how we treat our guests. When someone’s mouth is on fire, would you deny them succor? Would you abandon someone in the middle of a lake? Clearly, no.

I understand what they were trying to say – they are trying to talk about how the Indian team will do well against the West Indian team. They thought the ads would be funny – any maybe they are for the first few seconds after you’ve seen them the very first time. But as soon as you think about it for a few seconds, that’s gone.

Here’s a better way do it –

New Ad #1 – The West Indian eats at a dhaba. He has a great time and makes friends with the locals. They go to watch the cricket together. India smacks the West Indies and the Indian hosts are happy. Tag line – “It is great to be a West Indian in India – except if you are on the cricket field”

New Ad #2 – A West Indian couple are snuggling on a boat in the middle of a large and serene lake.. Their guide is very chatty and friendly. The next day, they are in the stands next to each other. India smacks the West Indies and the Indian boatman is happy. Tag line – “It is great to be a West Indian in India – except if you are on the cricket field”

Wouldn’t that accomplish the purpose in a graceful, yet impactful way? I certainly think so.

Now, onto the charge of racism. I don’t believe that the ads were meant to be racist. I think that if the Australians were visiting, Neo might have made the same advertisement and said “It is tough to be an Aussie in India” (except the Aussies always win!). But the reality is that the Aussies aren’t visiting. The reality is that the West Indians are black and the ad could be perceived as racist. From a brand value perspective, as you are trying to establish your brand, why would you even take the risk?

I think Neo Sports and its parent company Nimbus Communications have missed the mark here. Time to pull these ads and issue a clarification.

Many Indians will head to the West Indies in March for the Cricket World Cup. How many will want to go if West Indian television had an ad where an Indian visitor was being treated rudely with the tag line “It is tough to be an Indian in the West Indies”?

As the saying goes, “Its just not cricket!”

UPDATE (January 27th): Another match today – they’ve now started putting out ads with the Sri Lankans. Here’s what they’ve done:

Ad #1: They have a Sri Lankan man being served food at the dhaba (the same hot curry) and the waiters gleefully waiting for him to start eating. The running around looking for water is not there since they’ve established what’s about to happen to him. Tag line ‘Now, even Sri Lankans will have a tough time in India”

Ad #2: A Sri Lankan couple in the boat. Shots of the boatman grinning expectantly at what’s about to happen to them. Shorter ad than the WI one. Same tag line as above.

So Nimbus seems to be sticking to their guns and by doing so, their message seems to be that there is no racist intent – they are treating the Sri Lankans (who are brown like Indians) the same as the West Indians. All very interesting.

This is so funny, it is worth watching.

For background, India won a test match in South Africa for the first time ever (since South Africa was re-admitted into world sports). It was truly a blowout performance, especially after how they were whitewashed 4-0 in the one-dayers. The funniest moment though was from the Man of the Match, Sreesanth.

Note to the non-cricket followers: In general, the Indian team is a well-behaved if somewhat meek team. This guy though is all attitude. Sreesanth is a bowler and often has a word or two to say to the batsman when he’s bowling.

Here he’s batting. Right before the clip starts, the bowler, Andre Nel (who sets the gold standard for goading the batsman), tells Sreesanth that he doesn’t have heart. Sreesanth promptly tonks him for a six.

Amidst all the brouhaha about the performance of the Indian cricket team, finally, Rediff has done some analysis. Amazing stuff, analysis – actually gives you facts to talk about!

Ganguly vis-a-vis Dravid as captain in ODIs

Captaincy record

Hmm… seems to me they are *exactly tied* at this stage in their captaincy careers. So I guess the moral of the story is that the Indian team has in fact been this pathetic before. Hopefully, this too shall pass.

Here’s the full analysis.

I slept on the couch. I was up at 3:45 AM. I turned over; my computer was on and plugged in. The browser was open, set to Willow TV. I refresh the browser and start watching the India-Australia match at the ICC Champions Trophy.

Half way through the match, I was feeling quite good. India didn’t collapse. They had 249 on the board. Nice. But then of course, it was back to normal. The batting and the bowling can’t both work well — that is the cardinal rule for the Indian Cricket team. One has to suck!

And the bowlers duly delivered. They sucked (and continue to do so). Australia is just cruising along. They will win this match.

I’ve got to stop torturing myself like this!

UPDATE — This is a great post on why I likely won’t stop torturing myself. At least the World Cup will be in a closer timezone. That’s something to cheer about!