SALE GIMMICKS

MAGPIE TALE-8

image via Magpie Tale

Friends, this is what came to my mind spontaneously, when i saw the picture prompt.  Mine can be called a narrative or a tale of some kind of behavioral pattern, in the face of a rampantly growing aspect of market economy.

 Being receptive to 'sale mania' is widespread globally. In fact, many of us are always eager to jump on the band wagon, when such sales are announced through hoardings, coupons, print and visual media ads. It is  nothing new, though. It had been there all along, cleverly structured and successfully pursued. For instance, I remember many times, during the process of buying clothes, the shopkeeper would invariably intervene by saying," I'm offering you such good stuff at old rates Ma'am", and pretended to bring the new list of pricing. That refrain was of course, a ploy to force you to make a quick and favorable decision. And it generally worked.

The only difference is that, the modern day sale gimmicks are more brazen, with no holds barred wooing of the prospective customers.

Online selling is the new Mantra, which has caught the attention of the  computer/mobile savvy youth today. The success of online sale of almost all consumer goods  is based on a carefully crafted sale's pitch. For example, the urge to buy is whetted manifold by the call of  best deals at the lowest prices for two days, one week or from 9 in the morning to sometime in the evening. Consequently, there is no time to think, but to act at express speed. 

The online trading companies are having a runaway success, because of growing consumerism. So much so, that  one such company- Flipkart, had its system crashed in the recent past, because of unexpected  heavy demand to one of its low offerings, which obviously, they failed to meet. Companies doing E-trading in consumer goods are multiplying and their cash registers are swelling by the day. The people managing these companies are well educated, smart and great psychologists. They work on human instinct through well tried formula of  offering 40% 50% or more, off, on MRP.  

The boom in disposable incomes is giving fillip to such practices. This apart, the greed to own the goods, which had been stared at, with longing previously in show room windows, have suddenly come within the reach of the burgeoning middle class. This at least is, what is happening in India right now. Though in the west the  craze for 'on sale' goods has been  going on for decades.

Aldous Huxley's grave predictions about encouraging the culture of over spending to fuel growth and employment, happening in the west is spreading globally. In his novel "THE BRAVE NEW WORLD" the slogan, "Ending is better than mending" is rubbed  in, early on, to the inhabitants of that nightmarish utopia  through conditioning. It  is  simple but subtle message that  promotes throw away culture.

Interestingly, it is the fair sex, which is notorious for such buying sprees. The ad campaigns are widely targeted at them via curvy and comely models. Though i think the trend is catching up slowly but surely among men as well.

The downside of this craze is: one ends up buying things, which one doesn't need at the moment but may need at some perceived  undefined future time. The unopened packages keep piling up in your basement or under the beds for lack of space. In your hectic lifestyle, you soon forget  them and are ready to embark on the next sales season.

PS. I'm not considering here, pink color's association with the magic spell of romance! 

Friends,welcome here as always!     linked to                                                          TWO SHOES TUESDAY