Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Slam those Social Marketers!


It has just been over a year since I landed in the United States. A lot has changed w.r.t the way I react when I meet an amiable ‘Desi’ stranger, since the first time I met one. Read on, let me tell you why..

The first few meeting i had with stranger desi(s) were uneventful. Generally they fall into three catagories 1. the ones who give you that nice sweet smile  and 2. the ones who give u that doubtful look and when they are sure you are gonna smile, would look away... and 3. the ones who dont care.. it took me a while to meet the fourth category.. the “I can invite myself to your home” kinds.

Saying ‘No’ does not come naturally to many of us. It should be willingly learnt and this category taught us that in a matter of few months.

I had this pre conceived notion that desi(s) in US are self content, rich, happy folks who respect their fellow Indians. Well many of them are except for the so called Amw** social marketers who think that human relations are made for a purpose…. To sell their products!


To give you an example of a typical desi social marketer:

We were at a supermarket the other day, and were met by this guy named ‘Ravi’ (Name changed). He threw himself on us, showing us his daughter’s pics and how much she resembled mine. As we all know kids are any parent’s weakness and for the same reason is a sure shot target. He invited himself with family to our house. We doubted his intentions and happened to talk about this with our neighbour who to our surprise had also by then met the same guy, around the same aisle, at the same store! He had told the same dialogue and even said how their daughter resembled his! How low can people go to sell their products! We picked up the phone, hurt to the core about how someone could feign friendship just to up his sales target. We told him that if he intended to do any social marketing or talk about it he better not waste his time. Though his sky high ego got him to bring his family in, we made sure we do not encourage him any further.

At two occasions after that we were stopped by a doctor couple and then by another guy. We made sure to store their numbers as “Amw** Don’t Pick 1 & 2”. We had to handle relentless calling for about 2 months. Had to avoid eye contact at two places.. it is a hard lesson learnt.

I trust the products I buy off the shelf, not some product which is sold to me for double the price by an irksome stranger!

Please people, acquire some sense... Don’t misuse your social relations for the worth you get out of selling a tooth paste!