Society and Culture has always fascinated me. Why do certain people behave in a particular manner? Why do Tamilians do somethings and Punjabis do something else. And this is more from a macro sociological/anthropological/ethnographic perspective than a micro (psychological) viewpoint.

I always used to have words with the sales teams (when I headed channels) on this concept of a “Hindi Speaking Market” or the concept of “South India” or indeed the “North East”. I am not really sure whether you can lump all Punjab, Haryana, UP, MP, Bihar, Rajasthan, Uttaranchal, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Delhi, Mumbai, Chandigarh, etal together as one homogenous Hindi Speaking Market. My funda was geographical clusters do not necessarily mean socio cultural clusters. Yes, in the extremely broad view we all eat, sleep, drink, procreate etal. but so do dogs and cats. Yes, also in the extremely close up view, I am very different from the next person in my community. But, i guess technology has not reached a stage where we can accurately target the individual with all her inbuilt peculiarities. So a via media is found. In today’s usage it is Socio Economic Classification (SEC’s). But i honestly believe that the time has come to take it beyond SEC’s and look the impact of ethnicity, language, culture and society on our decision making process.

We know that there is a world of behavioural differnce between people from UP and people from Punjab. We attribute it to socio-cultural differences. Yet, we expect them to view and purchase the same things. And our communication to them – inciting them to do so – is identical. I think, that at a certain level, importing too many management, marketing & research fundaes from the west – which is relatively homogenous – has led to a certain kind of laziness in India. We (those who have something to sell) think in English, and translate that English thought into various Indian languages. I am not really sure that such an approach works anymore. The market has expanded beyond those who exclusively think in English and has gone on to encompass people who think in the vernacular.
But, it is not just about the language – though that does play an important role. Putting out a hoarding that says This ya That may appeal to someone who thinks in English because we are a talking about a fairly binary language which has its roots in a fairly binary culture where good and bad or God and Devil are very clearly defined. If you think in Hindi the translation may make sense but not the essence. Because we are talking about a fairly ambigious culture. The concepts of yes and no may exist, but it is very rarely used. Instead the concept is that of shayaad (maybe). We are talking about a language where yesterday and tomorrow are the same word. And it is not just a peculiarity of the language. It is probably also the mind set.

At the same time it is also about cultural symbolism. “pan indian” culture is a figment of the marketeers imagination. A hope that their life will be made easier in communicating to the diversity that is the Indian Market place. Just because someone in the Chennai or Mumbai adopts Sangeet as part of their marriage ritual, doesn’t mean that it is the norm. It is most likely the exception.

Yes we are all brothers and sisters under the skin. All united by this thingee called “Indianess”. But under the skin does not really determine either purchase or viewing. Other things do. Do i buy more insurance because I want to save tax or I am a Tamil? Does she buy more fair and lovely because she is young or is it because she is Rajasthani? (just examples)Maybe one day the industry will grow up and target specific custom for products and services in a specific manner. Until it does this trend of fairly inefficient communication is going to continue.