It goes without saying that commerce and trade goes ahead of every other venture. When the television first sprang up in India several decades ago her range was small. Umbrella-antennas installed even in remote villages brought a new life, a new awakening among the illiterate and semiliterate population of our country. The government mounted the bandwagon of this magical device and began to use it for publicity purpose: general health, uses of literacy, significance of birth-control and similar ideas were fruitfully disseminated (= spread). No doubt results, too, came.
Today, however, the scenario has changed. We now know that time does not pass, it leaps. The satellite channels and their thick competition have given the ‘commercially’ an unprecedented (= not having occurred before) opportunity. Naturally, TV commercials, today is no longer an unmixed blessing.
Its effectiveness calls for no special pleading. Perhaps the commercials are benefitted the most by this new medium. Talks, symposiums or discussion could be enjoyed no whit less on the radio. But the privilege of visual exhibition rewards most the commercials; and they are not behind-hand in exploiting this privilege, yes almost to a fault. These days the multimedia technique enables them to display their various commodities on the TV screen with superb effect. The stunt-heroics (= heroic display of deeds through stunt or false shows) of ‘Coca Cola’ or the smart shots (=scenes) of the ‘Lifebuoy’ soap easily tempt viewers. Sometimes the minor deficiencies of some products are made up for (=compensated) by glossy publicity. In fact, the universal motto of advertisers being effectiveness, they very seldom reck (= consider) the question of its absurdity. As an irony to this trend, at times such stunt-action advertisements have landed some companies into trouble. In ‘Shaktiman’, a serial preaching bravado and desperate courage, the hero shines as fearless and peerless (= without peer or compare) person as he lives even after his blanketed body is set on fire. It is reported that some children in all innocence copied in reality the mock-scene and there were casualties. Thus effectiveness that creates an illusion of reality had to pay the heavy price.
From one angle, however, the TV commercials are indeed irritating. They would interrupt our pleasure of good films or educative shows by interposing (= coming between) between scenes, episodes or interesting dialogues. But there they are a necessary evil. Necessary for their financial potency. They mix the qualities of their products with cheep appeals to our senses, exposing nearly nude bathers or inducing in the product elements that would win lady’s heart or something more erotic.
But TV commercials are far more and wider than these suggest. Its numerous channels take us through the world’s great commercial ventures. We see the great global competition among rival firms, new cars like the Japanese Toyota dislodging the American cars in USA itself. Advertisement of novel kits for mountaineering gives an additional delight as we are indeed shown forward (= ambitious) youths scaling the heights. Sometimes we view the process in a laboratory that manufactures a particular product. For instance, these days ‘Pepsodent’ tooth paste resorts to this device with good effect. It is, however, not possible to dilate upon (= give an expanded account) these details within this limited space.
In fine (= in conclusion) the TV commercials are a potential source of information and also a broacher (= propose) of new ideas. Often they are the product of ingenious (= skillful) persons. These days there is a heavy drain on real merit towards these commercial firms in view of their lucrative (= good salary) offers. Thus the nation is, perhaps, becoming the poorer for this as in days to come her governance will rest more and more on dregs (= coarser stuff). And now with the computer and the internet, the global pull on talents may mean something more serious. The talent drain is not simply to equip the companies with better brains, but to make more attractive TV commercials. For the ultimate consideration is still profit or lucre (= money).
