Commercialization of Festivals...( Valentine Special )

My inbox is flooded with messages telling me about my level of ignorance.

They all have one thing in common: they all describe the month of February as the month of love! I’m yet to make out what are the pre-requisite criteria of dignifying a month with such a stature. Earlier, I was told that the month of January should be celebrated as the month of ‘new hope’. An interesting thing to point out here that most of the messages I received were forwarded ones, pointing to some or the other organizations having a commercial interest.

Commercialization of festivals is the direct result of globalization. Two questions might be creeping in your mind- firstly, how commercialization is related with globalization? And secondly, why are festivals being marketed in such a large scale? Before going into further detail I must mention that this article concerns not only about festivals having a religious backing but also with festivals invented post industrialization like Valentine’s Day.

Globalization brought with itself a close nexus among the world different organizations. Post liberalization, suppose an Indian firm having a business in greeting cards was now directly interacting with a USA firm having a business in bouquets; both the firms supported each other logistically. Now the overseas department of that USA firm was maintained by its Indian Counterpart, same was true with the Indian firm. This in all broadens the scope of commercialization of festivals. It further heightened the belief that why not Indians replicate the same success which their counterparts did in USA.

Also, liberalization brought with itself a new breed of entrepreneurs who wanted to experiment with the shores still untouched. Companies started giving out sales and offers like Diwali Dhamaka and Christmas Bonanza. But, Valentine Day with its family (Friendship Day, etc) was still an alien to us.

Then all of a sudden companies migrated to a new theme. They started advertising their product around youths. More and more youth centric slogans started peeping out. Somewhere in the middle companies manufacturing Chocó’s, soft drinks, greeting cards, etc. saw an untimed opportunity floating in it. It leads to the emergence of festivals like Valentine, Friendship, Mother, etc. 

Our society accepted most of them like Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, etc.  But, few others like Valentine’s Day and Friendship Day are still looked at as somewhat defying ethics. People supporting such festivals and their commercialization claim to have a wider and broader thinking. They call themselves pseudo-secular. On contrary, people not supporting such festivals and their commercialization talks about the degradation of cultural and moral conduct which is brought in by such festivals.

What's your take on the whole issue? Do share. 

Like the post @ Indivine: Click Here

Image Source 1: Google
Image Source 2: Google

Globalization and Indian Festivals

Last week, I celebrated Diwali and performed the Chhat puja with pomp and show then the previous years.

But, festivals have changed now.. 10 years back when I used to be a small kid, we had two types of festivals in India.. one with pan India presence like the Diwali and Holi and other with limited presence like Chhat puja, Lohri and Onam.

That was something ten years back; Liberalization of economy in the early 90's brought big MNC's into the Indian market. Advertisement became the need of the day. Manufacturers started luring the customers with added gifts. Diwali, Holi and Christmas Dhamaka became common marketing ideology.

Competition increased manifold with each festivals and so do the reduction in MRP of products during festi occasions. Then, the companies took the smarter step, sensing the market demand. They globalized the second type of festivals. This brought in narrowing of the line between the two types of Indian festivals.

Lohri, a festival of state of Punjab which was traditionally celebrated with singing Geedha and performing Bhangra is now celebrated with loud remix music across the country.. Now people in Tamil Nadu also celebrate it. The same happened with Chhat puja which was traditionally celebrated across the bank of a river in the Hindi heartland is now celebrated in Mumbai inside a swimming pool.

Even the government sensed the change in thinking and declared a holiday for Onam in the state of UP, far away from the place of it'sactual evolution.

How globalization brought up this change?

Hindi speaking heartland missed the aftermath effects of liberalization of economy. Whereas many new industries and ventures came into existence in other states post liberalization. More and more people were now required to work in this industries and so skilled labor from Hindi heartland migrated to other states in search of jobs. Other state people welcomed them with open heart..  as they brought in prosperity. But, they also took there tradition with them. As the time passed there population in other states rose. They started contesting in local elections and took active part in local activities. And, this is the reason why now Chhat puja is celebrated in Kerala.

Market analyzers sensed this change and started marketing type two festivals on the same pattern as of festivals with pan India presence.

You may also like : Kadzilla's Lounge
Image Source: Google