yep, was at kanpur..i’m the production In-charge…and i played the mother in the Mrinalini episode.

Were you in the performance at Kanpur? I’m really bad with names, so no point asking that, but which parts did you play?

and i’m glad you liked the performance in Kanpur. I’m part of the group, so it always feels nice to see such that we’re connecting

Well, you’re not the only “someone” who said that, but I wasn’t taking names, but now you’ve gone and ID-ed yourself!

And yeah, I see your point about laughing at ourselves! And also about just laughing at what’s funny. I mean, we laugh at Will and Grace, right? We don’t call it homophobic? The ad is funny, I know that, and it’s only the rigid stupidity in society that makes it so; just that the whole right/wrong aspect rankled.

Well, there are a lot of things to get hot and bothered about, and I have a few items on my list. Like I said, I rediscovered my activist/feminist streak recently. I know I can’t change the world, I’ll just deal with shifting a few pebbles

And while I know I was the the someone referred to in some of the instances above, and still think that the issue of homophobia needs to be tackled at other levels rather than at these, the point is valid – I think what you’re trying to arrive at is how do you draw a line between the acceptable and not. Fair point – you can’t suddenly switch from being wrong to being right by turning the regulator knob!

Though to be honest, the way I read that ad is, that we should laugh at ourselves for being guilty of such silliness – bit like how the British poke fun at themselves (although I’ll probably be inviting the comment that the British wouldn’t allow the ad to be screened).

The answer, of course, would be to not do anything that could be considered offensive. However, since chances are someone will find something to be offended about, that would lead to a rather boring world. It’s a tricky balance, to be sure, and I think Virgin dropped the ball here, but I don’t think it’s an easy ball to handle at any rate.

I’m going to have to side with Niklas on the publicity front: there might be people who won’t go with Virgin because of such ads, but there are a whole lot of people who will because it’s “funny” and entertaining. The more press they get, the more chances of getting a new customer.

There is such a thing as bad publicity if people decide not to buy from them anymore because of it!

@Buggly: I don’t think asking companies not to be discriminatory is too much to ask. I’m with Marie in questioning whether they really meant to offend, but I don’t think it’s too hard to just try to imagine how things might effect the people they are making the slurs against. Is it truly advantageous to isolate a portion of their potential market just to make some people giggle? I’m sure they could think of some other “funny” ways of getting attention.

“Taking things too seriously” or “being opinionated” are considered to be phrases that have negative connotations, especially among the middle classes. And when it comes to women, these phrases acquire a larger dimension which cuts across class, caste and race. To jolt this segment of society (the middle classes)out of its reverie has always been and will continue to be an uphill task for a long time to come.

Too much might be bad because then to do something, you’d have to ok it with everyone in the whole world… And too little might make everyone in the whole world upset at you. Niklas could not come to a clever conclution though because he was busy watching anime. He’ll have to get back on that later… he might throw in world peace and a cure for aids while he’s at it.

Anyhow, I fear the comercial was a succes with Buggling, as long as you spelled the name of the company right. No publicity is bad publicity *pets*