Telecom Italia's Gandhi Ad

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The Model Mahatma

Telecom Italia's Gandhi Ad

Kanupriya Vashisht

 

Phoenix, Arizona (US), March 19, 2005|15:34 IST

A small, scrawny man in a dhoti unhurriedly climbs the steps of a hut.

He sits down on the hard floor of a severely frugal room, and then he

smiles - into a web cam.

 

Suddenly that smile is transported from an austere ashram in Ahmedabad

to a giant LCD in Times Square; a cell phone in Rome; a flat screen in

France; a laptop in London. Millions of people all over the world

listen, mesmerised, as a trembling voice spreads the message of truth

and love, barely audible amid the thunder of applause.

 

The aura is electrifying. Telecom Italia has found a compelling

spokesman - Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi.

 

'Telecom Italia Gandhi', a 60-second advertisement that recently won

the Epica Awards, Europe's premier creative awards, has just started

airing in Italy. The spot closes with an interesting inquiry, "Imagine

the world today if he could have communicated like this". This simple

statement, however, triggers a slew of complex issues.

 

Click on Link to See this Ad

http://www.epica-awards.com/assets/epica/2004/winners/film/flv/11071.htm

 

If Gandhi were born into this mind-boggling plethora of media choices

would he really have communicated any better? Could he have touched

the minds of edgy megalomaniacs through cell phones, palm pilots,

blogs and podcasters? Would modern means of mass communication amplify

his message or dilute it?

 

It is somehow hard to imagine Gandhism unscathed by the mockery of

late night comics. It is impossible to visualize the mahatma pausing

for commercial breaks, getting powdered for the camera, or sharing

prime time with Brittney Spears' antics and Aishwarya Rai's giggles.

 

Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandela and Aung San Suu Kyi are present day

inheritors of the Gandhian tradition. However, in this frenetic age of

information explosion their message too is buried under debris of

pluralistic ideologies and a million messages clamouring for

attention. All three have access to a surfeit of multimedia and yet

their sphere of influence is marginalized. Burma still bristles with

violence, Tibetans live on in exile, and Africa continues to burn.

 

 

Gandhi, undoubtedly, is considered one of the most effective

communicators of the 20th century, but his brand of journalism belongs

to an era untouched by television or Internet. His lure lies in the

mystique of austerity. His weapon is his message not his medium.

 

 

Gandhi was journalist when idealists, not advertisers, ran newspapers.

In a public career that spanned nearly four decades, he edited six

journals. None, including Harijan and Navajivan, made profit or

boasted a circulation of more than a few thousand copies. Yet such was

the power of his message that people flocked in thousands just to hear

him speak. Camera did not make Gandhi look good, his rigorous brand of

asceticism did.

 

Gandhi is up for grabs but nonviolence is not the reason. As Salman

Rushdie puts it, "He has become abstract, ahistorical, postmodern, no

longer a man in and of his time but a freeloading concept, a part of

the available stock of cultural symbols, an image that can be

borrowed, used, distorted, reinvented to fit many different purposes..."

 

In these sloganeering times, few people really pause to ponder the

true nature of Gandhi's legacy. It was his bold vision and conviction

that accelerated India's struggle for Independence. It was his

charisma and leadership that inspired confidence in a country riddled

with two centuries of subjugation. Seventy-five years ago this

extraordinary man walked 325 kilometers from Sabarmati to Dandi just

to defy the might of the British with a handful of salt. Today, he is

modeling for brands like Apple Macintosh and Telecom Italia.

 

Such is the sway of mega bucks. Even the saintliest of the dead can be

invoked from history to sell big brands. Gandhi's principles do not

count any more, his maverick image does. Ironically his message has

been packaged to fall in line with the corporate philosophy of

consumerism. His brand image is now protected and marketed by US-based

CMG Worldwide Inc, whose roster of deceased celebrities includes

matinee idols like James Dean and Marilyn Monroe. Any cause or company

seeking to use the image of India's prophet of abstinence now needs

permission from the consumer capital of the world.

 

Half a century ago Gandhi was a brand unto himself, a communicator

powerful enough to be his own medium. Today he is a coveted salesman

for cash-flush corporations. His homespun dhoti, trademark walking

stick, and round spectacles are curios from a bygone age. Satyagraha

and ahimsa: These are words high school kids reluctantly mug up for a

history exam. We have never needed a Gandhi more, and yet, the only

Gandhi we know is a votary for consumerism.

 

"Out of my ashes, many more Gandhis will rise," said Mahatma Gandhi.

Today, his prophetic words have acquired a paradoxical ring – many

more Gandhis have risen – variously packaged as "Telecom Italia

Gandhi" and "Apple Gandhi." It is time to claim our mahatma from the

market and give him back to the masses. That is where he is held

sacred, that is where he truly belongs.