Man vs Food.

The two kinds of people in the world... the ones who work really very hard to even have 1 square meal a day, and the ones who work extremely hard to reduce that extra 5kgs of body fat. Both of them sweat, sizzle everyday and are not happy with their current state. This post is for the latter type! 

but this is neither about inequality, nor about weight reduction/health etc... 

While American restaurants have often been called out for their sometimes gluttonous serving sizes, some are proud of their over sized portions. so proud, in fact, that a few food purveyors have made them into official eating challenges. Thats this TV series is all about. Sometimes it makes you wonder why the Americans have this much of luxury, while the rest of the world does not!

The host Adam Richman, a witty and cheerful guy, goes from place to place all over America in search for exotic food challenges, attempts to win them. Makes you wonder "what a life this guy has got". All he has to do is to go around and eat awesome stuff and somebody pays him to do that...!

If you haven't watched this show yet, please start watching. let me give a little motivation: The different food stuff that they show in this programme look so delicious that your mouth starts drooling, like immediately. And by the end of the episode, you mouth would've generated at least 1 liter of saliva. And if you ever make the mistake of running a marathon (5 plus episodes in a row), then god save you. You get so tempted, you'll eat anything edible that you find (once I drank plain tomato ketchup :))


Every episode, The host Richman, explores the major food points of the particular city before attempting the main challenge. That means more visual treats for the viewer. 




Here 'challenge' means either finishing huge quantities or handling extremely spicy stuff! Being Indians, the spicy hot food stuff may not look really challenging, but the ridiculously huge quantities involved in some of the other challenges do make your head rotate! The one episode where he attempts and successfully finishes a 72oz steak, which looks like a pillow, in 1 hour (which a cheetah would normally finish in 2 days), makes you think if this guy is from mars or some other planet far far away!

On the other hand this show acts as an excellent platform for promoting the restaurants. Probably the restaurant owner sponsors the particular episode, inviting the crew to their city/state. For all we know, they may even create a new challenge just to feature in the show (although it's claimed that the challenges are traditional etc).

72oz steak, 6 pound sandwich, 8 pound ice cream (8 scoops of different flavors with all possible toppings), mammoth burger weighing 10 pounds, fiery hot chicken wings,  42 inch pizza etc are some of the challenges.

Before eating these things, Adam goes into the kitchen and takes us through the making of each recipe.

It's like take a of bun, put a 2 pound patty in it, load it with 4 slices of cheese, add 5 strips of bacon,  add another 2 slices of cheese, eat the burger and finally call the cardiologist!!!

On the whole this show is really awesome and is definitely recommended (not for vegetarians though. Watch the show then you'll know why:))

Any TV series producer reading this blog, if you are planning to make an Indian version of Man vs Food, please consider me for hosting the show. I look good, I am funny and I have a raging appetite for food. I promise I'll be as good as Adam Richman, if not better!!!

How would it be? an Indian version of Man vs Food:

• 30 idlis in 35 mins (winner gets his name on the wall of fame near the cash counter)
• 2 kgs of curd rice with only mango pickle - 2 sachets on the side in 1 hour (winner gets named curd king)
• Andra meals unlimited with Gongura pickle etc - keep eating continuous for 2 hours (even Adam Richman will hit the wall in 30 mins)
• Tandoori chicken - 2 full plates with 2 plates of rashmi kebab, 1 plate hariyali kabab and 2 glasses of lassi - in 1 hr (winner gets free tandoori in that restaurant for 3 months)
• 1 liter of payasam/kheer in 5 mins (loser has to pour the remaining stuff on his head)
• 10 plates of Chilly bajjis in marina beach - in 40mins (this one sounds quite achievable!!!)

Ad Wars?

"survival of the fittest"

If u have to survive, u got to fight... but these 'ad wars' are not quite about survival! especially when 2 established/known/popular brands get involved in such an act, its mainly to establish their supremacy over each other.

 What does the company try to convey through these ad wars?

• to the consumers: "we're the best (or maybe better)"
• to the other company(s) - competitor(s): "we're better than you buddy". "we've got better marketing minds than you", "we can handle situations", "we can retaliate" etc..

Some of the popular ones:

• The ultimate cola war (most popular)
• HUL vs P&G
• Audi vs BMW
• MacD vs Subway
• Horlicks vs Complan
• Nestle vs cadbury
• the airline companies

 

Can we call this kind of war 'cheap'? It's like two 3rd grade kids fighting (immatured?), like cartman and kyle! or can we compare it with what politicians do during elections?

BMW vs Audi:


BMW billboard from Juggernaut Advertising on Vimeo.

Nestle vs Cadburys



Is it all about who can make better advertisements? --- probably!

Do we dare talk about ethics, decency, professionalism etc? do they make sense here?
actually they don't... when someone challenges you, you take the challenge and fight them.
"one should not fight for the sake of fighting, only when there is no other choice..." (sounds lame?). but that's when someone challenges you. What can we say about the one who starts the fight/war?

Actually it takes this much "(  )" of courage to start such a war...  this much "(  )" more than what you already have :)

Rin (HUL) vs Tide (P&G):



when HUL comes up with such an ad against P&G (head-on collision), that requires much more courage. P&G dragged HUL to the court and after so much of drama, the ad was banned. Ideally a company of  P&G's caliber should have retaliated differently (i am not very sure if P&G came up with similar ads or some other professional technique), instead of dragging HUL to the court (an act of cowardice?)... It's no doubt a desperate attempt by HUL to gain P&G's market share, but still...

Sometimes a breakthrough success of one company might make the other one come up with such ads:

Sometimes the company might make arrangements which might look natural/coincidental, with the very intention of defaming the competitor...
                 (a picture like this is, would obviously create some buzz among the consumers)

My all time fav:- during the cricket world cup 1996, Coca Cola came up with the ad campaign "eat cricket, sleep cricket... but drink only coca cola...". Ajay Jadeja and Azaruddin came in one of these ads eating cricket bat, stumps etc. pepsi mocked this by using monkeys in their ads which would eat cricket bats, establishing that only monkeys are stupid enough to eat cricket stuff and drink coke.

And we cannot possibly forget how mountain dew got mocked by other manufacturers... the worst ever :)

now what about the companies that are not a part of this war? they're just curious onlookers? or do they think it's unnecessary? or do they want to stay away? or are they handicapped?

How hard is it to 'mind your own business' and do business???

Please try to answer the above questions...

...and check out this one!

The giant national scam - Akshaya Tritiya

People with really strong sentiments about this concept, this is the time you stop reading this post.!

Scene 1: (a typical middle class family. a conversation between a mother and her grown up son)

Mother: son, today i am planning to buy you a new gold chain... like a good guy you will wear it always henceforth.
Son: what???!!!
Mother: ya, today it's the auspicious day of akshaya tritiya. buying new gold will will bring us more prosperity. and will keep you in good health.
Son (a logical thinker): but mom, I 'am' healthy!!! and we are happy the way we are now. besides i am not really interested in wearing gold n all...
Mother: stop being a smart ass (not the exact words, since it's a Indian middle class family) and do as I say...
Son: what about the play station 2 which I've been asking you for such a long time. or maybe you can give me the money, so I can modify my bike...
Mother: No No! those things are just waste of money. you are a grown up now. you shouldn't be wasting money on video games anymore. It has to be gold. period.
Son (thinks): Oh crap!!!

Scene 2: (the conference room or a really luxurious hotel. a meeting of all top jewellers of the country - 8-10 year ago)

Jeweller 1: gentlemen, sales has really been bad over the past few years. I am sure all of you will agree to this...
Others: yeah! yeah! yes, Haan ji! aamam sir!
Jeweller 1: the situation now is, we get bulk orders for weddings etc, maybe 5 times a month. otherwise it is all small purchases, not worth selling. You all very well know the problems that we face. inventory holding costs, bribes that we have to pay the officials and policemen, the advertising expences etc. Considering all this, we must have massive returns, other wise their is no point in doing this business. This is a great area to do business, all we need is to click the right button.
Jeweller 3:what we really need is a great marketing strategy.
Jeweller 2: yes! it is not really about survival, it's all about minting money to the maximum extent.
Others: agreed! agreed!
Jeweller 1: like in the case of textile retailers, they make a kill during festival times. people are glad to spend on clothing 3 or 4 times a year. and that keeps them in good business. with a good strategy and proper advertising, I think we can also achieve a similar state! in our case even once a year purchase from a Major section of the population will keep us rich and happy for the whole year.
Jeweller 3: what is the segment that we are going to target?
Jeweller 2: Sir, it doesn't work that way! we have to target the whole spectrum of the population, then the strike rate would be much more.
Jeweller 1: the best way to do this is use the religious sentiments of the people. make them believe it's a must, to purchase gold. They are all so vulnerable in this area.
Jeweller 2: great idea! we pick a date and we call it "Must buy gold" day. we can easily liquidate all our inventory on this day. and the profit will be phenomenal.
Jeweller 4: when should this be?
Jeweller 2: Does it really matter???
Everyone: HA ha HA Ha hA!!!!!!

and that is 'probably' how Akshaya Tritiya came into existence.
This is the biggest marketing gimmick ever. and this concept of Akshaya Tritiya is a perfect example of how business people commercialize/capitalize on normal people's sentiments!

The significance of the day is attributed to the event of Krishna giving Draupadi the Akshaya Paathiram (a vessel which keeps giving food - unlimited). Other than that, this day also marks Lord Parasurama’s appearance (source: wikipedia).
As the name denotes, Akshaya is a never ending, never diminishing, unlimited non-stop flow. That means, whatever we start and do on this day, will be with us forever and keep on growing as intended. I say plant a tree and watch it grow and give fruits, or start a new business, venture, or maybe a new good habit etc. WHY GOLD???

The sad state of our country is that, these days, people even borrow money from others to buy gold on this day. Banks put a board outside their gates: "today no banking transactions! only gold coin sales"!!!

I am pretty sure every country in the world will have such silly sentiments and practices, but this must be the king of all such things! it seems, on this day, last year a whopping 55 tonnes of gold were sold. To cash on this opportunity banks and retail players in gold jewelry segment have come out with lucrative offers (everyone is smart, except the common man).

Now what is really the downside of this.? investing in gold is a good thing right? only the consumer should know the answer to these questions. sometimes you buy 14 carat gold instead of 22 carat (thinking it is 22 carat gold). and not to mention about the adulterations etc that the jewellers do during these times.

Ever since the government became very strict about arbitrage, smuggling etc, these business people have thought about other means to make huge profits. This is one of those...

The future looks pretty bright for other businesses as well, with the consumers who will buy anything if properly advertised...

don't be surprised if in the near future, you come across ads like those mentioned below:

• "buy a rice cooker today, and your family will never go hungry : rice cooker day"
• "buy 5 kgs of Bt brinjal and make this special recipe and serve to your family before 8PM today :Bt Brinjal day"
• "this whole month is wrist watch month. buy a wrist watch in this month and be the best in time management, we also give you certificates for time management upon full payment for your watch"
• (this could be the worst) "buying property day: today buy your own piece of land or property and get the direct blessings of all the gods"

Do buy gold! but why on this one day...? pick another day of your choice, when you have a need for gold. when you have enough money to buy gold, when there is no pressure.

These are absolutely my own personal views. no intention to hurt anybody's feelings/sentiments!
Peace!