Beware of Asterisk *

The Swindling Stars and Gullible Consumers

Raman Sharma

The   ’ ASTERISK’    is a Latin word and also been used in Greek, literally meaning a little star, academically in English language the symbol of word asterisk   ‘ * ‘   is used   as a footnote or  an explanation or a comment at the bottom of a page that refers back to a specific part of the text. But in modern days of consumerism the symbol of asterisk word is used to complicate facts, dupe, deceive, defraud, mislead, hide the truth and simply to rob the consumers.

In present era of print and electronic media, intentionally or ignorantly our lifestyle, dressing pattern,  eating habit  is by and large controlled or at least motivated by the content served in the media as direct advertisement or as an advertorial.  Mostly of us even do not understand that we do not eat what is good for us but we eat what is orchestrated in the media, we do not buy things which are essential for us but we are compelled to buy such products which the company wants to sell, the citizens are trapped emotionally to purchase such products that factually may not be necessary for them but an impression is created that the world is empty without having those articles or product.

The corporate companies with the help of skilled, intelligent  and creative advertisement makers and marketing experts knit a web around the innocent consumer that he falls in their trap. If we compare the expenditure incurred by the famous brand names in India for the production of any product or article  and then the amount spent on the marketing and advertising then we can understand that at least 60 to 70 percentage of gross revenue is  spent on advertisement, advertorials  and marketing, the figures may vary but different surveys suggest that the percent is no where less than 50 percent.  

In these advertisements we see famous (stars) icons of film, sports, glamour world claiming so much of their product and tutoring the viewers and readers only  goody goody things of the marketing product, they never even make slight mention of the possible hazards of the product. Today these stars are selling almost everything right from Luxurious flats to Sanitary Napkins, Tractor to Chewing Gum, Fairness Cream to Insurance products, obviously their appeal makes a sentimental impact on the potential customers and they tend towards the recommended product.  Not only these living stars cheat the innocent viewers readers but the typographical symbol stated above also do the same, it also cheats the consumers. Many a times after reading an advertisement in print or electronic media we rush to market to buy a specific product believing the content of the advertisement but on ground when we enter the showroom or sale venue we are being told the advertisement was conditional and we missed the symbol * that donates  “Conditions Apply”, we feel so helpless and humiliated, we are make to believe that it was our mistake but in fact this is corporate gimmick to clandestinely looting innocent consumers.

This practice of Asterisk or little star is to covertly burden an innocent consumer with the hidden cost which is never directly told to him but only revealed at the time of payment. For example the Tour and Travel companies offers x amount of money for 4 days holiday package in Singapore but when it comes to payment only then these hidden costs, the tax amount, service tax etc revealed and thus again the trapped consumers felt helpless and has to bear the burden.

The present piece of writing is not  intended  to bash the advertisement makers and the corporates but of course we cannot close our eyes when these advertisements that inform less and hide more about their product and cost and ultimately the innocent consumer becomes the victim  of these covert advertisements. It is also true that the advertisements allows freedom of choice to the consumer to buy the most genuine product amongst the range of  variants of any article in the market. The prevention is always better than the cure therefore as a responsible consumer and citizen it is our duty to remain vigilant once again it is requested to all the esteemed readers to beware of both stars, the living stars and the symbol * at least while going for shopping. The government agencies, the media and the consumer rights activists should also come forward in highlighting the meaning of this little star. 

PUBLISHED IN JOURNEY LINES, THE NORTHLINES.

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