Skip to main content

Why did Facebook and WhatApp, No 1 on social media, have to advertise on Indian TV channels?

By Rajiv Shah 
For quite some time, sitting at home amidst coronavirus pandemic, I have been watching Facebook and WhatsApp advertisement on TV. I am bewildered: Why did Facebook, or for that matter WhatsApp, bought over by Facebook in 2014, need to propagate their business? They are, from all indications, No 1 on social media. So, why did they need to advertise?
The ads tried to suggest how the two social media have helped "those in need" during these adverse times. One of the Facebook ads showed an elderly couple of our age telling us that their daughter, living in another city, organised for them vegetables and other daily necessities with the help Facebook friends so that they didn't need to go out. 
Another ad showed a woman doctor stating that, thanks to Facebook, lots of "doctors, nurses, ward boys" have not been able to go back to their home, but none of them as homeless, as they to able to find house near the hospital, often without any rental, as they didn't want their family to get infected. 
Similarly, a WhatsApp ads showed a mother keeping in touch with her nurse daughter living in another city, keeping the latter informed about drawings she was doing sitting alone at home; while another one was an interaction between two sisters, with the younger one helping her married elder sister to have haircut  sitting at home.
I have no clue as to why Facebook or WhatsApp suddenly began giving ads on TV, as really they don't need to. There is no social media platform which is as popular as these two. 
All that occurs to me is, these ads began with the "Wall Street Journal" exposure on how a top Facebook executive helped propagate BJP during the last Lo Sabha elections in 2019 -- a news item which went viral and became the main cause for embarrassment to Facebook, so much so that the top social media site was forced to remove several of BJP-supported Facebook pages from its site.
It also caused as much embarrassment to the ruling BJP too -- making Union information and broadcasting minister pen a letter to Facebook owner Mark Zuckerberg stating that Facebook's operations against BJP are one-sided, attacking the social media site's top India operator of being partisan and anti-BJP!
Be that as it may, as an employee of the "Times of India" between 1993 and 2013 -- first as assistant editor in Ahmedabad and retiring as political editor in Gandhinagar -- suggested the roles ads pay in "blocking" certain types of news. This was more than apparent during the biennial Vibrant Gujarat summits, involving top Indian businessmen.
Ahead of each of these summits, I would be told not to file any stories that would "embarrass" the powers-that-be in Gujarat. Immediately after the summit, I would again be told to begin filing stories as before. 
Another instance was Ratan Tata's decision in 2008, when he decided to accept the Narendra Modi offer of shifting the Tata Nano plant to Sanand in Ahmedabad. At that time, the "Times of India" was not getting any ads from the Tatas because of a certain news item which had embarrassed the Tatas. Everyone was told to file stories in support of Tata Nano.
I remember filing a story in 2008 quoting the Duchess of Milan, who had handed over a short letter to a Gujarat government official. The letter said, she would the first to buy the first Tata Nano car soon after it is manufactured. To my surprise, the story appeared on the front page. 
This was not the only story. My colleagues in Ahmedabad did stories like how, once Tata Nano begins rolling down on Ahmedabad streets, there would be huge traffic jams -- such would be its popularity because of the car's proposed price, Rs 1 lakh!
When Ratan Tata came down to Ahmedabad for giving final touch on the deal for the Nano plant, a top editor came flying down from Delhi to interview Rata Tata, and the paper published a full page interview, with summary as lead on the front page.
Soon thereafter the Tata ads began appearing in the "Times of India."

Comments

Unknown said…
Media does Play Influential Role in Elections whether in India or in other Countries. I am Babubhai Vaghela from Ahmedabad on Whatsapp Number 9409475783. Thanks.

TRENDING

Insider plot to kill Deendayal Upadhyay? What RSS pracharak Balraj Madhok said

By Shamsul Islam*  Balraj Madhok's died on May 2, 2016 ending an era of old guards of Hindutva politics. A senior RSS pracharak till his death was paid handsome tributes by the RSS leaders including PM Modi, himself a senior pracharak, for being a "stalwart leader of Jan Sangh. Balraj Madhok ji's ideological commitment was strong and clarity of thought immense. He was selflessly devoted to the nation and society. I had the good fortune of interacting with Balraj Madhok ji on many occasions". The RSS also issued a formal condolence message signed by the Supremo Mohan Bhagwat on behalf of all swayamsevaks, referring to his contribution of commitment to nation and society. He was a leading RSS pracharak on whom his organization relied for initiating prominent Hindutva projects. But today nobody in the RSS-BJP top hierarchy remembers/talks about Madhok as he was an insider chronicler of the immense degeneration which was spreading as an epidemic in the high echelons of th

Central pollution watchdog sees red in Union ministry labelling waste to energy green

By Chythenyen Devika Kulasekaran*  “Destructors”, “incinerators” and “waste-to-energy (WTE) incineration” all mean the same thing – indiscriminate burning of garbage! Having a history of about one and a half centuries, WTE incinerators have seen several reboots over the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. 

First-of-its-kind? 'Eco-friendly, low cost' sewage treatment system installed in Gujarat

Counterview Desk Following the installation of the Unconventional Decentralized Multi-Stage Reactor (UDMSR) for sewage treatment, a note on what is claimed to be the  first-of-its-kind technology said, the treated sewage from this system “can be directly utilized for agricultural purposes”, even as proving to be a “saviour in the times of water crisis.”

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah*   The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual. 

Indo-Bangla border: Farmers facing 'illegal obstacles' in harvesting, transporting yields

  Counterview Desk  In a representation to the chairperson, National Human Rights Commission, human rights defender Kirity Roy, who is secretary, Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM), has said that Border Security Force (BSF) personnel are creating "illegal obstacles" for farmers seeking to harvest their ripened yields and transport them to the market in village Jhaukuthi of Cooch Behar district.

Wasteland, a colonial legacy, being used to 'give away' vast tracts to Ratnagiri refinery

By Fouziya Tehzeeb* William D’Souza, a 55-year old farmer from Kuthethur, Mangalore, was busy mixing cattle feed when we arrived at his doorsteps. Around 25 km from the bustling city of Mangalore, Kuthethur is a lush green village with thick vegetation. On the way to William’s house the idyllic view gets blocked by the flares and smoke arising from the Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL).

'Flawed' argument: Gandhi had minimal role, naval mutinies alone led to Independence

Counterview Desk Reacting to a Counterview  story , "Rewiring history? Bose, not Gandhi, was real Father of Nation: British PM Attlee 'cited'" (January 26, 2016), an avid reader has forwarded  reaction  in the form of a  link , which carries the article "Did Atlee say Gandhi had minimal role in Independence? #FactCheck", published in the site satyagrahis.in. The satyagraha.in article seeks to debunk the view, reported in the Counterview story, taken by retired army officer GD Bakshi in his book, “Bose: An Indian Samurai”, which claims that Gandhiji had a minimal role to play in India's freedom struggle, and that it was Netaji who played the crucial role. We reproduce the satyagraha.in article here. Text: Nowadays it is said by many MK Gandhi critics that Clement Atlee made a statement in which he said Gandhi has ‘minimal’ role in India's independence and gave credit to naval mutinies and with this statement, they concluded the whole freedom struggle.

CAA disregards India's inclusive plural ethos, 'betrays' ideals of freedom struggle: PUCL

Counterview Desk    "Outraged" at the move of the Central government to implement the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 (CAA 2019) weeks before the election, the top rights group, People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), has demanded that the law be repealed. 

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Sections of BSF, BGB personnel 'directly or indirectly' involved in cross border smuggling

By Kirity Roy*  The Border Security Force (BSF) of India and the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) of Bangladesh met for 54th Director General level meeting at Dhaka, Bangladesh, on 5th to 9th March, 2024 to discuss on minimizing killings at border area, illegal intrusion, trafficking of drugs and other narcotics, smuggling of arms and ammunitions and other crimes at bordering areas. Further, the summit had an agenda to discuss on overall development in 150 yards area at both sides of the border and design an activity plan for the same.