Not Such a Good Idea, Sirjee!
7Sunday, March 14, 2010 by RuthSeq
On Sundays, it is difficult to find an open and functioning grocery store even in places like Mumbai. Running late and in desperate need of phone credit I ran from closed store to closed store, until I finally found one open on Pedder Road.
I scribbled my number on a piece of paper and gave it to the shop keeper along with a hundred rupee note, asking him to give me an Idea top up. He looked at the paper and seemed confused, so I explained that I wanted him to give me the recharge over the phone or what is also called as a ‘Flexi Recharge’. He said “No ma’am Sahib, we not giving that kind.” And so he passed me one of those do-it-yourself recharges.
When I looked at it I was a bit startled. There was nothing grand about the card, except for the size. The Idea recharge I was holding was the size of a business card that all smart and not so smart adults pass around these days. It had an image of a big yellow tag reading ‘Rs.100’ with a background of a hundred more tiny ‘Rs.100’s. This was further laminated with a fine layer of plastic. But, this was not enough packaging for Idea Cellular, because the 8.5 cm rectangular finely laminated cardboard was then packed into a nice big plastic wrapper. That was it, if Abhishek Bachan were in front of me at that moment, I would have clawed him. In early January this year, Idea Cellular launched the ‘Use Mobile, Save Paper’ campaign, the latest of its series of very popular TV commercials with Abhishek Bachan as Sirjee. After my experience, I find the official website’s introduction to the commercial as rather ironic.
“World over, millions of tonnes of trees get cut everyday to produce paper, leading to alarming rates of deforestation. The new IDEA TVC showcases how the mobile phone can be used as an efficient tool to read daily newspapers, generate e-bills, make payments and transactions, issue e-tickets and boarding passes; thereby saving tonnes of paper every day.”
I have no issues with the advertisement and I’ve liked quite a few of the previous Sirjee commercials as well. My problem lies with the fact that the company is communicating two different ideas (no pun intended). On the one hand, the very elaborate TVC is asking us all to make the planet a little more greener by saving paper, however, at the very same time; the company is printing hundreds of thousands of recharge cards which are way larger than required.
I’d like to give the company the benefit of the doubt and assume that I unfortunately got a recharge card from old stock, back when all network companies printed such large ones. However, other companies made the shift to smaller cards months ago; I find it hard to believe that the old stock is still unfinished. One would imagine that if a company were spending so much on paper to make bigger cards, they would magnify the size of their logo, but that is not the case, the Idea Cellular logo occupies a miserly space in the top right corner.
The need to laminate the card is understandable, but to pack the entire card into a plastic pouch is outrageously stupid. I cannot seem to figure out the need for a plastic packet! Will something spill out? No. Is the card allergic to air? No. Is it easier to carry the card in a plastic? No. Then why? Can someone from Idea please explain the necessity to put an already laminated piece of cardboard into a plastic pouch?
7 comments »
journalist material ho sirjee!!! (no pun intended too!!)
Whoa you serious?!!
I see all that plastic, WTF?
I say just friggin post this on their website every 2 hours or something, so its always on top.
Ruthykins, we have a LOT to do, this being the latest (If you know what I mean :P)
I like this post (thumbs up Facebook istyle)
i love. i did a project on this ad :p we share same feelings in many ways one of the other being boredom at work :D
Ummm....the reason is simple. The cards are stacked and sent to retailers/wholesalers and to prevent friction b/w two cards from removing the wax coating on the 'secret code' they use plastic. :)
@Drendus: I think they are designed to peel off only when a reasonable amount of pressure is used. Anyway, I just wish there was another option to plastic. :(
Really nice to read about your commitment to the environment, Ruth. Great going! If you continue to ask, companies will (and have to) respond.
Thanks Preethi! I now have a postpaid account where they send my bill via email so no paper wastage at all! :)
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