This one was a good read!

A Case of Exploding Mangoes, by Mohammed Hanif

Mangoes meet mullahs in a fine political satire

Hanif's novel is really a series of darkly comic vignettes about the investigation of Obaid's disappearance and the preoccupations of General Zia and his generals. There are sharply observed sketches of toadying ministers, mindlessly efficient security chiefs, filthy prison cells, sex-mad Arab sheikhs and erudite communist prisoners (who hate Maoists more than mullahs).

Zia's limited intelligence and unlimited paranoia are portrayed with great glee. The only women of any significance are Zia's wife (who, after seeing a picture of her husband gazing into the cleavage of an American journalist, declares that he is dead to her) and a blind prisoner, sentenced to death by stoning because she had been raped. There is also a rather interesting mango-loving crow, who might have had something to do with several events.

Although framed as a mystery and ending with rational explanations for Obaid's disappearance and Zia's plane crash, A Case of Exploding Mangoes is less Le Carr (who praises the author's "lovely eye... and even better ear") than Private Eye. The tension does not build up until the final chapters and is then released far too quickly. The novel spends far more time exposing the stupidity, brutality and hypocrisy of Pakistan's military rulers. Whether such revelations can shock any longer is, of course, doubtful but as a piece of political satire,

A Case of Exploding Mangoes deserves a high mark.

No problem if ur cell phone is lashed with water.... :)

Hey guys... if your cellphones are a victim of rain water and have stop workn, do just worry about it i ll be tellin u some steps to get them back to life.

Following are da steps to be taken rite after its wet.

1. Dont panic take it out form da water asap.

2. Remove da phone's battery with in no time so that u can save it form any short circuit and after that remove da sim card, memory stick and da casing of your cellphone step by step.

3. Dry your cellphone with a help of towel but keep in mind dont shake it cause shaking can make water go to those areas where it havnt reach.

4. Now take a air proof pastic bag with some uncooked rice, leave ur cellphone in it, covering da cellphone wid rice and close da bag asuring tht air has escaped. Leave it for lyke over night or around 24 hours. Actually rice is a good absorbent of water, so it will absorb all da water form your cell phone.

5. Now check your cellphone, if its nt working properly then repeat da steps and it will be recovered.

Or if it doesnt start up check da battery cause its da most common problem by water damage

Thanks :)

I read books too :)

Songs of Blood and SwordWritten by Fatima Bhutto

In September 1996, a fourteen-year-old Fatima Bhutto hid in a windowless dressing room, shielding her baby brother while shots rang out in the streets outside the family home in Karachi. This was the evening that her father Murtaza was murdered, along with six of his associates. In December 2007, Benazir Bhutto, Fatimas aunt, and the woman she had publically accused of ordering her fathers murder, was assassinated in Rawalpindi.

It was the latest in a long line of tragedies for one of the worlds best known political dynasties.

Songs of Blood and Sword tells the story of a family of rich feudal landlords the proud descendents of a warrior caste who became power brokers in the newly created state of Pakistan. It is an epic tale full of the romance and legend of feudal life, the glamour and licence of the international political elite and ultimately, the tragedy of four generations of a family defined by a political idealism that would destroy them.

The history of this extraordinary family mirrors the tumultuous events of Pakistan itself, and the quest to find the truth behind her fathers murder has led Fatima to the heart of her countrys volatile political establishment.

It is the history of a nation from Partition through the struggle with India over Kashmir, the Cold War, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan up to the post 9/11 'War on Terror'. It is also a book about a daughters love for her father and her search to uncover, and to understand, the truth of his life and death.

It is a book about a family and nation riven by murder, corruption, conspiracy and division, written by one who has lived it, in the heart of the storm. Songs of Blood and Sword is a book of international significance by a young woman who has already established herself as a brave and passionate campaigner.

A new look horror flick

Paranormal Activity

Paranormal Activity takes a Blair Witch Project-style approach to storytelling, using 'footage' found after an event to reveal what took place. But while the Blair Witch Project filmmakers opted to keep the actual action (other than rock piles) off camera, Paranormal Activity shows us the goods.

What scares the participants also scares the audience.
Whether you're going to find Paranormal Activity a complete waste of time, a decent horror film, or the scariest movie ever depends on whether you think there's enough revealed by the time the film ends.

I'm plopping Paranormal Activity into the decent category. It didn't live up to all the prerelease hype; it's not the be-all, end-all of horror movies. But for what Oren Peli was able to accomplish with an $11,000 budget, Paranormal Activity should definitely be applauded. Peli wrote, produced, directed and edited the film and shows real talent and flair for storytelling, signaling the man's got quite a future in filmmaking (if he chooses his follow-up project wisely).

Illegal advertising in Pakistan

Pakistan (Islamic Republic of Pakistan) was established with great efforts and was attained after loss of valuable lives…the ideology was to gain a separate entity for Muslims (true believers of the religion, Islam) which condemns all illegal business practices. The reason behind quoting this from the Quran is to make us understand how unlawful and unethical business practices or illegal advertising can be! The modern era has forgotten most of the Islamic beliefs and we have moderated our values in our own benefit and this is what most of today`s companies’ have done to advertise their products or brands; in a manner that they forget the legal practices or legal ways to be followed.

The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) has described a rather detailed code of conduct, for advertisers, cable operators and other such persons; according to which they must follow certain rules and regulations. These rules and regulations and the details of the ordinance can be viewed from their website. When I started my research for this article I came across the ordinance and was very much amazed that the content of certain ads and programs is illegal. Even I couldn’t believe that companies of such high repute are also very likely to indulge in illegal advertising. To make this whole article very clear let me first share the definition of an Advertisement as described by PEMRA. “Advertisement” means a set of visual and audio messages for the projection of a product, service, or idea with the object of propagating sale, purchase or hire of the product, service or idea and for creating other related effects.

Today however companies have started to use advertisements as a means of defaming each other. For example, the Jazz Ramadan offer ad, in which Azfar and Mani openly criticize Ufone’s similar offer. The ads of cellular companies are very fast moving and show ups like these leave a bad taste in the viewers’ minds. However this mal practice does not end here in fact it extends to the whole of the world, as not only local Pakistani companies but international companies of high repute are also indulgent in this menace.

In Section 20 of this same Ordinance now known as an Act, the authority has described a very clear and concise code of conduct especially for media advertisers. Following are some of the rules they have specified:

(a)    Ensure preservation of the sovereignty, security and integrity of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan;

(b)   Ensure preservation of the national, cultural, social and religious values and the principles of public policy as enshrined in the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan;

(c)     Ensure that all programs and advertisements do not contain or encourage violence, terrorism, racial, ethnic or religious discrimination, sectarianism, extremism, militancy, hatred, pornography, obscenity, vulgarity or other material offensive to commonly accepted standards of decency.

(d)   During a regular program a continuous break for advertising shall not exceed three minutes and duration between two such successive breaks shall not be less than fifteen minutes.

With these three rules in mind there are a couple of ads that I may discuss here as examples of illegal advertisements.

Nowadays a lot of developmental projects are in progress and every now then we can see ads of these projects as well. Where can we see these ads; is a question that a few may ask; well nowadays every common household has Cable Channels and each of these channels show these ads. These ads are very vulgar and indecent however they are never protested against and go on running as long as the cable wishes to run them.

Similarly the ordinance prohibits discrimination of all sorts, however we still see ads of fairness creams, which not only openly discriminate against people with dark skins but also shape peoples’ perception of beauty which is rather illegal as well as unethical. No individual or company has the right to shape viewers perceptions, neither do they have the right to typecast and degrade people.

In this context I would also like to discuss the emerging trend of sanitary pads ads and ladies hair removing creams’ ads. Pakistan is an Islamic state and also the PEMRA Ordinance suggests that no vulgar, indecent and obscene ad should be shown on television. However it looks to me like advertisers and television channels either do not consider them obscene or they just want to indulge in illegal practices. Both of the forth mentioned products are girls only and their appearance on TV is discomforting for them; also these ads do not comply with Islamic values.

Also according to the PEMRA ordinance an advertisement should not be a means of false claims regarding a product. This practice of false claims is not new however advertisers often tend to use it for commercials of beauty soaps, detergents, anti bacterial soaps, cleaners etc. In these commercials, particularly those of anti bacterial soaps, companies claim to have conducted surveys of which no number is ever specified. Certain ads picture doctors recommending the advertised soap which is illegal not only in the profession of advertising but also in the profession of medicine. No doctor is allowed to prescribe soaps and even medicines of particular brands or companies.

Similarly the ordinance also says that during a program a continuous advertising break shall not exceed three minutes, and the minimum time interval between two breaks should be at least fifteen minutes, both these rules have been put aside by advertisers and television channels. Whilst watching a program it is very annoying to tolerate these ads.

I am not against advertising however they way advertising is being used in our country is very disturbing. Apart from government inaction we viewers are also suffering from self inaction and laziness. It is our right and duty to report such matters and take charge against this violation of rules, regulations and rights. Is it perfectly alright to criticize, ridicule and discriminate against dark skins? Can’t companies create awareness regarding the use of sanitary pads and hair removing creams without showing their ads on TV? Can’t companies just advertise their own product without criticizing their competitors? Can’t TV channel shorten the span of advertisement breaks? Can’t soaps, detergents and cleaners be used without doctor recommendations? The answer to all these questions is yes. However it is our laziness, inaction and ignorance that has let advertisers, companies and television channels take advantage and keep practicing their illegal practices. Even today if we want to stop them we can do so by lodging complaints with the PEMRA in the manner prescribed by their ordinance. It is never late than ever.

I find this very interesting and informative

For the love of arrogance

Up in the air

Up in the air is so much more than just a film. It is a reflection of the modern day society we live in. It is a realization of how inhumane and cold we’ve become under the pretext of being progressive, practical and professional. The film aptly uses irony to bring to our notice where the rat race and herd mentality can lead us to. Up in the Air is a film that defines the kind of people we’ve become today... how numb we have become towards our surroundings and thus the people surrounding us! It questions our philosophies and relationships in life in the wake of the current economic crunch.

Up in the Air is by far the most relevant film ever made on ‘life’ as we see it today.

Filmmaker Jason Reitman gives you a dose of reality by making you analyse your life through the eyes of Ryan Bingham (Clooney), a man on the move who believes in travelling light. Ryan is a man whom companies hire to fire their people because their bosses have no courage to do it. Ryan fires other people for a living but believes he does it with dignity. When Ryan is not depriving people of their jobs, he becomes a guest speaker and gives motivational speeches on ‘empty backpack’ to corporates.

Reitman impressively uses Ryan’s ‘empty backpack’ as a metaphor which deciphers Ryan’s real life, isolated from people and any kind of attachment to anything.

Based on the 2001 Walter Kirn novel of the same name, Up in the Air is a poignant tale on people, their beliefs and the choices they make. What makes this film stand out is its superb execution. The filmmaker uses comedy to bring out the most harsh tragedy of life (read, Anna’s beau dumps her through a text message which she finds horrible, but doesn’t realize how bad firing people could be!).

Unlike most romcoms, the film does not show Ryan as someone forced to live an isolated life. He is not a victim of dire circumstances or traumatised past. He is what he is and he does it by choice and in fact enjoys his lonely life until he falls in love...

Up in the Air is a must watch... real life, real people, real circumstances weren’t captured better on reel screen before.

Memoires of a social networkoholic

(Disclaimer: Following is a mere interpretation of what my stupid mind can come up with, and any incident mentioned below is not even remotely true.)



Around some forty years ago, when internet was born, nobody knew what it is for, what people are going to with it. At first it was considered to be a governmental move to control the lives of individuals. But now, all together, its a different story.

An inventor, whose name I don't even know and don't even bother to find out, has played such an important role in my life which he wished (at least i think so) to have played in the life of his own family.

So here goes the story...

As I walked in the corridor and mingled around with the seniors standing by -- everything before that in my life, not so important, so don't bother.

Ahan! I was asked that if I'm there on facebook. i was like "facebook who?" At first i thought of it to be a coaching centre for administration or some s*@#. Funny haan.

Then they told me later that facebook is a very big social network where you can keep in touch with school and college friends.

Eureka! came an idea to my mind; now I can track all the crushes that i had in my pre-mature life.

Getting registered was the easy part, finding people was actually difficult. I almost sent a friend request to any one with a picture (girls off course, i have enough male friends).

As I turned on my PC, very next day, I was amazed to see over 200 friends in my list and, guess what, more than half were female.

Social networking then became more of a daily routine than a habit, as the days went by and I kept venturing in to the delusional cyber world. Along the way i made many friends and a few special friends. (This piece will only cover the love story side of my social networking experience).

The story which started with the name Asma Ali -- my first online girlfriend. We met through friend suggestion (courtesy Facebook) and it was all my charm that took me through to the next stages. We liked each others statuses and even took those not so interesting quizes, only if the answer ended with our names. Commenting on each others every activity was a must do and yes she changed her broken heart to a complete heart.

Inboxing each other with messages -- can't be written here -- and continuing those threads on and on till one of us started another thread.

As time went on and our mutual friends started growing, we realised we wanted different groups and pages in life (just to put it in networking terms).

But my life was not done there and i had a different reason to move on. Reason was Areeba Faysal. The cubid struk on a page titled 10,000,000,000 people who love Pakistan. Where we started a friendship, with an argument on the point that these groups should not exist.

Short and cute was all that i wanted, at that time to replace tall and nosy :P.

And an important thing was that i never completed my heart -- my excuse i have my family in here too. The rest is the repetition of the above mentioned story but the new thing was the constant whining of Asma, "tum badal gaye ho" to be exact. But with my constant ignorance and steadfast attitude i overcame that.

As my short and cute story continued to grow I started to find out that there are too many option available, on friend suggestion, so i should not waste my time being with one.

On a late night after reading more than thirty message of smiley emoticons and deleting a lot of sentimental stuff from the 'past one', i decided to explore my option in the cyber land.

New option was Nimra Aijaz, at least the picture suggested it.

The attitude of the new prospect was what kept me motivated. To further define attitude; her turning down my friend request daily, ignoring all the stuff that i inboxed her. But she gave in with an answer 'tumhara masla kya hai'.

My time to shine, a two-page story copy pasted from a Google search result was my answer. Sufficient to strike a chord and act as a catalyst to fast forward us to 'me and Nimra Aijaz are now friends'.

During the following days I discovered through a quiz -- lover of the day -- that I have other options, as in Aneeta karim. A girl I randomly requested to be friends with and got a green signal. May be she was in the race to complete 10,000 friends.

Here I would like to mention Mr Umer Soni -- the guy who made my ventures of finding significant other easy. You ask How?

Just by being himself i.e if you are constantly bugged by a flu (Umer) you'll settele for a headache (me). By virtue of his nature he made a pass on very girl and they were made to asses their standards. Thats when I strike just to make them feel that they have high standards.

Enough of the background...

So as I carried on with Nimra and also continued to pursue Aneeta, I got more lured towards the spectacle wearing kind. I considered her to complete my intellectual side.

As I decided to settle done in cyber world with Aneeta Karim, I was disappointed to learn that she had deleted her profile with a message 'yours forever'.

Just as an added info, I was asked by three different people for my password -- no I m not stupid -- I replied in a simple no.

After two years of a networking havoc and thousands of hate messages on my profile by several different of my past exploits, I also decide to leave Facebook with a little dignity intact. So I did.

And ya now I tweet.

Unethical advertising in Pakistan

To understand what unethical advertising is all about we must first consider knowing the exact meaning of the words ethical and unethical.  By contrast both words are thought to be antonyms which are fairly true however there are very few people who know what they actually and even fewer who know where the line should be drawn. Ethical or Ethics means a defined code of conduct that is right in terms of one’s religious and cultural values and attitudes. Similarly the word Unethical is often used for the rebellion from this code of conduct, to do what is wrong as described by the ethical code of conduct. Now that we know the difference between Ethical and Unethical we can clearly draw the line; however it is seen in most ads today that they tend to promote certain unethical values in their viewers. To make my point crystal clear I am discussing certain examples that I came across during my research.

Quite a while ago Hilal, a renowned candy company in Pakistan, distributed an ad to promote its bubble gum by the name of Fresh Up. In my opinion this ad is highly unethical it promotes certain values that are not only forbidden by our religion but are also disliked culturally. The very first thing the ad opens with a guy riding a heavy bike he as suggested bumps into a girl by mistake however saves her from falling to the ground by which the girl is impressed, in the second sequence a secretary is shown eating fresh up before entering her boss’ room, in this sequence it is seen that to get things done women take advantage of their looks etc which is highly unethical and fairly false as well. In the third scene a girl pops a bubble in public and seemingly grabs the attention of all those around her which may not be considered unethical but is ill mannerism. The fourth scene promotes dating as a vital function of opposite sex relationships whereas the fifth and last sequence is the most disturbing; it actually promotes smoking and lying. In this last sequence the same boy (first sequence) is shown heading home smoking, however when he reaches the door of his house he kills the cigarette and eats fresh up to hide bad breath from his mom. Now let us consider a child watching this ad what would be his impression? Obviously he will think that these values are right and he should inculcate them as well.

Similarly every day we see ads of fairness creams popping up on our television screens. To be very honest these TVCs are highly unethical in most of these commercials women with dark skins are ridiculed. They are made to believe that with dark skins they cannot achieve anything in life. Here the corporate giant Unilever can be targeted with its Fair & Lovely ad campaigns running all over the world. In most of their ads girls with dark skins are ridiculed and it is clearly shown that without a fair skin tone they will not be able to live their dreams. Nowadays boys have also been dragged into this menace. Here I’m talking about the infamous Fair Menz cream ad; in this particular one friend is getting married and the other friend who is to attend the wedding is advised to use the product so as to look good and woo girls. In the second part of the ad the bride’s friend seemingly seduces the groom’s friend and they end up getting engaged with each other.

Other than these, the ads of cellular service providers are growing to become highly unethical. Most services have started openly criticizing each other (refer to Jazz Ghanta Offer) which is considered unethical in the world of advertising, similar to this is the ad of Ufone’s Uth Package. In this context I will also like to discuss the new Telenor Djuice ad; in the opening sequence the young boy is in conversation on his cell phone when the door bell rings, his irritated father asks to answer the call however he in turn tells his father to do the same, which is unethical in terms of our cultural values. Similarly towards the end of the ad his girlfriends are also given a referral. Here many people may argue that it is a religious right to marry of one’s choice, this is true however that does not at all mean that one can go on talking to their girlfriends or boyfriends throughout the day as well as he night thanks to the numerous night packages introduced by these same cellular services.

By far we have discussed what unethical advertising is all about and I have also given some examples of the same. This menace of unethical advertising is not restricted to Pakistan in fact it dates back to the very beginning of advertising. Even during the Edo Era of advertising most traders indulged in false advertising. Similarly in later periods advertisements showed half truths and some even mislead customers. One very popular case of unethical advertising is that of McDonald’s in which the company was sued for not providing the right amount of information to its customers which in turn was becoming a major cause health risks for them. Similarly they were also accused of keeping big portion sizes on their menu, promoting bad eating habits in children. The company suffered some losses; however it soon recovered and introduced a healthy menu with fresh salads and smaller portion sizes.

Apparently all companies whether big or small, international or local have all indulged in some sort of unethical advertising; nevertheless not each one of them were taken to court neither were their cases brought to light. This menace of unethical advertising still reigns today due to the silence of us viewers. The question that many will raise here is “What can we do?” There are a number of things I am suggesting in the following lines. First and foremost we must be aware of our rights. Racial discrimination whether in any form is prohibited and has been named a serious offence by United Nations Human Rights Commission, thus we should raise our voices against Fair and Lovely and the likes. Similarly we must also raise our voice against ads like those of Fresh up bubble gum, as they are promoting smoking, dating etc. through their ads. Similarly the cellular services are also to be questioned as due to their youth packages the youth are indulging in a number of wrong doings, starting from simple innocent jokes extending to cheating in exams and even sexual abuse. As if these SMS bundles and youth packages were not enough the introduction of the various late night call packages serve as the topping on the cake. These call packages adversely affect the health and studies of our youngsters. Luckily the in Lahore the Su Moto action of the high court has resulted in a ban on the late night packages however this is just not enough because not all courts will take such actions. To protect our rights and to make advertisers show us what is right we have to take the stance. We have to curb this menace by raising our voices; I am not saying that we charge the roads or indulge in violent protests instead we should arrange for ourselves forums to talk our hearts out and also to discuss these very sensitive and important issues. Now is the correct time to act; as change has arrived and many good judgments are being made. Let us all vow to ourselves that the next time we see such an ad we will surely record our protest at least with the media authorities; as only this can help to curb the menace of unethical advertising.

Bureaucracy

To get down to basics, the dictionary meaning of bureaucracy is the body of officials and administrators, especially of a government or government department.

But, the point is, that what the word bureaucracy means, what actually the system really stands for, is a whole new story.

Although, it’s not the bureaucracy which makes the policies and laws (as what we are told), but their job is to enact them. The policy makers are the leadership, and the orders originated by them have to be carried out or implemented by the bureaucracy.

After reading several concepts and theories by different scholars, we can come up with many conclusions. However, the matter of fact, how much understanding and insight we have gained about this topic.

Superficially, the concept of bureaucracy seems to be something very clear and concise but if we go profound, we encounter several perplexing and entangling ideas. But the fact remains untouched, that……
“Bureaucracy is a covert form of aristocracy in a hierarchic fashion in the societies where these government officials are sovereign, where as this same bureaucracy is a puppet where these officials are checked and balanced.”   


(Don't mind this, it is just that I have studied too much of public administration already and wanted to just let it out :))

Cheap advertising

Advertising doesn't have to be expensive to be effective. It can make or break your business...but it doesn't have to break your bank account in the process. Even though good business ideas are difficult to discover, there's plenty around if you care to look. But what really matters is turning ideas into practice, theory into reality! But question is this at what cost? Commonly quoted figures for a budget marketing method are around 10% of turnover for a large business & around 20% for smaller businesses. Remember, marketing and advertising is an investment not a cost.

To be effective, advertising must be interruptive—that is, it must make you stop thumbing through the newspaper or thinking about your day long enough to read or hear the ad. Advertising must also be credible, unique, and memorable in order to work. Before making an advertise you must check an advertise through this list, of course, there are no ready formula for beating bull’s eye design, creative solutions, however, look at the basic strategies for successful advertising ;

·         To have success, must offer the advertising a consumer benefit or a problem to solve.

·         The fact that the benefit or solution must be obtained by consumers.

·         The product or service offered should be directly linked to the benefits or the solution.

·         The benefit or solution must be clearly communicated through media advertising. In other words, be clear, forget the brilliance of advertising and ensure that the message is not lost on the ad.

In Pakistan there are many small firms working or entering the market, their products are good enough to compete with MNC‘s product, but they cannot compete them in advertising and publicizing their product, because MNC’s spend a huge amount of their revenue every year on advertising and marketing that is the reason why many small local firms in Pakistan do not make a lot of business because they lack the resources to compete. Unfortunately in Pakistan there is not much concept of low budget advertising, these firms can concentrate on low budget advertising techniques that can help these companies to compete with these MNC’s while remaining in their budget.

Some low budget marketing ideas help you to achieve a constant flow of new customers into your business by using simple, low budget marketing methods. They can be of great help if someone starting a new business... or losing customers... or want to boost profits... or all of the above.

·         Place your ads on free time or in unusual places at discounted prices. This will help in containing costs. Often, you can still reach your target audience with these points.

·         Instead of a welcome sign of a great time, consistent with frequent small ads that continue to remind customers of their present work.

·         Consider advertising in regional issues of national magazines. The costs are lower, and you can reach your target audience. TV Guide is also a good option.

·         Sponsor a community event, if you can, as a fun run, cricket tournament or other event that are well known in the community.

·         Use the media to choose the maximum. If your message is verbal, does not need television. With radio, posters and newspapers as possible.

·         Rent an advertising design agency that is not on top of the stack, but can be creative and offer specializing in interactive campaigns for creative design solutions.

·         Send classified ads through weekly newspapers, metropolitan dailies, and national magazines. Readers in these areas may not be looking for your product, but your ad will be seen by individuals who are looking for specific information. On that note, classified ads need to be written in a clear and simple manner. Only feature one product/service per ad. If you offer more than one product, consider running a separate ad for each product you want featured.

·         Coupon Mailers contain cards advertising several different companies and their products. These are also known as "card decks" and reduce the cost of mailing.

·         Distribute handbills on the street; you can hire a high school or college student to do the grunt work for you. There are even distribution services you can hire at a low cost to pass these handbills out.

·         Print attractive and informative business cards that include your logo and hand them out everywhere, consistently! If you use letterhead stationery in your business, have it match your business card. Keep your identity as consistent as possible.

·         Print up some gift certificates. These let your customers introduce you to new customers. Since you get paid up front for the product or service, they are good for your cash flow.

·         Brochures let you provide a lot of detail about your product or service.

·         Flyers can be created very inexpensively on your computer, or by a local print shop.

·         Door hangers are very effective and widely used by fast food and home delivery and service businesses. If you choose this medium, use heavy stock so it won't blow off doorknobs and litter the neighborhood.

·         Paper or plastic bags and packaging make economical billboards. Print your name, logo, and message on anything you can, on all sides.

·         On the Internet there are many low budget advertising alternatives and methods to promote a website of your own and these are considered the best for reaching a targeted audience and low cost advertisements which can be implemented in many online ways. To create a website is one way of advertising, because what you do is to place your website link on different websites and if you have optimized your website properly, then your website will rank accordingly in the search engines and the more good strong and relevant backlinks you have for your website. Having an online space is cheaper than other advertising alternatives as the webhosting is very inexpensive with monthly fees and domain name charges are yearly. The main cost that you will have is the time to promote and market your website as this takes up a large percentage of your time.

·         An auto responder is a low cost way particularly if you rely solely on email advertising to build up your sites credibility through email communication and they can be very useful by providing updates to your products or your affiliate products, but also by building trust and providing quality information for your subscribers. But if you're a smart advertiser you will learn to combine many different advertising methods into a full force advertising campaign that reaches people on many levels.

·         Yellow pages is the obvious other way of advertising your business, although many might argue that the Yellow pages is becoming obsolete because of the Internet, but no as the Yellow pages is online too, so this adds to the power of the Yellow Pages advertising as people can find your business, website or phone number and contact your directly.

·         If you are a whizz with PowerPoint or an overhead projector and an drive home the point of your business, then you could include your presentation as part of a potential sales pitch where you would apply the presentation to a group of targeted people who just might purchase your product or help promote your business if you give them enough incentives to do so.

·         A newsletter is a vital update t new and existing client and can be sent through email or direct mail if your budget allows. I'd go with an email newsletter as this is far cheaper, but a photocopied newsletter sometimes can work wonders depending on your market.

·         One last thing about low cost advertising, one of the best forms of advertising is simply just talking about it. If you can relay the enthusiasm for something like your business and do it in a memorable way, then others will remember it and mention it to someone who they think would benefit from it, this is the age old Word Of Mouth and you cannot beat it, for its viral marketing capacity can be just as good as any other method, of course it's who you know and not necessarily what you know sometimes that can create some business for you.

• Whatever your business is whether a salon, a boutique, a surf shop, a restaurant or a store that sells widget or any other small business…. The lesson to be learned here is... If you have more time than you have money to advertise your business, don't stand around waiting for people to hopefully walk through your door-- Get out there and pound the pavement and do whatever it takes to bring customers to your business!

A romantic movie :P

Notebook

"The Notebook," the movie version of Nicholas Sparks' 1996 bestseller, may be corny, but it's also absorbing, sweet and powerfully acted. It's a film about falling in love and looking back on it, and it avoids many of the genre's syrupy dangers.
This picture, beautifully shaped and shot, filled with fine actors doing moving work, is based on Sparks' debut novel, a "Bridges of Madison County" sort of piece that unfolds in both the past and the present. In the past, two youngsters from different classes, Noah Calhoun and Allie Hamilton (Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams), fall madly in love. In the present, in a nursing home, an elderly man (James Garner) reads story from a notebook to an elderly woman (Gena Rowlands) who doesn't remember him.
The director, Nick Cassavetes, is Rowlands' son. He handles his mother, and the other actors, with tenderness and humanity--and that's the secret strength of the movie, along with the tension and poignancy of the parallel stories.
As we watch past and present juxtaposed, one love blossoms and the other seems to fade, but both have to fight to survive. As the movie, with epic range and generosity, covers a six-year span in the 1940s, from Noah and Allie's first teenage meeting to a postwar resolution, we get swept up in their longing and passion.

Best Animated Movie

Ice Age

Only in the unique cosmology of animation do we find a world where animals can talk… and humans cannot.
Ice Age is in many ways the archetypal animated flick -- updated for the computer era, of course. It’s a road trip populated by quirky and mismatched characters, all on an unlikely quest that they’ll never complete unless they somehow manage to work together.
Ray Romano voices a burly mammoth named Manfred, who stumbles upon a lost human baby (well, homo erectus at least) shortly after rescuing a useless sloth (John Leguizamo). Manfred is content to leave the thing alone, but along comes a saber-toothed tiger (Denis Leary) intent on taking the baby back to his pack as vengeance for his brethren killed by human hunters.
It can also be considered as a buddy/road trip movie, the plot is surprisingly straightforward, a straight shot (and a mere 74 minutes until the credits roll) from introducing a gaggle of uncooperative species to the point where we are left with a scrappy little gang walking into the sunset (…of their species’ existence).
Altogether the movie’s not that dull and is certainly made for everyone above the age of adolesence.

The best war movie ever!

The Bridge on the River Kwai

If you are a fan of war movies no better treat than to watch the said movie which is ranked one of the greatest films of all time and arguably director David Lean's best film.
At the heart of the film is the performance of Alec Guinness as the obsessively principled Colonel Nicholson. In a lesser film, his character might be simplified into a heroic martyr, but The Bridge on the River Kwai revels in its moral ambiguity: no significant character is either purely a hero or purely a villain.
Filmed in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), the film features brutal prisoner-of-war work camps that are nonetheless considerably nicer than their historical counterparts, a good decision since it frees the audience to focus on the battle of wills, at first between Nicholson and Saito (Sessue Hayakawa), later between Shears (William Holden) and Warden (Jack Hawkins). The film's closing line ("Madness... Madness") is among the best-known and most enigmatic closings in screen history.
The film received seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor (Guinness).

The coconut hawker

I went out of my place to freshen up myself from the tormenting studies that are what we master's student have to go through for our final exams. The idea to do that is to have a smoke in the pathan's 'dhaba' nearby with a soft drink. I got the coke and lit up my Marlboro cigarette and got myself seated to enjoy the smoke filling up my lungs.

Across the table, was a guy busy cutting coconut pieces and arranging them in a bowl. Definitely he was a hawker who sold coconut pieces at bus stops around the city crying at the top his voice "Narial waley, Narial ley lo".

My eyes were fixed on him as he cut and arranged the pieces while he effortlessly did the job oblivious to the fact that my glare was on him. He was a beared man, very slim -- somewhere around the age of 40.

Finished with the job, he satiated himself with tea that he had ordered and lit up a Morven Gold cigarette. If the cigarette brand was an indication of a person's social status, this was it!

Pakistan's lower-class population looks no further than Morven Gold, Diplomat or K-2 for a good-old smoke. The high prices of Gold Leaf, Marlboro and Benson & Hedges along with the inflation, lack of jobs and the restlessness amongst the people has certainly meant that a 4-5 rupee cigarette is somewhat of a luxury!

The man nevertheless seemed content with what he had. I could not resist the temptation of asking this man how his life was.

Abdul Sattar was his name, he told me. A labourer during the day-time, the man sold these coconut pieces from dusk till 1am in the morning to make ends meet in this day and age of rising prices.
Making an average profit of around Rs.250-300 a day from the sale of coconuts, Abdul Sattar was thankful to God. He went on, "Allah bara hai. Bus itni madad kar daita hai kay hamara ghar chal jaye."
For a guy who works seventeen hours in a rigorous schedule which makes him travel from Karachi's one corner to the other in this sweltering heat for a mere 300 rupees, that is some belief!

Cheeped up!

The genre of inexpensive advertisement

I switched on the TV and to my amazement, a not so bad looking local faced girl, hiding behind a wall of make-up, started walking towards me.

I know she was on TV but what’s wrong in some wishful thinking.

Draped in very uncomfortable clothes -- it seemed like that on TV -- she put out both her hands carrying a cell phone and started yaking the properties of it. The company of the cell phone 'ABC' is not that big or maybe it is non-existent at all, and the advertisement was confirming the doubt on the global-ness of the brand.

To go in a little detail of the add (advertisement), the girl was pacing around in a makeshift room cum drawing room (as it seemed from the advertisement) talking on the phone with someone.

While talking, there were quite a few raunchy poses, that she gets the attention of the audience with, and than all of a sudden start pointing out the features of the phone, including the fact that it has a very long battery time along with all the other hoopla.

In addition, why would an ad like this attract or lure someone buying the product? you ask.

Well people are people and some of them will do a lot if a girl asks them to do it, but for me, well, why would I listen to a girl who is already engaged in talking to another individual on the phone (for hours as per the advertisement).

So why would a company go all out for an advertisement like this?

Even the companies coming up with new products or brands sometimes opt for a cheaper or an inexpensive advertisement.

Well to filter out the obvious reasons, for one the company may don't have that big of a budget or better yet the company may be not that big at all. Smaller companies opting to launch their brand for a mere fraction of the giants spend on their single marketing campaign.

Is there a thin fine line for this advertisement divide, or I may say money is the divide to state the obvious. If money is the be all and see the entire advertising world, than I don’t agree with the entire thing at all.

Yes, money plays a major role in an advertisement campaign but creativity is not eager to be feed the buck.

Wonders have been and will be created with a piece of paper -- not the note of a million dollar.

When you are thinking about it, it suddenly hits your mind; we have been witnessing these rather adds since the beginning. With people trying to escape with a cheap Rs100 production in mix of some very creative and technical stuff.

You may remember, not so far back, it was dancing that attracted the audiences and sold products. Eventually some glamorous dancing sequences trickled down to outrageous moves and... Well they called it dancing. So was the case with many other trends that were going around.

Whatever is started by the big wigs of the advertisement industry, is soon copied by the second rated individuals calling themselves advertisers and what comes out as the result is a (as stated above) cheap Rs100 production.

However, the question really is; What motivates the entrepreneur to opt for inexpensive cheap advertisement rather than inexpensive and graceful?

Well, the answer is as harsh as the few candy ads. It is we the audiences, we tend to respond better to the cheapness than to the sheer elegance.

On a psychological note (my own findings), we might, after watching these adds, somehow cater to the cheapster inside of us and by buying the advertised product we try to nullify our cheapness -- keeping it with in ourselves.

Another issue considered to be tandem with in expensive marketing, is of self-made broadcasters. Major chunk of the inexpensive or cheap ads are on self-broadcasted channels.

Raising an eyebrow, that have we all together have lost our morals and what is keeping us going is the lust for money, and that is where we put the full stop.

Everything else, which goes along with, seems to have taken a secondary seat in our beliefs and ethics.

Few girls doing not anything in particular, wearing raunchy clothes and sometimes maybe dancing around to, maybe, digest all the calories they gained after eating all that candy: if this is, what our marketing is coming down to than I for one may have some serious reservation to follow my age-old dream of becoming an ace marketer.

On the contrary, when in a rebellious mood, nothing can motivate me more than a cheap advertisement to become a marketer. Well it clearly shows that the industry is far from reaching a saturation point. In addition, than there is always the thought that with all this crap being passed by as advertisement, a little creativity, panache and elegance may make it a lot easier to make a name for one.

U-TURN

You switch a channel to escape from the stupid backdrop song of the commercial and you realize that what is going on around in the world and the reality hits you.

The shock off the fact that the niche you thought you could have carved out in the small-unsaturated industry is just a hallucination of yours.

Now even the big buck spenders are opting for the cheaper way out -- no, they are not making the cheap commercials, they are not making none whatsoever.

Coca-Cola is the biggest spender on advertisements across the globe and when it comes to the Pakistani adds they would rather grab one of their Middle East commercial and run it in Pakistan.

I believe, and willing to debate, that this too comes in the realm of inexpensive advertisement.

Why you say?

Come-on, having a basket full of advertising agencies operating in the country and one of the biggest potential client is not willing to test their talents, than what’s to prove on the global scale that we posses in advertising.

Copy pasting should not be it.

In addition, looking from this point of view, you can easily justify the cheap ads. They have to keep the business running, they have to keep the clients happy the have to at the end of the day, in a real word, take something back home. You can't feed off elegance only.

When the big fish is not willing for the bate you have to go for whatever you can get. In addition, maybe that’s what our advertisers are doing.

Somehow, in a very vivid part of my brain I also have a conclusion that all this cheap advertising is doing me a favor. Favor of keeping the industry alive and kicking, until the time I mature enough to get my hands in it and maybe some (copy pasting) client walks in and offers a campaign.

In short, these copy pasting cheap escapes of the big fish is also helping the cause of inexpensive advertisement.

But, the predicament of the situation is how to trust that we may not end up with a low budget bar to play with in our advertisements or maybe copy pasting is what we may resolute our advertising to.

Than it will become a dead end as a career and an already suffering nation may lose its biggest escape of creativity.

This and a lot more courtesy the genre of inexpensive advertising.

Peek-A-Boo!

With this topic comes a strong and long debate about what concise as unethical advertisement, and to come up with one definition, of the term, which is globally acceptable for a student like me is not the wisest of ideas.

Instead of raging a debate about what should be and what shouldn't be in the realm of marketing we should rather look at instance which ca get as the global backing that either they were unethical or ethical.

Start looking at the things from the marketing perspective and it comes to you!

You start judging things from a different angle, you take the sale point of the product in view, and most importantly, you start evaluating the standards of the sales pitch... that too on your own standards.

Moreover, what your standards are remains to be discussed?

The overall environment around you and how you are raised and taught, curves your focal point of judgment. But, another long debate, bound to take us off the issue at hand.

So coming back to advertising ethics!

To pinpoint and advertisement to justify the debate on ethics would make the realm of this article limited, I'd never want that.

On talking about the global perspective of ethics in advertising, let us recall an artistic promotion, which has shaped our judgment, in some ways.

Well to raise the curtain over the mystery, we are talking about the great MONA LISA.

Background

Mona Lisa (also known as La Gioconda or La Jaconde) is a sixteenth-century portrait painted in oil on a poplar panel in Florence, Italy by Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci during the Renaissance.

The work is currently owned by the Government of France and is on display at the Musée du Louvre museum in Paris under the title Portrait of Lisa Gherardini, wife of Francesco del Giocondo.

Arguably, it is the most famous and iconic painting in the world. Considered one of the world's most popular, hyped and researched painting by different artists, historians, and researchers.

The Research

Several stories nexus with this painting have come up over the passing centuries and yet no one is still sure about the true reality of the origin.

A lot many stories have been linked with and many are considered myths and fake anecdotes just created for tapestry’s popularity.

Following are some of the stories about Mona Lisa.

1. The painting is a half-length portrait and depicts a seated woman whose facial expression is frequently described as enigmatic. Others believe that the slight smile is an indication that the subject is hiding a secret.

The ambiguity of the subject's expression, the monumentality of the composition, and the subtle modeling of forms and atmospheric illusionism were novel qualities that have contributed to the continuing fascination and study of the work.

2. According to an other story Leonardo supposedly well-documented homosexuality contributed to his enlightened perspectives on the need for balance between male and female characteristics. The secret of the Mona Lisa, it claims, is that it portrays the fusion of the male and female that the painted figure is androgynous.

The same theory continues that Leonardo Da Vinci himself was gay that's why he was always fascinated by the divine union of male and female. Some historians say that Leonardo was a grand master of Priory Of Sion (a secret society established several years back having one of the most popular personals of time as its member, this society is considered to be the pagan worshipers, those who worship divine feminine the mother earth Gaea. And as Leonardo was its grand master he painted Mona Lisa as hidden symbol and dedication to the sacred feminine.

3. Some claim that the painter has derived the name of the painting from the names of Egyptian gods Amon and Isis. Amon is the Egyptian god of masculinity and Isis is the goddess of earth. Therefore, as the painting is the union of male and female, the name is the union of male and female as well.

4. Other references say that Mona is a contraction of "madonna" (meaning 'my lady' or 'madam'); Lisa is proven to be derived from Lisa del Giocondo. Mona Lisa is named for Lisa del Giocondo, a member of the Gherardini family of Florence and Tuscany and the wife of wealthy Florentine silk merchant Francesco del Giocondo.

The painting was commissioned for their new home and to celebrate the birth of their second son, Andrea. Historians say that Leonardo painted Mona Lisa in 1503 and he lingered over it for 4 years and completed it after. They say that where he used to go, carried his Mona Lisa along with himself.

So now armed with the background of the painting -- very vivid indeed.

Now leaving the first and the last story aside, we can say we have been robbed of the true concept of beauty of a woman.

If the chosen two stories are considered remotely true than, it feels sorry to say that we have been beating around the bush to find the true beauty in our significant other (female).

Relating it to our debate, the question arises... Who promoted the painting? Alternatively, who advertised it as the true beauty of a woman?

Answer!

Leonardo himself had the biggest hand in creating the hype about his portrait for popularity purposes, what so ever they might be at that time.

So, now let us ask if the stories are true and the portrait is really of a man dressed up as a drag queen, than being a marketer what can be more un ethical than asking people to only believe in what is not true.

Asking people to base their ideology on what are entirely fake standards... where is the ethics in that.

Who is to ask the question now that a painting, which has set the global standards of beauty, and painting bearing a smile parallel or comparable to nothing -- as said?

Why rob us of our own idea of beauty, why enforce standards on us that are only true to the standards of a single individual have totally different and unacceptable priorities.

Well this is advertising 101.

You have to sell your concept and position your brand in the mind of individuals that they make your product the standard to compare things with.

So what, if in the mentioned saga it was all un-true.

No bars in what’s ethical or not as long as the idea is sold.

However, from a viewpoint of a common individual it was not something fair it was an advertisement promoted and sparked by personal bias... In addition, what is bamboozling at this point is to give kudos to the genius behind the promotion, who sold a very wrong idea very successfully. On the other hand, to sit with a grim on the face and curse the man for making us -- the straight men -- miss out on the undiscovered beauties of the world.

Whatever you choose to do… Do it with an understanding that when it comes to product promotion there are no limits to ethical or unethical -- at least in the capitalistic society that we live in.

The race is on to sell your product by any means necessary, a society in which moral values and ethics take a back seat you can expect many more Mona Lisa's on the way or better yet many are around us waiting to be discovered.

Who is to put a check on this all? Who is to highlight the customer values... maybe one of us?

If decide for once that money is important but earning it at the expense of defrauding someone or robbing someone his ideology of something is by far not acceptable.

However, what may have triggered Lenardo centuries back may still be around to trigger our sin of greed.

It may not just be the monetary aspect of the things it can be more than that... you know vanity is also a sin -- although not considered by many.

Nevertheless, just to prove a point using your power to change views is an art not possessed by many so for those who do have it... please consider some ETHICS first.