A brand called Pakistan

By Syed Moazzam Hai

“WHICH is the best cooking oil?” I asked a group of housewives in a focus group discussion (FGD) that was brimming over with random cooking oil users in an exercise to ascertain general brand preferences in the category. Most of them hastened to recall one particular brand so I had to ask why they preferred this particular one. “It’s good for health,” was the reply. Why? I asked. To which the ladies said, “Because it’s light.” The response pushed many parts of the picture together — it was a brand with a top-of-the-mind (TOM) recall, an established brand equity supported by a clear reason-to-believe (RTB) proposition. I felt relieved. Little can be as soothing as this when it comes to the brand one works for.But never in all my years of marketing and advertising have I ever thought of the day when TOM recall for a personally dear brand would spell gloom rather than pride; a brand that is indispensable for most of us — Pakistan. Here’s a look at the competitive picture of Pakistan in the world — TOM: Pakistan; brand equity: terrorism; RTB: incidents and elements of terror.With the world after us for being a breeding ground for terrorism and itching to lynch us at any given opportunity, we really do not need FGD findings on the subject as data support. Pakistanis die everyday subjected to various forms of terrorism franchised by our foes and friends in the East and the West. We continue to be everyone’s favourite punching bag; torn out of shape yet forced into prolonged service for the bullies around us.The Mumbai incident saw our top-of-the-mind recall reaching new, fearsome heights when the Indian media raised the banner of Pakistan-bashing from the first few moments of the siege. Frenzied details of the involvement of Pakistani players flooded the all-too receptive ears of the West. That was followed by ritual oppressive arm-twisting by our American friends and abusive browbeating by our Indian neighbours. Very soon we found ourselves on our toes, and yet again, we demonstrated our level of subservience by swooping down on clinics, schools etc run by certain organisations in the country without much proof in our possession, it is believed. Our immediate compensation was the violation of our airspace to the east and the violent landing of missiles to the west.So the question is: what does one do about our top-of-the-mind recall that makes rogues out of us and a soft target for all and sundry? The least we can do is to be sensibly aggressive about our stance in our own media. We should assert, sans ambiguity, that Pakistan is a victim and not a perpetrator of terrorism and the presence of extremist elements in the country is the offspring of the West’s past fancy for Afghan jihad and the subsequent patronage of the dictator regime in Pakistan.The media should also create an uproar over the terror treatment of Pakistani citizens in various corners of the world. In the absence of their government’s assistance and protection, Pakistanis have become scapegoats for countries eager to either show their performance in the war on terror — e.g. the case of seven innocent Pakistanis killed in March 2002 by Macedonian police presumably to please the US — or to appease their friends. The latter stance is demonstrated in reported cases of missing Pakistanis in Nepal. Some believe these involve alleged abductions by Indian agencies who would want to use their victims as the main cast in acts of terrorism in India.How they are able to show the identity cards and other documents of alleged Pakistani terrorists that many ordinary citizens don’t always carry remains a wonder. If the Indian media can perpetually employ substandard, anti-Pakistan tirade in absolute unison, why should the Pakistani media not follow a determined course to defend the country’s image? We need hasty measures on the subject, before our top-of-the-mind brand recall eventually turns us into a generic name for terrorism.The writer worked as a senior executive in advertising and marketing companies.