This project is based on the apathy of the state, the law and the mainstream population that assumes the right to treat a community of people as ‘born criminals’.
Can we bring a change?
Today,
a tortured face by itself no longer tells a story…
a petition letter with thousands of signs no longer has value…
spoken words cannot be heard…screaming only grabs attention….
and in the end
it is violence that makes news in the country of Satyagraha…
Can anyone be a ‘born crimnial’? Havent we lost our rights to be called rational beings when faced against such myths? And above all fear of whom? Who are these ‘others’? History has made these ‘others’, but then history has certainly not been democratic in its labeling. Some Charras have been involved in thefts. Some of the incidents have been gruesome also. But did you punish the whole white world because their ancestors made the rest of the world a slave colony? Does one brand every bearded man a terrorist because some bearded men are terrorists? What kind of rationality promotes the logic of attributing the character of the part to the whole?This fear is reflected in our eyes and in our words.
And if media is truly as influential as experts say, then it is the fear reflected through the word that reflects in our eyes. The written word says that the ‘others’ are habitual offenders under law and so the eyes say that they have potential of ‘offending’ us. The written word says that the theft that took place a month back was committed by three Charras. It does not say that the theft was committed by two Indian men or by two unemployed youth, or two hungry youth or simply two men. The written word reiterates our fear into a belief which soon becomes a rational.Charras= Thieves
The ones who hold the power to torture also hold the power to uplift. The ones who hold the power to reiterate a myth also hold the power to shred a myth into pieces.
Hence the need to be heard- to be able to tell your story in your own words and not through the words of others.
So who are the Chharas?
In 1952, five years after independence, the Criminal Tribes Act was finally repealed. But instead of accepting these tortured tribes, whole heartedly in the main stream system, Independent India
About the Project
This project is an effort to reintegrate the Charra community with the mainstream society by breaking the myth of ‘Born criminals' The project aspired to construct a strategy of marketing human dignity for De-notified tribes in the country. The language of marketing and advertising has been restricted to the fields of tangible commercial products only. The rhetoric of marketing, if applied to social advertising with the same fervour, keeping in mind the psychology of the viewer, may yield the same success as aggressive marketing has done to the consumer market. The strategies of mass communication of appealing to the emotions, rational, and cultural facets of the targeted audience to persuade, can structure the given information to exhort change.The emphasis of todays advertisements has shifted from the product to the life style of the buyer. Advertisements today no longer tell us what to buy but how to live our lives and so they say ‘think apple’ and not buy apple, ‘just do it’ and not just buy it. This is very much true for social advertising and persuasion.
In the social rhetoric, one is not involved with the oppressed object but with the ‘upliftment’/ ‘empowerment’ of the attitude of the un-oppressed lot. The change in perception to a loftier attitude automatically changes the code of conduct of a person towards the socially under-prieveliged without preaching the non-enticing morality of goodness.
But today voicing an opinion for your rights and needs requires you to not only be conversant in a foreign language (English/ Hindi in the context of India) but also in that of the media- a media that has no place for the marginalized.
Theater advertisement is a pastiche of the languages of theater and advertising. It is said that the Chharas were born on the stage. They are
excellent actors and singers with many productions to their credit. This unsung genre of theater has been used repeatedly by these artists to voice their opinion, but the galmour of other medium have always faded the lights in their stage. Considering this, I propose that the entire spot be created in the language of theater with heightened emotions, strong lights, limited space, props and exagerrated make up to highlight the unknown side of the Charras as artists. The recordings of these theater pieces ‘glamorously’ edited could be then used as spots.
If ‘the medium is the message’ today the vehicle of the advertising language driven in celluloid can become the message that theater has failed to convey. These cryptic advertisements of 30 seconds to 1 minute would be a participatory process where the Chharas would not only determine what is said about them but also how it is said- something that has never been in their hands. The actors will decide not only what needs to be said but also how it is said through their acting.
The aim of the project was to build a marketing strategy to bring dignity in the life of the de-notified tribes .The rhetoric of the media was built through the collaboration of the languages of advertisement and theater.
The project initiated new platforms for information dissemination and building public opinion such as projections in multiplexes during intervals, cable advertisements and local film clubs
The project is an exploration in the field of participatory art in which the theater artists of Charranagar collaborated in shaping and designing the syntax along with the use of their bodies as the medium to be on record.
The project aspires to bring about awareness of the inhuman treatment meted out to the De-notified tribes and at the same time help to build a positive attitude towards their struggle.
The Print Campaign
The Print campaign was an attempt to break the myth of ‘Born Criminals’. ‘Born Criminality’ is an irrational notion as, the choices of a human being are first and foremost determined by the society itself.
In order to rupture the myth, it was decided that the youngest member of the Theater group- Budhan will perform as a prisoner. Budhan is three years old. He was dressed up in the clothes of a prisoner in which he tried to break the steel handcuffs tied on his hands. The photo shoot included this performance while also looking at other aspects of eating and living in a jail.
The idea was to create a visual dichotomy between the image and the myth. No child this age can be branded a criminal. If that is so the myth negates itself thorough it very image.
The language of theater and advertising
In order to create a communication strategy, it was imperative to build a voice on a language that was familiar to the community rather than to the Project. The community had a strong theater tradition with many plays to its credits. Therefore it was the obvious choice. Combined with stark light contrast to give a feel of a stage, exaggerated emotions, theater scripts, and frontal camera angles the language of advertising was assimilated with that of theater.
The scripts were written after a few focus group discussions in which the children and the adults together spoke of events and ideas of their life. Based on these anecdotes, the scripts were written down.
It was realized that the problem faced by the community was two sided. There was a general social apathy towards the cause which led to the society in general blaming the entire community as criminal. On the other hand because of lack of job opportunities, certain members of the community are certainly committing crime and brewing illicit liquor.
The campaign was therefore divided into two parts
Individual verses the community – This section deals with the fallacy of terming whole guilty for the crime of the individual. The advertisements accept that thefts take place. They only exhort the audience to blame the criminal and not his community for the act. The media, police and the society have been addressed in this campaign as the voice overs. They are not visually present in any of the scene but their voices perpetually blame, punish or hold guilty the other.
-Blame the thief not the community
-Punish the thief not the community
-Catch the thief not the community.
Equality begins with you- This section requests the society to give them a chance. Mistakes have been committed but there should be a way in which they can change their lifestyle. This is possible only if the society treats them with equality. The community is not asking for money or any other privileges. All that the ask for is human dignity.
- Equality in jobs
- Equality in play
- Equality in attitude
- Equality in living
The perpetrator was deliberately kept absent in the advertisement in order to refrain from antagonizing the public at large. The attitude of the society was presented only through the voiceovers.
Children were used as actors in all the advertisements to carry on the tag line of the print campaign that no one can be a born criminal.
Please refer to the rest of the links of the advertisements
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42RLgq7jKUM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6BanoT7caE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVnJiToZ0k4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9n4Vr2wv3U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAGkrAfnUf0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xlkjyPOARI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2A8su4bUnc
The advertisements were screened at GTPL (Gujarat Telecom Pvt. Ltd) and DD Gujarat (Doordarshan, Gujarat) for 7 days in the month of January.
A 7 day campaign in DNA (a leading newspaper in Ahmedabad) was started to bring about a general awareness amongst the people regarding the issues. Eminent writers were invited to write for this column- Kanji Patel, Mahashweta Devi
