Mahatma Gandhi (Image Source: ajaygoel.in)
How can the person standing in the above picture can be a model for a product costing around Rs. 12 lakhs? How can this person compete with the iron pumping, gym totting, six pack abs flouting super cool dudes? Why can’t the Harvard or Wharton MBA ad gurus think of a supermodel or super rich dues from their world to sold their pen and earn profit?
“In the run-up to the Mahatma’s 140th birth anniversary, Mont Blanc International designed a luxury fountain pen to commemorate the Dandi March. Launched on September 29, the limited edition consists of 241 pens costing Rs 11.39 lakh each. Crafted in solid white gold, it bears a sketch of Gandhiji on the nib, apart from carrying his signature. Each piece is accompanied by saffron-coloured ink, a booklet of Bapu‘s quotes and an eight-metre long golden thread that, when wound around the pen, resembles the spindle of the spinning wheel. Another version consists of 3,000 fountain pens and as many roller pens, each costing between Rs 1.47 lakh and Rs 1.67 lakh”.
On 2nd October, the birthday of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and India’s ex-PM Lal Bahadur Shastri (he is not THAT profitable), the people saw this billboard adorning their roads.
Billboard of Mahatma Gandhi and Mont Balnc pen in New Delhi (Image Source: newsday.com )
Why corporate giants have to need 2nd October and Mahatma Gandhi as their model to earn profit? Why not they hang someone’s picture who was born with silver, no, no, with platinum spoon and enjoyed all the luxuries of life? Didn’t have to toil for a day in his life and had everything at his disposal. Why not celebrate his birthday and launch a pen to mark his birth anniversary? I don’t think the person shown in the picture had gone to a men’s beauty parlor or gym even for an hour in his life? In fact, I remember, in South Africa once a white barber refused to cut his hair! i don’t know why people don’t leave Mahatma alone. He is very different from what we are seeking today in life and no one’s ideal. Its high time that we leave him in peace which he deserve.
I wish the amount generated to be used for those who need Pen- The most.
I wonder whether you have been following my recent blogposts, Alka, but this ties up very neatly with one of those ideas I have been harping on for quite some time: the kind of economic ‘development’ India has been experiencing for two decades has suddenly put far too much money in the hands of a few lakh people who simply have no idea at all what better things they can do with their money, and so they will splurge on any toy, any gimmick, any gizmo that is dangled before them, like the carrot before the ass. A fool and his money are soon parted, for there is no shortage of cunning businessmen who can always think up new and weird schemes for cheating fools. That is precisely why it is not good to put too much money in too few hands (especially when far more people remain desperately poor: as “Hobo” says above, those who need but can hardly afford ordinary pens), and when big money precedes culture, that is always a nasty thing. Lest I be misunderstood, I count sober living, good sense (the kind of sense which assures me it is stupid to buy Rs. 12-lakh pens, regardless of how much money I have) and charity as essential aspects of culture.
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Amazing story that I was not privy to prior to reading this post. I can see both sides of the story. A larger corporation doing what it thinks is right to commemorate a world hero, but doing so under the shroud of monetary gain. I believe in Montblanc as an organization, not just a company that makes expensive pens. I plan on searching the net more to find out how this story is playing out. Thanks for post. Very insightful.
Great Story !!!!
I like it most…
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This was really nice, well I think that the pen comes with a gold wire embrace by hand around the middle, which “evokes the roughly wound yarn on the spindle with which Gandhi spun everyday.”
It is really amazing following someone having A GREAT BLOG!
Great thanks!
This is just not right, I wonder what they will do next, maybe they will use a picture of Jesus Christ advertising their pen.. Just wondering.