Daily Times

The fine line that exists between fervent enthusiasm and brazen desperation has been all but erased in the audacious world of film promotion in Pakistan. Bawdy and gauche, the antics of the teams promoting films in Pakistan are at best, embarrassing and, at worst, deplorable. Yet, the exuberant campaigns continue unabated, one louder than the other. Meanwhile, the people watch in awe, disgust, wonder, and horror.

Four Pakistani films — Rangreza, Arth 2, Chupan Chupai and Parchi — are set to be released in the short period of fifteen days this winter. All four marketing teams are working feverishly to outdo each other in creating the most buzz for their films. Their activities, while heavy on glitz and glamour, lack substance. The spectacle is similar to that of a circus. It need not be. There are better ways of promoting films.

Marketing, of course, is key to the success of business enterprises. This is particularly true for cinema where investments are high, risks are great and potential pay offs are huge. A lot of tools are available to promote films but these must be used judiciously.

Trailers, posters, advertisements, and standees in cinemas; BTS documentaries, previews, interviews, and trailers in the media; videos, teasers, trailers, and promotional programs in the social media; press junkets, and road shows are all a part of promotional activities the world over. The best marketing campaigns, however, incorporate more than just conventional activities and push the envelope by employing ingenuity and creativity to develop campaigns that are remarkable, relevant and memorable.

In Pakistan, a simple tired formula seems to be used for marketing all films. A storm of interviews, press releases and articles follows the announcement of a film. The teaser and songs of the film are released subsequently, with studied enthusiasm and fanfare. Hashtags are defined. The release of the trailer is celebrated with Facebook posts, blogger videos, live conferences, Dubsmash clips, Instagram boomerangs, Snapchat videos, music release events, shows in shopping malls, programs in schools, appearances in morning television shows and a slew of similarly tasteless and irrelevant activities.

While the entertainment quotient of marketing activities needs to be high — it should not come at the expense of dignity

A good marketing campaign needs to be artistic, relevant and engaging. Pakistani marketing campaigns tend to lack the three essential characteristics and exhibit several fundamental flaws. Trailers are often full of crude jokes and feature the most lascivious of shots from items numbers and actresses always seem to find ways to dance like nautch girls. The jokes included in the trailer of Chupan Chupai for example, are utterly tasteless. One has a man lamenting that he did not have enough time to disrobe his wife and had to make do with just taking off her jewelry. In another, the heroine of the film tells the hero that when he’s under pressure, he acts like a girl whose hymen is being torn.

The campaigns of Pakistani films often have little to do with the films, themselves. This is a good sign because it leaves room for the possibility that the films are better than their tasteless promotional activities. It is, however, a complete marketing failure that campaigns do nothing to target and engage the right viewers for the films.

Pakistani marketing campaigns thrive on dishonesty. Planting self-serving news, reviews and views in the media is commonplace. Scandals and controversies are manufactured routinely. Bloggers are paid to carry favorable posts. Journalists are encouraged to write positive reviews. Trolls, BOTs and fake news are used manipulate social media. Fake profiles on social media are used for promotional purposes. Bogus likes, shares, trends and comments are purchased. Magazine covers, featured stories and much else is for sale.

A lot of marketing campaigns serve petty individual agendas at the expense of the films. Recently, a female actor and producer went to great lengths to convince everyone that she had lost a lot of weight and looked “hot” in her upcoming film; and, even though she is a healthy twenty pounds heavier than the industry’s current anorexic standards, the campaign has singularly focused on her weight loss and consequent hotness. In a morning show, the female star of an upcoming film casually let it be known that her costar was obsessed with her hair and had to use extensions. In another vulgar display of selfishness, the face of an actor was left covered with a moving dupatta, in a promotional poster, to draw attention to an equally billed, junior actor.

Lewd dancing, inane jokes and uninformed conversation are the hallmark of teams promoting movies on television morning shows. The entertainment quotient of marketing activities, understandably, needs to be high but does not have to be so at the expense of dignity. Good looking people, wearing expensive clothes, living in huge homes, driving luxury cars, jumping to dance in unison at the snap of a finger do not exist in real life, certainly not in Pakistan. A celebration of their make-believe existence spreads dissatisfaction, disillusionment, corruption, and moral bankruptcy in society.

One popular promotional activity these days involves visiting educational institutions. The shows put on in schools invariably consist of song, dance and jokes. No one talks about the art of filmmaking. Nothing is said about the craft of acting, editing, and writing. Films are never discussed intelligently. The events are a horrible waste of genuine opportunities to teach and educate!

The real currency in marketing is creativity. A lot of money does not necessarily help marketing campaigns. The magnitude of promotional activities should always be smaller than the movies themselves. Restraint, dignity and discipline are key. Often, less is more in marketing campaigns. Sadly, this simple fact seems to be lost on marketers of Pakistani films.

The author is a Dallas-based writer who writes about culture, history and the arts. He can be reached at allyadnan@outlook.com, Tweets @allyadnan

Published in Daily Times, December 10^th 2017.