How polls are becoming a national pastime
The voice of a RJ came over the radio, “A list of new seven wonders is being made, would it be right if the Taj Mahal was not on the list? Don’t let that happen, please cast your vote on these numbers right now!” This was the appeal that could be heard across all radio stations in India about a year ago, when Indians were suddenly and explicably gripped by ‘wonder frenzy’. Determined to get their ‘worthy’ contestant in the final list, it became a national mission for all to cast their vote multiple times, and exhort others to do the same. It was as if an international version of Indian Idol was being played, with Indians rallying behind their beleaguered contestant. The efforts paid off, Taj was on the list when the results were declared. Amid enthusiastic back-slapping and bouts of self-congratulations, it was forgotten that the poll was conducted by an obscure ‘for-profit’ organisation from Switzerland, which had no backing from any international body! After receiving a ‘cut’ from more than 100 million votes cast world over, New 7 Wonders Foundation (which had conducted the polls and had pledged to donate 50% of the proceeds to conservation of monuments of the world) quickly declared that it had hardly earned anything from the ‘world’s largest poll on record’ and hence was unable to fulfil its obligation. As for the grand poll, once the voting frenzy subsided, no one remembered the results, save for the fact that ‘Taj made it’!
So goes the story of these polls, conducted over phones or online, to maximise revenues and traffic, with the subject chosen to elicit maximum response. Take for example the recent online poll by FHM India on ‘100 Sexiest Women in the World’, which ended up giving this crown to apni Katrina Kaif, beating out the likes of Angelina Jolie and Gisele Bundchen, leading to a lot of chest thumping by over-excited anchors of news channels in India.
The voice of a RJ came over the radio, “A list of new seven wonders is being made, would it be right if the Taj Mahal was not on the list? Don’t let that happen, please cast your vote on these numbers right now!” This was the appeal that could be heard across all radio stations in India about a year ago, when Indians were suddenly and explicably gripped by ‘wonder frenzy’. Determined to get their ‘worthy’ contestant in the final list, it became a national mission for all to cast their vote multiple times, and exhort others to do the same. It was as if an international version of Indian Idol was being played, with Indians rallying behind their beleaguered contestant. The efforts paid off, Taj was on the list when the results were declared. Amid enthusiastic back-slapping and bouts of self-congratulations, it was forgotten that the poll was conducted by an obscure ‘for-profit’ organisation from Switzerland, which had no backing from any international body! After receiving a ‘cut’ from more than 100 million votes cast world over, New 7 Wonders Foundation (which had conducted the polls and had pledged to donate 50% of the proceeds to conservation of monuments of the world) quickly declared that it had hardly earned anything from the ‘world’s largest poll on record’ and hence was unable to fulfil its obligation. As for the grand poll, once the voting frenzy subsided, no one remembered the results, save for the fact that ‘Taj made it’!
So goes the story of these polls, conducted over phones or online, to maximise revenues and traffic, with the subject chosen to elicit maximum response. Take for example the recent online poll by FHM India on ‘100 Sexiest Women in the World’, which ended up giving this crown to apni Katrina Kaif, beating out the likes of Angelina Jolie and Gisele Bundchen, leading to a lot of chest thumping by over-excited anchors of news channels in India.
Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).
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