product, price, brand image. wondering whether this is a marketing article... yes.. but here the "product" is women and the market is the "marriage market".
from a very young age, we grow up listening to tales of handsome princes, beautiful princesses and magnificent castles. when we are teenagers we realize beauty comes packaged in shiny bottles. as we age we find out the princes may or may not be handsome and fair.. but if you had to find your fairy tale, you definitely need to be a wingless fairy..fair, slim, gorgeous..
growing up in an indian family, full of cousins who had a peach and milk complexion, i was literally the dark horse. although i never noticed it, my grandfather wisely commented to my mother, (in my presence), "you must save up for her dowry, otherwise no one will agree to marry her".
that day my mother swore, that i will beat all my fair cousins in this unfair competition. so i looked on helplessly as i was made to enter the fiercest race of all, that of getting the handsome prince.
i was enrolled in a convent school.. (believe me it's a 50 point jump in valuation of a prospective bride), and my first few years passed quite uneventfully( marriage race wise that is). my teenage years were ofcourse a whole new story. i was a fiery teen, rebelling and stubborn. so i refused to be "girly" and went and got the shortest acceptable possible haircut. my mother knew i had fallen behind in the race, my cousins were busy researching home made anti tanning treatments, while i was happily running around in the sun .
slowly my hormones calmed down and i became a little less boyish. i was 17 then and i entered yet another convent for my plus 2. (yeah, an additional 50 point jump). this time however i was overwhelmed with my beauty and skin obsessed classmates. so in a desperate bid to fit in, i visited the "hell on earth"- local beauty parlour.
as i was about to enter, i heard a girl gasp with pain, her arms were being waxed.. i would have run right out, but summoning all the power of tolerance i had, i hung on. after 3 hours of unimaginable pain, i finally stepped out, hairless, blemish free and glowing.
my family was stunned to see the new and improved packaging. i was too, but only the next morning. my skin reacted horribly to the chemicals used during the facial and it had swollen to an unsightly proportion. so much for being an "overnight beauty". while my cousins silently expressed their glee, i diverted my attention to my strength, academics.
after graduating from high school i went to an engineering college. after 12 years of being surrronded by only female classmates, it was a refreshing change to be in a class grossly out numbered by men. by this time i had lost interest in the race for "my prince". i was more practical and had lost any illusion i had regarding happy fairy tales. but much to my surprise i had not factored in one attribute that men apparently value a lot.. intelligence. so while my cousind were surrounded by love stricken simpering men, i was in the company of smart talented young men.
in marketing terms i was "positioned" in an entirely different but growing segement.."the educated, smart young female". which according to the matrimonial sites boasted of a healthy growth rate. my mother began breathing again..
it was time for the dark horse to jump to the front line in the race..
only thing was, i decided to place myself as the prize for the young urban educated male...
so no wonder the sales figures of "fair and handsome" cream has risen.. after all, the age of the empowered woman has finally arrived.. the marketplace has changed and how.....
I liked the concept of positioning linked to the subject
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