“ADVERTISING”

            ‘Do you want to feel like a princess on the top of the world with long, shiny hair and zero- dandruff? Wait no more! SPH will have your hair shining like stars in just 14 days.’

          Switch on the TV and there are countless ads like the one above. One shampoo will give you dandruff- free hair; another will give it a mirror- shine and a reflective look, yet another would make you feel like you are a professionally- styled diva.

          Advertisements are the means by which companies promote their products to the masses or the media tries to raise awareness about a particular issue. They aren’t just confined to the TV. You see loads of billboards, newspaper ads, magazine ads, and hear ads running on the radio (something very annoying!). This mass projection aims at the psychological acceptance of the manufacturer’s product by the people.

          Advertising is pretty beneficial when used to remind people to consume less electricity, to inform them about a particular disease and its prevention, to persuade them for family planning or to inform people of the availability of a range of different products and services. It allows people to compare the goods and make an estimate of its quality. But alas, productive advertising like this makes up a very small portion of our overall advertising network.

          Today, advertising isn’t only factual. Advertisements aim at the fantasies of various population groups especially the younger generation. While they do allow us to judge a product to a limited extent and inform us about its availability, they also tend to make people spend on the wrong types of goods. Repetitive exposure leads your mind to believe that you really do need this XYZ brand of tea that would make your family love you. (!!!)

          Advertisements don’t always reflect priorities. For example, why should we be snacking at mealtimes and be served snack X instead of a proper meal? How healthy is that? And talking about health, how healthy is it anyway to have around ten different FRIED dishes at a single meal (as depicted in ads for cooking oil)? Why should a girl’s ultimate desire be to become a fairness beauty queen instead of wanting to have a successful career? And I was just wondering, can a particular brand of biscuits or mints really endear a guy to a bunch of girls?

          Similarly, advertisements reflect a lot of a society’s biases. For example, in most advertisements, guys are aiming for gadgets, cars, and university graduation, etc. but a girl is always shown either drooling over some bridal dress or desperately trying to look pretty so the guys would like her or so she would get married.

          While seemingly harmless, these advertisements have quite an adverse effect. The elite lifestyle depicted in a lot of advertisements as well as showing a modern view of girls and guys’ going out together creates frustration. Maybe not for very normal people but the former for the people who aren’t very affording and the latter for the people who belong to highly conservative backgrounds. After all its human nature to wish for all that you cannot have, especially when it is being shown to have a lot of virtues.

          In my opinion, we need a check on advertising. The advertisements need to be more psychologically sensitive, less male- dominated, less degrading for women and more informative. Moreover, instead of blindly believing in everything we see and hear on the TV, and pestering our parents for every new product with a cool ad, we should keep our mind open to decide whether we need something or not.

          It is not censorship. It’s just a way of making sure that a beneficial forum like the media does not become detrimental.  

Name: Quratul- Ain Qaiser

1st year MBBS RMC.

“CHOOSING O LEVEL SUBJECTS” by qurratulain khan 1st year

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“CHAINS VS. NONE” by Qurratulain khan
1st year
Despite the fast- changing world and social orders, a fact remains as true as ever- our world is a male- dominated world.
No matter how many female traffic- controllers we might hire for the sake of pretence of gender equality, it cannot be denied that women are still horribly degraded in our country.
A 17th century term still applied in our society is home- correction whereby a man, being the head of the family, beats up the female members under his care under the excuse of morally correcting them.
What has never made any sense to me is why the moral standards that a woman is expected to uphold are way higher than those that a man is required to maintain? Why can a guy flirt with a girl and not be chided for it (and just get excused because after all, ‘Boys will be boys!’) but a girl talking to a guy gets killed in the name of ‘honor’? How come men get to stare but women are asked to preserve their sanctity by wearing long and thick veils?
Is it because it is a well- established fact that men have no control over their actions and are by nature merely brainless, staring baboons? Or is it because we have never managed to lose our centuries old concept of the subservient status of women? What is it- honor or ego that doesn’t let men rest unless they exert tyrannical influence over a woman?
As much as I would like to justify the above-mentioned behavior using the former reason (;-)), it cannot be denied that it really is the latter cause that this whole scenario stems from.
On the other extreme, there is the concept of a liberal lifestyle. Whether you check out the music videos on MTV, our very own stage dramas, the plots of various Bollywood and Lollywood flicks or the internet, the Las Vegas casinos and all the bars- the first thing you are likely to notice is the role women play. The concept of feminism is being highly over- played. Women are just used as pretty toys to be played with and they are all dolled- up to play that role. Even the executive types of our country think that being dressed modestly is a sign of backwardness. Flip through photos of high- end social gatherings. 98 percent of all female dresses are either sleeveless (n probably backless too, but that doesn’t show!) or nearly so (n yeah I am talking about those ½ inch long sleeves), 1.999 percent have those really short ones and there’s a 0.001 percent chance that you would see anyone wearing anything near a full sleeve that isn’t all slittted up to the shoulders. I wouldn’t hesitate to bet that not even a quarter of our literate population is aware of who Condolezza Rice is and out of those who do know who she is, 95 percent don’t even take a speck of interest in what she says and does, but more than 80 percent are probably huge fans of Britney Spears and Paris Hilton and the like. Why this disparity? It seems as if when we are setting a standard for the independence of women to be judged against, it all comes down to who wears the minimum possible clothes. The more revealing your clothes are- the higher you rank on a scale of 1 to 10 on independence. Male artists don’t need to strip down to be famous but all the success of the female artists depends on what their sex appeal ratings are.
Degradation of women not only occurs when they are confined within four walls against their will but even more so when they used as objects of pleasure for men and nothing more.
Therefore, on one hand, women need to stand up for their rights and enjoy life; on the other, they need to play down their physical appeal and concentrate more on the intellect. Where some of them need a more independent lifestyle, the others need to control themselves and take a look at what they are doing to their own dignity and how they are making it difficult for other women to preserve theirs.
After all it isn’t always choosing between a veil and near- nudity. It doesn’t even come down to whether men and women have been created equal because even if they haven’t, they have been given equal rights. There is a moderate way that all religions preach, one that is the safest and the most progressive. One where women don’t have to give everything up, be it their modesty or their independence, its the path where women succeed on the basis of their intellect and talent not their meekness or physical appeal. Now it is up to you to decide which one to follow.

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TANGLED by qurratulain khan 1st year

One keeps hearing about what it means to be a Pakistani on and off. Apparently, Pakistan is one of the 'most dangerous countries in the world'. 
Ever suffered the indignity and embarrassment that comes from being blamed for someone else's mistake entirely? That is probably what millions of Muslims like me all over the world feel-- especially those who have their roots in Pakistan. 
Despite the conditions here in our country, we still love it- and we always would love it more than any other place in the world. If we seek to study or work abroad, its not because we don't love our homeland. Its because everyone wants a quality of life or education that they might not find here. But true love is unconditional. 
What is happening in NWFP and northern Areas isn't the fault of an average Pakistani. The average Pakistani is neither an extremist nor a terrorist. It isn't the fault of people who wish to lead their lives peacefully and successfully, without the fear of an attack from US on the pretext of "combating terrorism" or that of a sudden bomb explosion which might render them and their loved ones lifeless. It is not the fault of the likes of me. we are like deers caught in the glaring headlights of a racing car (if that happens to be an expression at all!). it is the fault of the foreign forces invading our country- there are people in the above- mentioned particular parts of Pakistan who have lost their own homelands and now are trying to destroy ours. there are forces and infiltrators from countries that seek to spread the sphere of the area of the world that they govern.These are the very forces that publicly condemn us. 
They wouldn't stop at anything to achieve their end. They would support the very same Taliban growth to take over the USSR that they so openly degrade now. The Taliban are their very own creation. their creations plague the world and then they have the audacity to claim that Pakistani military and government aren't tackling the problem of terrorism very well.
Who, may I ask, asked the US to assume the role of a policeman charging around like a mad bull with a baton in his hand? What makes that particular country think that its government is any more capable than that of the UK, France, Ireland, China, India, Pakistan,Sri Lanka, Russia, Canada , or for that matter that of any country in the world?

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