Ask a young man what he is looking for in a deodorant and if he replies that a solitary spray must make all girls in the vicinity of 100 metres drop whatever they are doing and rush to rip his shirt off, then it becomes easier to plan a marketing campaign around that theme. As a matter of fact, he doesn’t even have to articulate it.

It only requires the marketeer’s belief that this is what every young man secretly craves for in a deodorant (in more recent times, a belief in the prevalence of such decadent thoughts in older men as well) for the campaign to promote Brand X or Y of deodorants, to be ready in a jiffy.

Granted that there is such a thing called ‘truth in advertising’. That said, it cannot be stretched to such ridiculous lengths as to kill all creativity in conceiving a marketing communication.

Even by the most extreme standards of naivety associated with young minds, any assertion that the latter believe in deodorants triggering a passionate shirt-ripping response cannot be sustained. They may not think that a deodorant can have quite that devastating effect upon women as described.

It’s all Maya

A belief of some kind in a consumer, young or old, is however central to the idea of demand for any good. In the case of deodorants, it is all about consumers believing in a set of attributes, such as the human capacity to exude a natural scent; its ability to act as a marker of interest in a member of the opposite sex; a vaporising chemical synthesised to enhance the performance of such a natural scent or, in its absence, completely substitute for it, and so on.

But superimpose a meta-belief that all these attributes are quite simply an illusion or ‘ maya ’, and you can knock the bottom out of the market for deodorants.

The sage-philosopher Adi Sankara contended that all attempts at describing the ‘Supreme Being’ or ‘Brahman’ as possessing this or that attribute are simply futile. What we perceive as His real qualities are merely an illusion (‘ maya ’).

Indeed, he went to the extent of saying that it would be more useful to perceive him as ‘not this, not this’ or ‘ Neti, Neti ’.

I can’t profess any scholarship in these matters. But from the limited introduction to the subject that I have had, it seems to me that what Adi Sankara contended was that it was possible, by a process deep and continuous introspection, to negate every known quality or attribute that one could possibly attach to this Supreme Being.

There, then, comes a stage when you end up perceiving yourself as a manifestation of that Brahman. After all, if you eliminate every known attribute as not representative of Him, then you are left only with yourself. As he declared, ‘You are That’ ( Tat Tvam Asi ) or ‘I am Brahman’ ( Aham Brahmasmi ).

The consumer economy, as we know it, faces a real danger of becoming irrelevant should the average consumer start applying the same philosophical technique to see himself as ‘not this, not this’ ( Neti, Neti ). What if the presumed smartness when draped in a Louis Philippe trouser is an illusion? Or that of driving around in a Rolls Royce is akin to having your arm around the waist of a beautiful young woman is a false reality? That Louis Vuitton handbag slung casually across your shoulder lends that ‘cool, casual’ look is simply not true?

In other words, what if the average consumer starts seeing himself as, ‘not this, not this’ ( Neti, Neti )? We would have effectively destroyed the market for a whole range of consumer goods.

Model of growth

That may not be a bad thing, as some economists have begun to argue. They reject the mainstream model of growth that sees the world economy as capable of moving continuously along the path of growth.

If it is currently struggling somewhat to sustain growth, they also reject the notion that it can be corrected by throwing some extra public spending at the economy and the monetary authorities printing more currency notes.

It could very well be that our traditional growth model overemphasises the role of productivity improvements or ‘embedded knowledge’ to deliver growth. I wonder if energy and other physical resource inputs (such as iron ore, copper dust, bauxite), which are clearly not inexhaustible, can be substituted infinitely through technological innovation to sustain growth.

True, technology can still unlock the value buried in frozen natural gas under the sea-bed (gas hydrate) and usher in an era of cheap energy all over again. Technology can mimic in a better way what plants have been doing all along, that of converting solar energy into usable carbohydrate/sugar (energy).

Nuclear fusion at room temperature may yet become a reality. But I wouldn’t be holding my breadth waiting for it to happen anytime now.

Energy constraints

My former boss (well, actually he still is, except that he now shares the privilege with 11 others. But that is another story) is obsessed about conserving energy and leaving a smaller carbon footprint.

The blinds would be pulled up to avoid the use of artificial lighting until the sun scorches the room within. It is all LED lighting, no doubt. But still.

The air-conditioner would be turned on only when it is absolutely essential. I think he has instinctively latched on to what the world is now increasingly beginning to realise — that there is an energy constraint to economic growth.

It all seems very unfair that just when Indians are beginning to think that an opulent lifestyle, somewhat resembling the West, is within their grasp, constraints in the availability of energy, water, and so on, are staring at them. It is harder still for the average Chinese who are additionally constrained by the availability of cleaner air as well. In the language of the Facebook, there seems little option for global consumers, but to have fewer ‘Likes’.

This is not to say that the world must go back to living in the caves or hunt for meat and eat food raw.

Consumers just need to practice a little more of the ‘ Neti, Neti ’ philosophy. Personally, I can do with a smaller wardrobe and reduce those visits to the barber. But let me have my smart phone and the laptop please!

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