In an era of extreme income and wealth disparities between India’s richest 10 percent who own 55-60 percent of national wealth and the country’s poorest 90 percent with embarassing per capita income, the national interest demands promoting the savings habit rather than conspicuous consumption. It’s a well-established canon of economics that savings equal investment.
The obligation to promote the saving mantra and discourage consumption is greater for media organizations reportedly managed by intellectuals aware of national development priorities. Especially widely circulated mainstream newspapers and periodicals. Therefore it is dismaying that India Today, the flagship print publication of the Delhi-based Living Media India Ltd (LMIL), one of the country’s most successful and profitable companies which also owns popular television channels (Aaj Tak, India Today Television), also publishes Spice, a free-of-charge super glossy magazine distributed together with India Today. Spice lavishly promotes uber luxury products for the super-rich to indulge in. For instance the ‘pick of the month object of desire’ of Spice November is a dazzling Zambian emerald necklace priced at Rs. 7.13 lakh (approx.) and an eye shadow cream priced at Rs.22,000.
Therefore one wonders about the corporate social responsibility of LMIL (annual sales revenue: Rs.1,000 crore) in eulogizing products and services priced at several multiples of the annual per capita income of India ($2,500) and displaying them in all their glory. At risk of sounding self-righteous, there’s an element of feasting before the starving and/or rubbing the noses of the poor in the dirt in Spice.
