Comment On Marketing Strategies Of India And Brazil Of Condoms To Prevent Aids
Aids have turned out to be an anathema for our planet earth as it mushrooming rapidly. United Nations and other NGO’s have been working hard in their capacity to create awareness among masses about this life taking disease. The case describes the prevention techniques which have been taken in various countries to counter its spread. The best cure for it as mentioned in the case is prevention by using condoms and using sterilized syringes for drug use but this method took time to be adopted by people as they were shy (in most of the cases) or afraid as they might use economic support from their partners or will be beaten up.
This needed better marketing techniques so the concept can be penetrated into masses and the incurable disease can be controlled which is multiplying in years. The marketing techniques which were used in Brazil and India were of totally different kinds. This is because of the cultural differences each place has. When we talk about Brazil’s marketing strategy, we first need to look at the demographics of the country. Brazil is a Roman Catholic country where abortion and having safe sex is not welcomed or acceptable. In the same parameters, women are also beaten and economically they are barred from the support from their husbands when they demand them to wear condoms before having sex. Also the report shows that in most of the HIV cases, women are found positive as compared to men in Brazil. Asking men to wear condom is not acceptable in Brazil so the cure of this problem they found out is to provide women with female condoms which has an acceptance rate of more than 60% by men. Some 20 million condoms are distributed so far per month in Brazil. Secondly, another strategy which is adopted is to distribute massive amounts of condoms especially during the Rio De Janerio carnival when millions of spectators are attracted to attend this carnival. As this carnival is celebrated forty days before Easter, people who have association with the Roman Catholic Church come from around the globe to enjoy this colourful event. Like Chinese government who provide hotels and brothels free condoms (Barnett, 2006), Brazilian government is also following the same pattern and have distributed tens of millions of them so to prevent this fatal disease to spread which has no cure at all. Apart from this, campaigns have been launched which is directed on small daily life precautions aimed at using sterilized syringes and abstaining from used ones who are major source of bringing AIDS and other blood related diseases into human body. Charity institutions all over the world for Brazil have also brought into action and the success rate of this is phenomenal; from a modest 120 charity organizations in 1992, it has swelled up to 500 in 2000 and still growing. These charity institutions are basically helping Brazil by mustering up money and funds from international organizations, donor agencies and from local well to do people to help government and to raise awareness against this fatal disease. Lastly prevention is being taken seriously as it costs less than getting cured. An estimate figure for prevention tell us that it costs US $0. 6 billion less than a Brazilian government would have spent on people in curing the disease.
If we look at India, the way of marketing is totally different. As in Brazil, women do recommend their husband to use condoms when they go out with another lady (Barnett, 2006). In India it is considered as a taboo. Polygamy is considered to be a social evil in India so that is why people abhor this activity and at the same time it becomes really difficult to discuss it with sex councillors or family planning consultants as people feel shy in asking it. In India people even find it bad to go to shops to buy condoms as they feel like they are telling it others that they are going to have sex with their wives. Marketers considered the above issues and found out an opportunity to sell their product as they originated a novel way to target people. In Indian culture, barbers have a great social place as people visit them once a month to have their hair trimmed. Barbers are considered to be a true friend of a client so he is consulted on different issues regarding client’s hair health, dying colour to put on or taking views on different hair styles currently in fashion (Whiteside, 2008). Once the barber tells them , most of them follow, so keeping this view in mind, AIDS protection control in India have trained barbers in selling condoms to their clients and infusing in them the knowledge and awareness of AIDS and how to get one self protected. In return, those barbers get 0. 75 paisa on each sale of Rs 2. 0 condom. Also people who are hired to spread the word in favour of using condoms get $14 per month for carrying out this activity. As the case rightly explains, most of the people are of the view in India that AIDS is a disease of west so they have nothing to do about it which is entirely wrong. Government is putting up a little effort on this cause because they are more focused towards eradicate major diseases such as tuberculosis and malaria. The government with some NGO’s have taken up the stride and have started to create awareness in most affected areas such as Madras. In madras suburbs where there are not too many cinemas, they have marketed this idea of using condoms by having ‘ Notankis’ which are known to be short stage plays on busses. Many of these notankis are being funded by multinational such as P& G in promoting the use of condoms. Similarly in cinemas in urban areas, before and in intervals, short advertisements are being shown to let people know about consequences of not having condoms before having sex if one of their partners is having HIV positive. On the other hand NACO (national AIDS control organization) is also trying to strike out deals with major companies having a vast retail outlet like Coke and Pepsi, so by using their retail network, they can make condoms possible to reach out at every nook and corner of India.
Aids Problem Different With US As Compared To India And Brazil
Problem of AIDS is entirely different in US as compared to India and Brazil. The first major difference is the awareness of this illness. Americans are more aware of this disease and how to counter it as compared to other countries such as India and Brazil. Case itself describes it clearly that Brazil adheres to Roman Catholic beliefs so people there find it hard to believe on using condoms. Similarly, some Indians just rule out AIDS being there in Indian blood as this particular disease is just for Westerners. Secondly, Americans are more adaptable to the changes and when it comes to hygiene and safe living, they have responded to it more positively than others. Yes, it is true there have been some initial problems of men abhorring the use of male condoms but then there was an invention of female condoms which made problem easier for both partners. The concept of abortion is also very open in US as compared to Brazil and India. Last but not the least, panaceas which are obviously not a cure, are easily available in US rather than in Brazil and India which makes a big difference by putting less weight on national exchequer in making those medicine as compared to third world countries (Whiteside, 2008).
Approaches Described In Brazil And India Would Work In US Or Not? Why Or Why Not?
Some of the approaches describe in Brazil and US are basically are taken from US initially. Rest of them, if applied on US market would not work because of demographic and cultural differences. Just for example, the idea of Notanki which is being carried out on buses in rural parts of India cannot be held in United States as every person knows about it and most of the people have facilities like television, radio etc which makes them able to stay in touch with the world and the latest happenings going around them. Secondly, men are asked to use condoms and if they do not, female sex workers can excuse themselves from having sex with them. On the other hand, most of American men also do not mind wearing condoms or beat their female partners of having them said to wear them (Engel, 2006). The approach which is carried out in Brazil and which has now taken place in India of creating awareness among children in school about AIDS can work in US because its school systems serves as the basic foundation for the children who if told about pros and cons of this fatal disease, then this might be a good investment as it would help them in being cautioned in the lateral stages of their lives. American government always stressed on having new syringes instead of having old ones and have made a policy of destroying the used syringes in every hospital so that spread of AIDS through this method can be brought to an end.
References
Barnett, T. (2006). AIDS in the Twenty-First Century, Fully Revised and Updated Edition: Disease and Globalization. Palgrave Macmillan.
Engel, J. (2006). The Epidemic: A Global History of AIDS. Smithsonian.
Whiteside, A. (2008). HIV/AIDS: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press.
