Let Them Drink Coke

It is good to see fledgling Nepal-TV doing so well, but distressing to note that most of its advertising revenue seems to derive from come-hither advertisements from soda manufacturers, beer bottlers and cigarette pushers.

An American soda ad shows off scantily clad super-rich California kids wind-surfing on the Pacific coast. What kind of a message is that for poverty stricken, land-locked Nepal, even in ad-speak? No clever commercial here, just an attempt to get an unsophisticated audience to pant after what they cannot have.