Fastidious Freebie Floaters

Our resplendent isle needs all the positive publicity it can possibly get as we are portrayed on global networks as being a den of iniquity and suffering. We who live in Sri Lanka watch and wait hoping for the tide to change, and for the current image this country has, to change with it. 

Local businesses are also working hard to get column inches, shout-outs and mentions in the ever-evolving hyper competitive arenas that we are in. From five-star properties, to boutique hotels, from restaurants to clothing outlets, the competition is to get the consumers interest, in the most fast and fascinating way. The go to of the moment? Throw as many freebies at anyone with a camera phone, in order to ‘attempt’ at beating the competition to the bank! 

We have some awesome folks who have the most wonderfully engaging content in their magazines, papers, channels and social media feeds. From highlighting diverse interests to truly parlaying the heartbeat of the ‘here and now’ these are truly the best. We are always excited to catch their latest items and enjoy being transported to where they want to take us, via their creativity and imagination. We also have the superb talents of social media aficionados who serve up the most wonderful and ‘up-to-date’ in the most creative ways. Globally these true talents not only are able to highlight the best of the best, but also create a fabulous niche for themselves where their utterances are looked on with credibility and immense respect. 

On the flip side we have the throngs who would attend anything and showcase anyone’s anything in order to get anything for free. Worldwide this epidemic of ‘keypad Kaisers’ assume that their access to followers should entitle them to not ever having to carry a wallet, and to be more demanding than the Comtesse Du Barry, the notoriously entitled Mistress of King Louis XV! Imagining oneself floating through the hall of mirrors at Versailles purely for one’s personal escapism may be fine, but when one behaves like that simply because of having some followers? Oh my darling no! 

Hotels and eateries alike are always coming up with superb thematic culinary journeys that they hope their patrons would join. So they invite those they assume have the ‘clout’ to get the tills trilling. In most cases they end up with comic strip worthy characters who suddenly seem to have acquired supremely fine tuned palettes. The PR executives huff and puff placating their every need in order to get some food pictures out, and customers in. Unfortunately, most times it’s just fodder for us to look on in amusement, as we all know these people would publicize any and everything they get, as long as it’s free. As we sometimes note, “give them a free pastry and they will post 50 pictures and a video!” 

The clothes hangers-on are also in the same unsteady boat, as they too would attend the opening of any nook that has a rack, as long as they get even a strip of free fabric. Giving away a free headband? Of course the RSVP would be “will attend!” Again, we are bombarded with posers fastidiously looking at clothes like they are Madame Jacqueline the ‘Premier’ at the Chanel Atelier on the Rue Cambon! They will appraise each other’s ‘looks’ all the while eyeing the prize of getting something free to wear for the next invited event they would attend. This set, as I have said in the past would “attend the opening of an envelope if they could get anything free,” are fast expanding and demanding more and more from those unfortunate enough to buy into their nonsensical self promotion. 

Shouting from the proverbial rooftops when something is awesome is a good thing. But when one is always praising simply because its free means one’s credibility is                non-existent. We are absolute foodies who have an unabashed love of gastronomic indulgences. Our food, like everything else in our lives, is varied, and we would eat street vendor’s Koththu and say how delicious it was, as much as we would pay for a breakfast buffet post workout, and say how good it was as well. Saying something is good does not mean that one has to get it free! The same applies to ‘trains, planes and automobiles’ where if something is good, we would say so. The fact that we are paying consumers means that if something is not good, we would say so as well. 

When we have been invited to a food spot, or been sent some goodies, we would obviously say that we were ‘sent’ or ‘invited.’ When we turn down invitations it is simply that we are otherwise engaged, and sometimes in my case I do truly prefer to be curled up with a book, surrounded by our doggies! We also are quite content to avoid the razzmatazz, unless directly related to our own work, or when in support of our few friends and small family. 

Swinging from chandeliers and displaying every possible body part that is legally permitted may get one attention, but is it the right attention? For those obsessed with the numbers game, where having more followers means perceived success, why not stop for a minute and think of the demographic of the followers? I mean everyone is now on social media so being ‘exposed’ and getting a few extra salivating stalkers is not exactly aspirational. I lived in Los Angeles for 20+ years and met people from diverse ethnicities, but have yet to meet so many folks who speak with “hybrid accents” as we do in our island. We hear sentences start as British, slip into Kiwi, slide into a bit of American and cascade into some Mexican with maybe some Jamaican thrown in for good measure. Oh what fun to be the verbal equivalent of the ‘United Nations General Assembly’ on one’s social media feed!

I am fifty years old and I never ever pretend to be ‘mutton dressed as lamb’. I am immensely proud of what so many young people are doing, living in authenticity and inspiring those around them. Age is a number no doubt but how lovely to see those who thrive in their ‘being’ rather than their number of followers. Longevity is something we wish for those in any sphere and I feel that being true to oneself and cultivating the ‘genuine’ would make our collective journey even more inspirational. 

Those with a wider audience need to make sure that they are responsible for their messaging and make their voices count, as we have seen with so many in recent times, in the socio-political arena. Being oneself, means that ‘one’ as an individual is truly connected to ‘self’. Lead by example and use one’s ‘media’ to try and make positive ‘social’ changes because in the times we live in, that is a truly a powerful tool to possess.