Lockington's Everyday Fiji ... Life Goes On

WEEKEND READING. Scroll down to   
♦ The PM's Visit to Rakiraki: Ceremonies, Civics and Elections by Dr Chris Griffin 
♦ A Cautionary Look at Micro-Finance in Papua New Guinea by Ben Havenga and Scott MacWilliam 
♦ and Friday's two postings. 

Allen Lockington is a self-employed customs agent and business consultant who has regular articles published in Fiji. I thank Allen for permission to reprint some of them in this political blog. They remind us that life goes on, whatever the political situation. And it's good to know that.

Commercialisation

Commercialization is how things work nowadays. That is a fact. From Christian festivals, to Hindus and Islam, fathers days, mother’s day and even children day have been commercialized. You name it and companies will be advertising their wares, “Get your father a present, make him feel like a man.” This is just one of the many slogans that advertisers drum up to sell goods. Pretty girls are usually depicted next to an item and of course it draws our attention. Some section of society look down on this. But the models don’t mind because they get paid, it’s just a job.  But if you notice almost everything has been commercialized. Well, money makes the world go round doesn’t it. Without money even the church can’t function. I wonder if anybody has elevated money as their supreme being?

When Christmas comes around pages in the newspapers will be full of ads depicting the many things that shops have in store for us. Some people have looked down on this and condemned commercialisation. But sorry to say, one has to go with the flow.   In the past the many festivals around the country were   run by the Fiji Jaycees and other organisations and they did a fantastic job. They are a group of people who saw fit to give their time for charity, society, the poor, business and or course education.  I heard someone say that the Hibiscus Festival used to be called the Hibiscus Festival, now it’s called the Vodafone Hibiscus Festival. The person said, why does it have to be called that. Then I said what about soccer teams they are named after the product their sponsors manufacture or sell. It’s a business.

To anyone who thinks that sponsors or companies should not commercialise things, tell Vodafone and Food Town or Coca Cola to withdraw their sponsorship of the many festivals and games and they take over and give the prize money.