Insights: READ BEFORE YOU BUY

As such the suggestion, “read before you buy”, holds good for any consumer product which you buy. Food packets, electronic item, drugs, whatever one buys always has a written pamphlet or brochure for customers and one should know about the product before spending money on it. But here I am talking about something which is not related to the product information or anything close to it. It is about the clothes, the shirts and T-shirts with various kinds of captions and messages written over it. For no other thing it is more important to read before buying as compared to clothes. Yesterday I saw a teenage girl wearing a T-shirt with the caption- “My sister is for sale;” written in bold letters which one could read from far. She seemed to be a simple village lass who would not be knowing that she is moving with an obscene and objectionable message on her shirt. My colleague went over and explained to her softly about it. She looked quiet embarrassed and vowed never to use that shirt again. There was a guy seen last week, wearing a shirt over which was written-,”I am the son of a bitch”. These are just examples of the long list of obscene messages written on shirts, jackets and other clothes. I do not know how and where this trend has started. What is the mentality of the fashion designers who design such clothes? This should be analyzed because they could be educated people knowing the meaning of such messages. Maybe they are people with lust for publicity in any way and desire to sell their products anyhow. Some of them may be perverts. But for an average, decent and dignified citizen in any part of the world, it is not acceptable to move about carrying such messages. It looks obscene whether on girls or boys. Moreover in case of girls, it may send a wrong signal to the observer. Some guys may think that this girl is, “just available”, and try to harass her. Some educated people understand the message written very well. But maybe to show that they are different from others or they do not care about it, they continue wearing such clothes. Any person, whether a man or woman, lowers his or her dignity by wearing clothes with such vulgar messages. It is in a way, propagating obscenity. The wearer may be ignorant about the meaning of the caption but this fact may not be known to an onlooker. Thus one looking at them may form a wrong opinion about them. Not all messages are bad. Some are relevant for a particular occasion. For example around the world heart day or breast cancer awareness week it is common to see individuals who participate in the rally or campaign for the occasion to wear t-shirts with messages relevant for the occasion. Such clothes are useful for a particular occasion. Later than that, if one uses them, there is no problem, but they do not give a smart look. Some T-shirts are with advertisements for some companies or commercial products to improve their sales. It is O.K. for the employees of that company to wear them, but it does not look good on others. Even if one wears it innocently, it gives a strong message that he or she is advertising for that product. This again does not look very dignified. Particularly in case of women, it does not look lady like. Therefore, it is important that one looks at a cloth very well, reads and understands the communication written over it and buys it only if decent and suitable. In case of people who do not follow English or any language in which the message is written, a sound advice is not to buy any cloth with something written over it. For women, there is such a wide range of clothes available in beautiful designs and colors, that there is absolutely no need to buy and wear clothes with messages. E-mail-rachna212002@yahoo.co.uk

Lifestyle

Insights: READ BEFORE YOU BUY