Your mobile number, your identity
November 22nd, 2007
India
Here’s a clip from a current billboard, newsprint, and TV advertising campaign in India. It features mega star Abhishek Bachchan (son of mega-mega star Amitabh Bachchan) presiding over a divided/acrimonious rural community. As the village sarpanch, an elected official, AB recommends replacing people’s names with mobile numbers and–presto–all is well.
Whether the ads are inappropriate, edgy, or simply over-the-top remains a matter of some debate. But no matter how one reads the political undertones, the ads do tap a great sense of how people’s mobile numbers seem to serve as an adjunct identity. With relatively few landline numbers, no single, integrated national ID card, and often-vague physical addresses, one’s mobile number in India is important indeed.
