Volume 5 · The Great Indian Bazaar · Essay 174
Pass-Along Advertising
Some ideas arrive wearing uniforms. Pass-Along Advertising arrives in a kurta — plain, comfortable, and ready for work.
The idea is simple, and like most simple ideas it is easy to nod at and hard to use. The nod is free. The use costs attention, every day, in small change.
Every colony has a notice board and a gossip channel. The notice board informs; the channel decides. Wise residents read the first and audit the second.
Society is a long conversation; the only question is whether you are listening or merely waiting to speak. And when you forget it — you will — the world will remind you. It is a faithful tutor.