Mouthing mumbo-jumbo & Source credibility

What's worse than Nandan Nilekani talking about the greatest hoax of the 21st century, namely, 'Global Warming', is the fact that he's the one talking about it. In India, you rarely get to know anything other than the liberal leftist agenda being spewed around in the US. That's because there's no Fox News beaming into India, no conservative magazines on newsstands, no speeches in the public space other than ones by the likes of Thomas Friedman, Paul Krugman and their kind. Oh, by the way, did I mention that Nandan's pretty much the person who shaped Friedman's 'The World is Flat'?

I wonder if the Indian Greens ever read articles like this one, 'The EPA silences a climate skeptic'? I doubt it.

The problem of Nanadan being the one mouthing the Global Warming mumbo-jumbo is that his stature brings with it high levels of credibility that translates into the mumbo-jumbo being perceived as gospel truth. Of course, I can't advocate anyone to be silent about what they believe in, but what I can point to is that, should a credible source mouth mumbo-jumbo, there could be adverse reactions too. The source could lose some of that credibility. In this case, Nandan will remain credible, as not a lot of people are tuned into the Global Warming hoax, in India. As I mentioned before, you know why.

Note, should consumer audiences question and find that the source's message isn't one that's truthful, the source loses out on a perception of credibility. This can impact the source's ability in the future to mouth effective messages, especially if the communique requires consumers to believe. What I am stating has been researched by Rakesh and me where we found that Amitabh Bachchan being featured in a commercial where it was portrayed that UP was a state without crime, brought about reactions of disbelief that went on to erode Amitabh's equity as a credible celebrity brand.

Of course in India, Nandan's equity remains intact. Most people have already bought into the Global Warming mumbo-jumbo. But its only fair to note that the likes of me aren't impressed. Of course that again, shouldn't be worrisome, but it surely should be cause of some concern. More so, if my breed increase.

Though I doubt it.