Why EVERYONE eats Pan Masala in KANPUR?
Do you remember that ipl's viral Video ? not girl's photo The one where a person is seen sitting in stadium While talking on phone and is chewing That Video was from Kanpur i think one of the reasons behind it's virality was that many think that most people in Kanpur chew tobacco or paan masala Largely same perception is regarding U.P. as well If you think this way, then you are not wrong In U.P every 1 person from 10 is chewing this The question comes why this is happening in U.P. Kanpur is the epicenter of Gutka and Paan masala pandemic
How BIG is the MARKET ?
lets try to understand this in today's Blog in whole of India paan masala industry is very lucrative business It is a market of 40000cr It will be 50000cr by 2027 meaning equal to the cost of vaccination of India This market is so lucrative that fake Paan masala are being made now some mix lizard's skin in it, some mix leather industry's chemicals, While some mix sever water In simple words this may or may not turn your tongue orange It will surely make it poisonous In simple words paan masala is mixture of katha supari and chuna Gutka means added with tobacco in it To understand why this is so popular in UP and Kanpur
HISTORY of PAAN
we will have to see paan and tobacco's history first let's tackle paan Paan has been popular for a long time It has religious connotations It is believed to be pure In Mughal time it was considered an enjoyment Royal families had a lot of consumption of paan in Firoz shah's time there were factories for paan donation It was considered a status symbol It was given as gift in courtrooms You will be shocked to hear this But there is a place in UP called Mahooba People used to pay land revenue tax giving paan instead of money Poor people also used to chew paan trying to emulate rich people
HISTORY of TABACCO
Now coming to tobacco Portuguese brought tobacco to India in 1600s in Aadilshah's courtroom Which is in Bijapur Present day Aurangabaad the credit to bring it in northern India is to an Akbar's ambassador who brought it to northern India Slowly when britishers came, They saw money everywhere They made tobacco a cash crop in U.P's gazipur virginia tobacco was produced in today's times Gujrat, Karnataka, Andra pradesh, U.P. these 4 states make India's 90% tobacco U.P and Bihar people chew it the most In U.P paan was popular, U.P. had tobacco Then Paan masala will naturally come to U.P right?
What Happened in 1970
in 1970's something happened in kanpur that changed paan masala industry Mr. Kothari established Paan paraag company only with Rs.12000 in 150sq feet It made such a brand that As we see Bisleri in Water and Maggi in Noodle Paan paraag in paan masala What did this company do? Mr.Kothari who started in a small place in Kanpur Understood the psychology that relates to Mughal era He said Paan masala should be made status symbol They started selling it in paan shops packed in small tin cans with small spoon This increased its visibility People felt that something royal has come up Let me try it This promoted paan masala to status level They solved packaging Now they had to do marketing
How PAAN MASALA went Main Stream
They took a huge step They said we will do marketing on TV This ad was run by them Will reach by 8 But we forgot to tell you one thing don't worry we like the girl We only wish that you welcome guests with paan paraag don't think this as a normal ad This ad has 2 big things It was 1970s dowry was a big issue in India In one way they showed that we are against dowry meaning directly attach in people's heart Second is they made paan masala as a largely consumable good You can even welcome guests using this Something which is today considered very injurious to health due to this ad not only the brand value of paan paraag rose in people's minds But also, overall paan masala got acceptance People started serving each other in functions Just think where sweets are used the placement of paan masala was so smartly done They spent so much of money on TV marketing that between 1983 to 1987 Paan paraag was single largest advertiser on TV Till now they have packed paan masala in a royal pack Marketing is also going great Next step was large scale adoption In 1985 they imported huge machines from Japan And started packing them in small sachets of 5gms each This was also a huge industry move Fmcg company that used to make soap and shampoo started to take lesson from them This led to a large-scale adoption of paan paraag It was not that paan paraag was the first paan masala Before paan paraag there were paan bahaar, baadshah pasand in Kanpur But paan paraag was the first brand that achieved large scale acceptance and marketing Due them Paan masala and gutka products became so popular in whole India
Why so Many People Eat PAAN MASALA
especially in kanpur and U.P advertisement was a big reason behind paan masala's popularity Even till today paan masala companies understand this Amitabh Bachchan, Ranveer Singh, Ajay Devgan, Akshay Kumar, Shah rukh Khan Every big star will be seen in paan masala ad mostly they don't advertise directly They do surrogate advertisement On packet they show cardamom Everyone knows what ad is going on and what is being promoted Second reason is education and economic background Many people who consume paan masala They are not educated enough to understand that this causes cancer Many oral cancer patients say this in interviews Plus paan masala is so affordable, portable, easily accessible That all people can easily consume this Somewhere this was known by paan masala companies from start
How Did PAAN MASALA Impact KANPUR
The reason behind making this paan masala was to make it so portable and cheap That people start eating it in large scale This large-scale adoption effect has adverse results especially in U.P. and Kanpur W.H.O said that Kanpur has a fast-rising cases of oral cancer patients Kanpur's J.K. cancer hospital has 1/3rd patients of oral cancer Which was just 1/10th till last year This was even seen in army recruitment At least 1/3rd candidates were removed from medicals Because their mouth had clear signs of oral cancer Due to gutka chewing Because of this gutka, Kanpur which was once called Manchester of the east It has become butt of all the gutka jokes And cancer capital of Uttar Pradesh