Social media users were recently in for a surprise as a poster of the blockbuster film “Lelam” starring actor Suresh Gopi was posted in Kochi Metro Rail Limited’s (KMRL) Facebook page, along with the metro agency’s logo.
It took a few seconds to realise that it was a promotional campaign drawing attention to the auction (hence, the emphasis on the Malayalam word lelam ) of commercial space available in metro stations, that would be held on November 2, 3, 5, and 6 at the Ernakulam Town Hall.
Another troll was a still from a film, in which Cochin Haneefa asks Harishree Asokan why a car seemed to have a “side valivu” - a pull towards one side, meaning that it was seeking corners to go ahead while caught in a traffic snarl. Suggesting that the car owner ought to have taken the metro, Asokan tells Haneefa that KMRL had slashed parking charges to as low as ₹10 per day in metro stations.
In another troll, actor Saikumar exhorts Mohanlal to take a taxi to visit multiple locations in Kochi. Mohanlal replies that it would be a very costly affair, while one could do multiple trips in the metro for ₹125 by availing of a day pass, without getting caught in traffic gridlocks.
“The response to our public outreach campaigns has increased 10-fold after we began posting such trolls in our social media pages during the past month,” said an official of the metro agency. He credited the paradign shift in KMRL’s campaigns to the popularity of social media handles of the Kerala Police increasing after such troll campaigns were initiated when its MD, Loknath Behera, was the State’s DGP.
“The response to the metro agency’s social media pages which were earlier being handled by a private agency, was largely from better-off sections of society. This changed for the better after the task was entrusted with professionals from the IT and creative fields were roped in on a part-time basis. A vast number of ordinary people began responding after the celebrity/film-based troll campaigns began. It is clearly that humour has won over people. The number of people following our pages increased manifold, of which many are enquiring what the next troll will be,” he said.
Welcoming this, Viju Choolakkal, secretary of Karithala Poura Samithi and district secretary of the Metro Staff Association (INTUC) spoke of how this was in keeping with the times. “Such constructive trolls are any day better than critical/destructive trolls,” he said.
