UP's hitmen snap shots

As tobacco and liquor marketers will vouchsafe, publicity and promotion are difficult for some sectors of the economy in India even though business may be booming. Ingenious methods have to be found, therefore, to peddle such wares, a genre dubbed surrogate marketing. For some segments, however, masquerading as playing cards, soda or bottled water, or even as escort services simply would not achieve the desired results.

This realisation is obviously what triggered a trio of hitmen in Uttar Pradesh to get themselves photographed carrying the tools of their trade, for promotional purposes. In a profession where qualifications and quality are hard to gauge, displaying hardware would be of the essence even to be in the running for a job. Of course, the resultant images were not really of high standard, but then their potential clients do not expect this breed of service providers to avail of the services of the kind of professional portfolio makers that aspiring models bank on.

It is not clear, though, how the gang planned to disseminate their artfully produced photographic calling cards, or indeed communicate their success rate in order to gather clients as written testimonials would be hard to come by. Tried and tested methods like leaving their photographs stuck in phonebooths along with attached numbers, inserting their particulars as fliers in newspapers or even creating a fan page on a social media site would surely attract the unwanted attentions of law enforcement authorities.

A discreet agent would therefore be crucial. Hopefully the police in UP and other states will also now be on the lookout for go-betweens that may be handling the business of more such photogenic gangs, just like modelling agencies that supply relevant portfolios to prospective clients.