Best of BS Opinion: When context changes, playbooks must change too

Old playbooks are useful until the world they were written for changes. A takedown notice may once have seemed enough for platform safety. Generic drugs once defined India’s pharmaceutical strength. Tariffs, export controls and investment rules once looked like straightforward tools of economic power. A film campaign could once move from trailer to teaser to release and hope for the best. A brand could once follow global formulas and expect Indian consumers to adapt.

 

Not anymore.

 

Our first editorial today, “Enhance monitoring”, looks at the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology’s directive to Meta after reports that exploitable content portraying child abuse appeared as paid advertisement on its platforms. The editorial argues that the problem can no longer be addressed through conventional moderation alone. AI-generated abuse, algorithmic amplification, cross-border networks and paid promotion have made the threat more complex. Platforms need stronger advertiser verification, proactive detection, human review, age assurance, audit trails and accountability. Child safety cannot be left to reactive takedowns after harm has already occurred.

 

 

The second editorial, “Looking beyond generics”, applies the same lesson to pharmaceuticals. India’s strength in low-cost generic drugs remains important, but antimicrobial resistance has changed the challenge. Wockhardt’s new antibiotic, Zaynich, has shown promise against drug-resistant infections and has already been used under compassionate grounds. The editorial argues that India must move up the value chain from generics to original research, new drug development and innovation. The old formula of producing affordable copies will not be enough when the world needs new medicines for new threats.

 

Laveesh Bhandari’s column, “India and the pitfalls of geoeconomics”, warns against borrowing the economic-security playbooks of larger powers without thinking through India’s own interests. The US and China have used tariffs, export controls, investment curbs and industrial policy as instruments of strategic competition. But such tools can hurt the user as well as the target. India, he argues, needs a clear doctrine that protects security without undermining growth, trade, competitiveness or consumer welfare.

 

Vanita Kohli-Khandekar’s column, “The film that came back from the dead”, shows how formula can fail even in culture. Main Vaapas Aaunga initially struggled because its promotion followed the usual trailer-teaser-digital-publicity routine without making the film’s appeal clear. Its revival came through direct audience engagement, screenings, conversations and word of mouth. The marketing succeeded only when it stopped treating the film like a standard release and began explaining why it mattered.

 

“Indian brands as game changers”, Ambi Parameswaran’s review of Vispy Doctor and Vikrant Pande’s Desi Disruptors extends the argument to business. The book examines how Indian brands moved beyond inherited assumptions and built distinctive positions in competitive markets. Their success came not from copying global formulas, but from understanding the Indian consumer, identifying unmet needs, building trust and creating scalable models. The lesson is similar: Brands become game changers when they stop following standard templates and respond to the market as it actually is.

 

The message across all these pieces is clear: When the context changes, the playbook must change too.