The men and women in sweaty and worn-out clothes, who sell you tickets to prosperity, will soon get an image makeover. The Kerala State Lottery Agents and Sellers Welfare Fund Board and the State Lotteries Department are joining hands to gift T-shirts, bags and beach umbrellas to state lottery agents.
“We want to make business more comfortable for the vendors who sweat it out on the streets,” said Board chairman Babu Joseph. “A majority of the vendors are the less-privileged, including women and physically challenged. The T-shirt and umbrella will give them more visibility in public places,” Joseph said. The Welfare Fund Board, in its proposal to the Lotteries Department has suggested an umbrella with eight petals. The petals will bear the advertisement of the seven lotteries rolled out by the department. “Around 20,000 agents registered with the Board will benefit from the scheme,” Joseph said. The Lotteries Department has already floated tenders to procure the products. The Department also plans to rope in a sponsor for the scheme which would cost around Rs 1.5 crore. “Besides our ad, we plan to give other ads, preferably of a single sponsor,” said Lotteries Director Biju Prabhakar.
“At present, we give advertisements through print and electronic media. The publicity ads on the umbrellas would further take the product to the common man,” Prabhakar said.