Indian advertising still represents women in regressive ways

While the tonality of Indian advertising might have changed, the portrayal of women is largely relegated to mere stereotypes and tropes

Beyond selling a product, advertising in India  is a mirror to society and represents popular culture in a significant way. Unfortunately, it has also been one of the biggest propagators of gender stereotyping in our country. Even today, the on-screen representation of women is largely regressive with a handful of “femvertised” cries by brands who aim to crusade every once in a while. There is hardly any concerted effort in changing the way in which women are represented in advertising. The usual portrayals include homemakers balancing and juggling multiple roles, primary caretakers of children, flawlessly beautiful and confident women, or women who are clueless about anything related to technology or finance. These are the common tropes that have defined advertising in India for decades, and yet nothing much seems to have changed. 

Acts of tokenism? 

While the tonality of advertising in India and some of the obvious cues may have changed, there are several subtle nuances which still point in the direction of stereotyping and discrimination against women. There’s no doubt that advertising plays an important role in our culture. What we see on television or digital screens is a mirror to our real world. This is why working women still continue to feel burdened by household responsibilities and various other duties that they continue to perform despite being in the boardroom. Advertising for fashion or beauty products may now include women of all sizes and colours. Yet, they continue to propagate the trope of women having to be perfectly confident and extremely ambitious. While advertising for financial services and automobiles may include women protagonists, notice how their roles are reduced to those of passive onlookers and not the final decision-makers of the product.

And then there are the Women’s Day advertisements which are almost unnecessary and exaggerated. On one single day of the year, most brands feel the urge to become woke and mindful of the misrepresented gender. Most of these campaigns get applauded on social media and some also go on to win a few awards. But do they really represent the reality of the women who seem to be putting up a fight and voicing out? Studies have shown that women themselves rarely relate to this kind of advertising, nor do they find it empowering. 

Audience matters 

The challenge that brands and advertising agencies face today is that of finding a common representation in a country like India. With its sheer expanse and diversity, mirroring the reality of the woman in a singular voice is almost impossible. What may work for a metropolis may not relate at all to a woman living in the hinterland. Additionally, it becomes important for brands to play safe when it comes to representing women and their cultural contexts. For example, Dove released their #realbeauty campaign in India several years after its international launch as they wanted to be sure of the consumers’ acceptance of a bold, alternative voice to their mass beauty products. Brands using a gender-inclusive voice are usually either niche or cater only to the urban elite. 

Most brands then prefer to toe the middle line, where subtle and unnoticeable cues creep into the storyline and larger narrative, but the more obvious ones are taken care of. Take the famous ‘Kanyamaan’ ad from bridal-wear brand Mohey featuring actor Alia Bhatt. While the ad was applauded for its storyline and its gentle challenge of patriarchal norms, it still propagated a fairly regressive image of an anxious Indian bride who gets married under the watchful eyes of her elders.  

Removed from reality

Notice any Indian advertisement and you will see how women are usually working, serving or running around, and the men are seen relaxing or lounging. While the storyline may be progressive, the visual anchoring of a woman being the primary caregiver or nurturer continues to exist. Women are always seen overcoming challenges or obstacles; there is hardly any at-ease depiction of women in advertising. 

Advertising that shows a progressive woman also puts an unnecessary pressure on women to be more and do more. While it is aspirational, it is also often far removed from the woman’s reality. It’s an unnecessary burden that doesn’t always reflect what the woman can or will be able to do.

As a feminist researcher Susan Bordo has said. “Society cannot grow and develop if half of its citizens spend their energies physically and psychologically shrinking themselves.” Fear of female flesh is fear of female power, and reclaiming women’s bodies must go hand in hand with reclaiming women’s power. While we’ve made many strides over the decades, we still unfortunately have a long way to go. 

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