{"id":106682,"date":"2021-06-24T13:58:48","date_gmt":"2021-06-24T08:28:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/?p=106682"},"modified":"2021-06-24T12:11:17","modified_gmt":"2021-06-24T06:41:17","slug":"sexism-in-the-indian-advertising-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/society\/sexism-in-the-indian-advertising-industry","title":{"rendered":"Sexism in the Indian Advertising Industry"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Most days on the television, we see advertisements showing women performing various household tasks. Some show a super devoted mother running round the clock to fulfil everybody&#8217;s needs, and she smiles as she recommends us a bar of soap that allowed her to reinvent her whole personality. On a different channel, we see yet another mother making milk for her child, with a slogan &#8216;only a mother knows the importance of good habits&#8217; what is supposed to be an appreciation for women, falls short by a great amount.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">As a child, I grew up watching advertisements glorifying women in the kitchen, women growing multiple hands as a nod to the goddess\u00a0<\/span><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Durga<\/span><\/em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0so that they can satisfy every member&#8217;s demand. What&#8217;s even sadder is the fact that I never questioned this. For where else do our mothers belong, if not in the kitchen?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">These ads get created for female empowerment most of the time, but their efforts lack direction and do more damage than empowerment.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">It is only genuine that art is as good as the society it caters to. However, we live in such a sexist society that we create sexist workspaces, reflecting even our representation of women.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Advertising today is a potent marketing tool. Starting from slogans that we all remember to catchy old jingles, we still find ourselves singing along. Advertising has played a significant role in how we think, what we buy and what we consume. Today, most households call all brands of noodles the popular\u00a0<\/span><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">&#8216;maggi&#8217;\u00a0<\/span><\/em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">regardless of what they might be or how butter has become synonymous with &#8216;utterly butterly delicious&#8217; Amul. There is no denying the power that this tool of marketing holds in our lives.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Why do we still create such ads?<\/h2>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">A few months ago, Tanishq, a popular jewellery brand, came out with a progressive advertisement portraying a Hindu woman married into a Muslim family and how the Muslim family bends their culture to accommodate hers and make her feel comfortable.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">What came next was a barrage of hate comments against what seemed like an innocent ad. People lashed out against the brand, calling them\u00a0<\/span><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">hinduphobic<\/span><\/em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0and encouraging &#8216;love jihad&#8217;. It cost Tanishq a lot of their business, and the ad was pulled back immediately, along with an apology offered by the brand.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The majority of consumers in India today have a sexist outlook. Our advertisements only highlight and profit from existing societal standards and beliefs. It isn&#8217;t just the ads that influence society but also the society that affects creators and their promotion methods.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">This patriarchal society will require much stricter actions for us to see a change to the core. Advertising as of today is a controversial topic for sure. Some are trying to bring a change, such as Akshay Kumar advertising detergent, what is thought to be a woman&#8217;s role. There isn&#8217;t an excuse for the harmful content that most significant brands still continue creating. Change is a gradual process, and ideals of equality and diversity should be reinforced time and again by the upcoming generation.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Most days on the television, we see advertisements showing women performing various household tasks. Some show a super devoted mother running round the clock to fulfil everybody&#8217;s needs, and she smiles as she recommends us a bar of soap that allowed her to reinvent her whole personality. On a different channel, we see yet another [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21818,"featured_media":107121,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,5096],"tags":[12062],"class_list":{"0":"post-106682","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-society","8":"category-social-issues","9":"tag-sexism"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21818"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106682"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106682\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":107122,"href":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106682\/revisions\/107122"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mapsofindia.com\/my-india\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}