1. Sexual Objectification of Women in Indian Advertising
Ashi Pandey & Mahika Bhatnagar
Introduction
We live in a world that is stratified along lines of gender, race, ethnicity, class, age, disability,
sexuality and location, and in which the privileges, disadvantages and exclusions associated with
such categories are unevenly distributed.1 The world today is dominated by different kinds of
media widely influenced the mind-set of the people in India. Where media can do a lot to bring
gender equality it has only led to objectification & stereotyping of women. The portrayal of
women in media is largely of a docile creature that either waits for a man’s approval or requires
saving by him. Upper caste/class Hinduism is repeatedly presented as “the only good” and “the
powerful” way of living in order to be a decent and patriotic Indian citizen. Indian women thus
become a “nation” to be conquered or retained.2
In a country like India where a woman is worshipped she has no identity of her own. Women in
advertisements are continuously stereotyped and sexually objectified. The mere portrayal of
women as an object to be desired is an oppression of not only morals but also of the underlying
principle of feminist ideology. In all the advertisements which are popular on Indian television, a
woman’s confidence is guided by her physical aspects rather than her achievements in different
fields. The purpose of a woman’s life is shown attain marital stability rather than financial &
economic stability.
This paper attempts to prove that the practice of stereotyping & sexual objectification of women
is prevalent in Indian advertising. The paper talks about stereotypes that exist in Indian
advertisements regarding women & the faulty portrayal of women which is prevalent in the
status quo. The paper further attempts to establish that the portrayal of woman in Indian
commercials is often shown in form of her blood or marital relation to a man rather than
attempting to establish her own independent identity. The aim of this paper is to depict the
failure on part of the Indian advertising industry in facilitating & furthering the cause of gender
equality.
Sexual Objectification Theory
Today the world is saturated by media and the way women are portrayed in advertisements very
well defines how far media has succeeded in achieving gender equality. The present study
analyses the stereotyping & objectification of women in television advertisements in India. The
sexual objectification of the female body is something that is seen in every sphere of our life.
1 ROSALIND GILL, GENDER & THE MEDIA, 7 (2007)
2 POOJA KATARIA, WOMEN & MEDIA: CHANGING ROLES, STRUGGLES & IMPACT, 4 (2007)

2. Female body is treated as mere object of lust and consumption where she is just an entity to be
approved by the opposite sex. Objectification theory (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997) postulates
that many women are sexually objectified and treated as an object to be valued for its use by
others.3 Sexual Objectification occurs when a woman’s body or body parts are singled out and
separated from her as a person and she is viewed primarily as a physical object of male sexual
desire (Bartky, 1990).4
Objectification theory further assets that objectification in general and self-objectification in
particular can increase women’s anxiety about their physical appearances increase women’s
opportunity for body shame which, in turn, can lead to disordered eating, depression, and sexual
dysfunction.5 Women in advertisements are continuously portrayed as ‘household functionaries’
and ‘unintelligent’ that are only meant for fulfilling sexual desires or play a specific role in the
institution of family. The pervasive stereotyping in advertisements on television is extremely
problematic as they internalize the concept of assigning certain gender roles in the society. The
stereotypical roles that appear in ads has not only normalized objectification and sexualization
but also reinforced it in many ways.
When women of Asian origin are shown, sexual submissiveness and sexual services are often
indexed- not least in the airline adverts that have been a notorious site of this stereotype.6 The
empowerment of women in advertisements revolves around approval from men, acceptance in
the society and for working class women to still be doing her societal assigned duties. Usually
older women are absent in most advertising and if they are present they are shown in range of
stereotypes like interfering mother-in-law or a mother being concerned with the conventional
beauty standards of her daughter or as caretakers of their husbands & sons. Advertising gives no
reflection to women outside heterosexual norms.
On the other hand it has normalized heteronormative tradition by restricting women’s sexuality
only to men. Advertisements have perpetuated the stereotyped image of women firstly as a
sexual object and secondly as a householder or an inconsequential entity in traditional value
system and the impact it has had on the society is that women have internalized sexual
objectification and self-objectification which possess several health risks and psychological
pressures. Starting from the proposition that representation matters, feminist analysis of the
media have been animated by the desire to understand how images and cultural constructions are
connected to patterns of inequality, domination and oppression.7
3 Dawn M. Szymanski, Lauren B. Moffitt & Erika R. Carr, Sexual Objectification of Women: Advances to Theory &
Research, THE COUNSELLING PSYCHOLOGIST, 1, 7 (2011)
4 Id.
5 Hazir Ullah & Hifsa Nisar Khan, The Sexual Objectification of Women In Television Advertisements in Pakistan,8,
FWU JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES, 26, 27 (2014)
6 See GILL, supra note 1, at 79
7 Id. at7

3. Adverts don’t directly cause violence...But the violent images contribute to the state of
terror...Turning the human being into a thing, an object, is almost always the first step towards
justifying violence against that person...This step is already taken with women. The violence, the
abuse, is partly the chilling but logical result of the objectification (Kilbourne 1999: 278).
Objectification & Stereotyping of Women in Indian Advertising
Advertisements are everywhere. The Indian advertising industry has evolved from being a small-
scaled business to a full-fledged industry. The advertising industry is projected to be the second
fastest growing advertising market in Asia after China.8 Advertisements have a wide reach & as
an informal mode of communication it has few negative and positive aspects. Thus, advertising
can not only be used as a medium to boost sales but also for creating awareness.
In India, women have been projected as commodities or objects of sexual gratification.
Objectification more broadly means treating a person as a commodity or an object without regard
to their personality or dignity. Indian advertisements use female models & actors to increase the
“oomph” factor of their advertisements as a mean to target male audiences to sell their products.
Sometimes the advertisers objectify them in a manner which is so subtle that even people fail to
realise it. Sexual objectification as a practice has been present since inception of commercial
advertising in India thus it has become a conventionally accepted. The normalization of sexual
objectification of women instead of discouraging, promotes sexual harassment, unrealistic beauty
standards, gender discrimination, body dysphonia etc. Some examples of these are:
 Often female models are shown running on beaches, parks etc. in sports bra & shorts
despite the fact that such portrayal is not really necessary for the marketing of the
product.
 Cinematographic emphasis made on dripping sweat from neck to cleavage of the female
model.
 Cinematographic emphasis created on the body of the model to depict the male
appraising the female model’s figure.
The depiction of women in Indian advertising creates unrealistic standards of beauty which not
only affects the perception of society with respect to beauty and fitness but also psychologically
impacts the females especially those going through puberty & adolescence. Women are often
shown as having long luscious hair, slim body & fair skin irrespective of the fact whether the
advertisement is related to household products, beauty products, deodorant or perfumes etc. They
are shown to be unnaturally beautiful that their make up & hairstyle remains intact even when
they have just woken up.
8 Brand India Advertising& Marketing Industry in India, http://www.ibef.org/industry/advertising-marketing-
india.aspx(lastvisited Oct19, 2016)

4. They are either shown to be elegant, glamorous or confident individuals who can easily be
attracted by use of a particular deodorant or by owning a certain car, or that they will be able to
avail all the career opportunities if they lose weight or become fair post use of their products.
The existence of infinite number of such advertisements creates the perception that women like
to be objectified. It is shown that a woman is easily flattered when receiving attention from a
handsome stranger or feels proud when complimented on her looks. Emphasis is often made on
fairness in an attempt to assert that white skin is the basic criteria for beauty. These
advertisements rarely use black female models, even when they are used it is to depict how they
wish to change their skin tone & how that can be achieved through their product.
Women are typically shown subordinate to men & using gestures which ‘ritualized their
subordination’, for example, lying down, using bashful knee bends, canting postures or
deferential smiles. Women are also depicted in ‘licensed withdrawal’ i.e., slightly distanced from
a scene, gazing into the distance, not quite there. The predilection of advertisers for showing
women looking into the mirrors, with only the reflection captured, is another way of achieving
this, which additionally conveys the women are narcissist.9
It enforces gender stereotypes and encourages men to view females as an object. Boys or men
are majorly featured as dirty, naughty, rowdy, intelligent, cute or with celebrities making them
appear even more desirable to parents while girls or women are shown as fragile, bubbly,
dependent and glamorous. Males have more central roles and voiceovers in advertisements. Male
voiceover is used to show angry, independence & strong character whereas female voice overs
are often used for animals like dogs and cats, babies etc. Advertisements have certain set gender
roles that women are expected to follow. These have set certain gender roles that women have to
follow.
The primary example of this being the portrayal of the “Indian Bahu”. They are dressed
demurely in cotton salwars or sarees and catering to the whims and demands of the husband,
children and in-laws with a pleasant smile.
 The housewife in countless detergent ads, who glows with gratitude because her husband bought
her a better washing soap resulting in whiter clothes.
 The wife taking the blame for her son who broke the husband’s trophy while playing cricket
indoors.
ANAYLSIS THROUGH CASE STUDIES
The data for this research comes from the advertisements broadcasted on Indian television which
are often based on the prevailing ideas of societal norms. The advertisements selected and aired
on television are on the basis of their popularity amongst people in India. The research focuses
9 Supra note 6

5. on the prevalent practice of stereotyping and sexual objectification of females on Indian
television. The selected commercials highlight issues such as unrealistic social construct of
beauty, ideal womanhood, importance of consent, free will to exercise that consent, society’s
influence to control the sexuality, conventional standards of physical appearance, gender roles,
women as mere object of lust and desire, independent identity of women irrespective of their
validation from men. We have analysed four commercials that are popularly broadcasted on
Indian television.
Seagram’s Imperial Blue
Seagram’s Imperial Blue is a brand that sells Indian whiskey. Almost all their advertisements are
focused on men as consumers of the alcoholic product. Women are shown in the commercials as
wives or materialistic women who are attracted by the immense wealth of the men or as trophy
wives. The advertisement shows a husband staring at someone else’s wife at a supermarket while
asserting his claim over his wife. In all of their commercials women are objectified & a thin
veiled attempt is made to justify such objectification with the tagline ‘Men will be Men’. The
tagline itself is extremely problematic as it has assigned certain characteristic to men as well as
women who in all their commercials are shown emotional, stubborn but easily convinced by gifts
whereas a man is shown to be careless, selfish, ignorant, chauvinistic, egoist and ambitious.
Another one of their advertisement shows a man in an elevator who is clearly in a hurry to be
somewhere & due to this refuses to stop the elevator for a man & a middle aged woman.
However, when the man sees a curvy young woman in a saree with plunging neckline entering
the elevator despite the fact that she entered the floor he was supposed to get off on he chooses to
remain in the elevator.
The commercial shows her deep cut blouse and her flawless back with her curves and collar
bones thus indicating the parameters that women need to possess in order for them to be treated
with basic chivalry. The man is shown to be callous and without a shred of guilt when he ignores
the middle aged woman & man who were waiting for the elevator. The commercial ends with the
tagline ‘Men will be Men’ indicating that men are careless, selfish, arrogant, lusty and would
always objectify women by judging them through their physical appearances.
This advertisement not only stereotypes men and women but also sexually objectifies women as
mere commodity that will only be valued or helped if she qualifies certain conventional beauty
standards. It conveys a wrong message to the viewers especially the young generation that these
are some of the characteristic that should be present in a man to be called ‘a man’ and
generalizes all the genders.

6. Idea Cellular:
Idea cellular company is part of Aditya Birla Group. It offers data services & one of its
advertisements star Abhishek Bachchan. The advertisement starts with one of the man asking
Abhishek Bachchan the cause of booming population which he explains on the basis of how
during power cuts the entertainment which is provided by the television gets replaced by his
wife. This facilitates the view that women are an object of entertainment which be used as
substitutes when other means of entertainment are not availableThis is a clear cut example of
objectification of women.
The lyrics are of the song clearly establish the same, “Dekho no bijli, dekho no tv,phir tv to
biwi, tv to biwi.” The underlying theme being that in absence of another mean of entertainment,
the husbands satisfy themselves through sexual intercourse with their wives resulting in her
getting pregnant. This results in increasing population and as the commercial states, “ badi
abaadi, hui barbaadi.”
This advertisement showcases how population can be controlled only if the men are provided
with another means of entertainment, in the form of Idea 3G, which will prevent these unplanned
pregnancies. The act further depicts a friend of the villager saying, bichare aur karenge bhi
kya”, which blatantly portrays the general ideology that sex is a means of entertainment & the
women are bound to provide the same.
Further, the ad proclaims “ab bivi se 3G” in an attempt to project that wives are objects or
means of entertainment which can easily be replaced with another object, in this case, Idea 3G.
In the same advertisement when the wife approaches the husband voluntarily for sex, he
completely disregards her needs and ignores her in favour of the internet services.
This advertisement not only objectifies women but also disregards the concept of consent &
satisfaction of her sexual needs. It projects the notion that the sex life of a married couple is to be
dictated by the husband while the wife is just there as a means of gratification.
Endura Mass:
Endura Mass is a product which is used widely by the population to increase their weight and
according to the tagline of Endura Mass, it is used to gain weight, stay fit and to look great.
The advertisement not only promotes body dysphonia but also indirectly promotes the pre-
existing defective gender roles which the movement of feminism aims to overcome. It shows
how the boy uses the product to gain the ideal weight necessary to get into Air Force while the
girl’s objective of consuming the same was to achieve the ideal figure.

7. Besides the fact that the idea of beauty standards and ideal figures which are promoted in these
advertisements are unrealistic & impact the perception of society which respect to when a female
will be considered beautiful, it also emphasises on the fact that the basic objective of using the
product of both males & females is different.
While men may use the same to establish themselves as a physically dominant individual to
further their careers & economic prospects, the women use the product to conform to the body
standards created in the society to get acceptance not only in the society but by the suitors too.
Dabur:
Dabur is one of the largest ayurvedic and herbal product manufacturers in India. We have taken
into study their recent commercial of Dabur Honey which gained popularity due to its blatant
sexism which was highlighted by #jealoushusbandsarecute. Dabur Honey did series of
advertisement by the tagline Jealous Husbands where a man is seem to have control on his wife’s
body and the wife is quite happy to have such a controlling man in her life and protects such
sexist behaviour under the garb of cuteness.
Despite the fact that it is one of the most popular brands in India and thus is in a position to
influence the social standards & principles in some manner, Dabur shirks away from its
responsibilities in this advertisement. Dabur Honey seems to think that women like jealous
husbands and they find them cute.
The advertisement promotes the excessive control which husbands seek to exercise of their
wives when jealous and insecure. Instead of appreciating the wife, the husband is shown to be
insecure & jealous of her fitness to such an extent that he controls what she wears, how she looks
etc. and the wife herself seems pleased about these restrictions the husband is imposing on her.
The advertisement also shows how the husband ensures that she leaves the house wearing her
Mangalsutra as a tag of his ownership of her. This promotes the regressive belief that wife is a
property of the husband.
CONCLUSION
The problem of objectification and stereotyping of women is a global issue but is more prevalent
in Indian advertising. The case studies clearly establish that the advertising industry has pre –
conceived notions of what the status of women in the society is, how women are to be projected
& portrayed to best market the product & that certain products can only be sent if sexual
objectification of women takes place in the advertisements.

8. Being a medium which can very easily influence and bring a change in the perception &
prevalent societal norms, the advertising industry chooses to promote & facilitate the pre –
existing sexist principles thus hindering women empowerment & gender equality. Such
portrayal not only has negative sociological consequences but it also impacts the psychology of
those individuals who are easily influenced by these ads & the perception of social acceptance
for women created by them.
The analysis of this concept of sexual objectification & stereotyping of women in Indian
advertising industry is clearly being established by the analysis of the above-mentioned case
studies. Thus, it is concluded that media can be really effective in breaking these stereotypes by
not following the standard storylines of how men use women to achieve something. Media
should participate in positive action programs to become active partners in promotion of gender
equality. “Incentives to professionals within the media (e.g. an award) that have a positive
gender equality impact and give visibility to the issue could be organized and supported by
public authorities. Participation in existing gender equality awards related to advertising and
communication should be improved at the national level.” 10
10 European Commission on Employment, Social Affairs& Equal Opportunities, Advisory Opinion on Breaking
Gender Stereotypes in Media, 13 (2010)