Feminism & Chauvinism For Urban India

Feminism and Chauvinism for Urban India
Perceptions of Urban Youth – A Marketing Context

Utsav Chaudhuri
PGDM (Communications)
Batch of 2009

Perceptions of urban youth – A marketing context
Utsav Chaudhuri

Perceptions of Urban Youth – A Marketing Context

By

Utsav Chaudhuri

PGDM 2007-09
Roll No. 2007116B

Submitted to Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad

In partial fulfilment of the requirements of the Post Graduate

Programme Diploma in Communications Management

Dissertation Guide:

DR. TATTWAMASI PALTASINGH
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
SARDAR PATEL INSTITUTE OF ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL RESEARCH

2

Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad | www.mica-india.net

Utsav Chaudhuri

©Utsav Chaudhuri, 2009

And

Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad (MICA)

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Utsav Chaudhuri

Executive Summary

The domain of marketing communications not only deals with effectively connecting the brand
with its consumers but is also responsible in reflecting and shaping the perceptions of the
consumers at large. In this thesis, I’ve attempted to see how we can harness the psychological
as well as the social play in urban India in the domain of feminism and chauvinism – by studying
the perceptions of urban consumers, particularly youth, as well as by analyzing the media’s role
in this regard. This attempt intends to help understand the sensibilities of our subjects better
and may shed some light on the moral and ethical issues as well as the acceptability and validity
of various stereotypes portrayed in marketing communications.

Besides secondary research, I’ve conducted primary research among 42 young men and women
spread across more than 5 Indian cities to get the pulse of the urban youth. The research
objective was to address the existing knowledge gap by attempting to understand the
perceptions of feminism and stereotypes prevalent in urban India. The research attempts to
study both the media and the message that may either reflect the existing perceptions or has
the potential to shape them. The goal is to provide the marketers with updated literature which
may help the brands understand the perceptions of its consumers better.

The research reveals that feminism means equality of sexes for the urban youth. Women not
only demand equality but also expect respect from men and want to be treated on merit and
not be cowed down by gender issues. However, for many, feminism is more of superficial
jingoism in the name of liberation as they continue to comply with traditions that repress the
‘fairer sex’. Today’s youth is in the transition phase where they are trying to shed their deep
rooted chauvinism and be more liberal by adopting rationality and meritocracy.

The Indian media widely uses stereotypes in their content. But research reveals that
stereotyping does exist in real life too. The primary research does acknowledge the prevalence
of stereotyping in the Indian society and also reveals the inevitability of it due to the very
human tendency/desire to know (or perceive) about others as much as possible. It is not
unethical for the media to reflect any stereotype that exists in the society. However, portrayal
of certain stereotypes which are regressive for any gender can be avoided.

Gender has been widely used in brand communications to achieve better segmentation and
4
targeting of consumers. In this paper, I’ve analyzed two brand communications – Fair & Lovely
and Bajaj Pulsar – that have tread the gender line, to understand the implications of gender
issues on brand health. Fair & Lovely clearly started off on the chauvinistic note by promoting


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the stereotype of the woman requiring fairer skin to gain wider acceptability in a chauvinistic
and patriarchal society. Although the brand has traditionally made profits, several controversies
have dogged the brand’s communications. Women’s communities have vehemently protested
against HUL promoting and reinforcing the ‘culture of fair skin’ and many experts felt that
lightening the skin of women by a few shades doesn’t imply empowerment. Stung by the
criticism from various customer segments, HUL has had to reposition Fair & Lovely as a ‘skin
care’ product instead of a ‘fairness cream’ and the communications has been modified suitably.
Bajaj Pulsar, on the other hand, successfully used the chauvinistic ‘Definitely Male’ themed
positioning by reflecting stereotypes that unabashedly celebrated masculinity, without unduly
offending women. However, Pulsar has voluntarily reformed its communications, away from
the chauvinistic themes, to the current platform (Pulsarmania) that effectively highlights the
product and reinforces the mini-cult that Pulsar is today. Thus we see that there is a thin line
between being gender-regressive and cleverly differentiating a brand using intelligent
communications that is sensitive to the social ethos.

Marketing can’t be separated from social issues; as without a sound social structure, the
marketing framework can’t be sustainable. When the fundamental truth – that customers are
not just profit-centers but are people who constitute the society which is the universal set of all
the ‘target segments’ – is appreciated, there can be a sustainable eco-system between the
marketing function and the society.

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Utsav Chaudhuri

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to Prof. Tattwamasi Paltasingh (Bali) for ably guiding my Dissertation effort. I
also thank all my interviewees without whom my research wouldn’t have been complete.

I dedicate this paper to my friends Samhita Mishra and Ramya M who not only influenced me
to take up this topic for research but have also helped me in shaping up my thoughts on feminism
and chauvinism during my two years at MICA. I thank both of them for guiding me throughout
the course of my dissertation and providing quality inputs whenever I needed some.

Last but not the least, I thank Prof. A.F. Mathew for the numerous intellectually stimulating
discussions that I’ve had with him within and outside the scope of this Dissertation. His able
tutelage and intellectual provocation has always helped me to challenge my own perspectives.

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Contents
1. Introduction................................................................................................................................8
1.1 Rationale.............................................................................................................................9
2 Literature Review ...................................................................................................................... 11
2.1 Feminism........................................................................................................................... 11
2.2 Feminism in India............................................................................................................... 13
2.3 Portrayal of Feminism and Women’s Issues in the Media ..................................................... 15
3 Research Objective.................................................................................................................... 21
4 Methodology ............................................................................................................................ 22
4.1 Research Design ................................................................................................................ 22
4.2 Sampling Plan .................................................................................................................... 22
4.3 Data Collection and Analysis ............................................................................................... 24
5 Research Analysis...................................................................................................................... 25
5.1 Feminism of Urban India .................................................................................................... 25
5.2 Chauvinism of Urban India.................................................................................................. 29
5.3 The issue of Stereotyping ................................................................................................... 32
5.4 Chaos and disillusionment of gender................................................................................... 36
5.5 Indian media and gender.................................................................................................... 37
5.5.1 Gender Stereotypes in Media ...................................................................................... 40
5.6 Gender and Brand Communication ..................................................................................... 42
5.6.1 The example of Fair & Lovely....................................................................................... 42
5.6.2 The Example of Bajaj Pulsar......................................................................................... 51
6 Interpretations and inferences ................................................................................................... 60
7 Bibliography.............................................................................................................................. 62
8 Appendix .................................................................................................................................. 63
8.1 Questionnaire for primary research .................................................................................... 63

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1. Introduction

Brands and products are devised around the associations they enjoy with their target segments.
Brand communication personifies the product and provides the ‘connection’ between the
brand and the consumer. For effective brand communications, a brand has to understand and
tap the various values, attitudes, behavior and ‘ideologies’ of its target segment. In India,
chauvinism is an attitude and a behavioral trait found in both the genders. Feminism borders
around as an evolving ‘ideology’ of the urban India. A better understanding of these concepts,
which are under constant flux, in the Indian context, will help brands communicate better
through effective portrayal of the gender.

To understand these concepts, I read numerous books, articles and papers providing various
perspectives on these topics. This led to my learning of the history of feminism in the world as
well as India. It also brought forth the evolution that has been taking place and the areas which
have been left untouched and still follow typical stereotypes. The differences in the feminist
issues globally are starkly different from that of India and the literature review tries to take in
both the global and the Indian perspective to understand the commonalities and highlight the
differences. It brings forth the fact that the manifestation of the known concepts can be very
different when the Indian context is applied to it.

Media is an influential tool to shape the beliefs, opinions and attitude of the Indian society.
Again, media is the tool for brand communication. However, we must appreciate that media is
only a vehicle used to communicate the message and may not be the message itself. The
message has its genesis in the mind of the idea’s author. Therefore the media needs to be
analyzed for its polymeric role of shaping and reflecting the perception of feminism and
chauvinism of the urban India as well as understanding the genesis of the ideas pertaining to
Indian feminism and chauvinism.
8

Understanding feminism and chauvinism as perceived by the urban youth of India today,
requires delving into the foundation and history of feminism and stereotyping and the portrayal

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of these concepts as well as the woman in the Indian mass media. We need to study the
application of the concepts of feminism and stereotyping to the Indian context and the various
manifestations thereof.

1.1 Rationale

The domain of marketing communication not only deals with effectively connecting the brand
with its consumers but is also responsible in reflecting and shaping the perceptions of the
consumers at large. We must appreciate that the consumers are not a different entity from the
society per se and marketing must empathize with the people as a constituent of a larger social
fabric. When the fundamental truth viz. consumers are not just profit centers but are the very
people who compose the society is addressed, we will successfully create a sustainable
marketing framework.

In coherence with the long term need for sustainable marketing as well as aiding brands to
connect with their consumers more effectively, marketing communication takes the help of
sociology as well as psychology in various ways. In this thesis, we attempt to see how we can
harness the psychological as well as the social play in urban India in the domain of feminism
and chauvinism – by studying the perceptions of urban consumers, particularly youth as well as
by analyzing the media’s role in this regard. This attempt intends to help us understand the
sensibilities of our subjects better and may shed some light on the moral and ethical issues as
well as the acceptability and validity of various stereotypes portrayed in marketing
communications.

The dissertation attempts to bridge the knowledge gap which exists in understanding the
conception of feminism and chauvinism in the urban youth of India today. The dissertation
hopes to aid the marketers to not only be more effective in communicating their brands to their
target audience but be more sensitive to the beliefs, attitudes and opinions of today’s dynamic 9
youth. This paper tries to highlight the role of the media and strives to achieve a deeper
understanding of the genesis of the media’s message, thereby enabling a sustainable marketing

Utsav Chaudhuri

model that appreciates the ethics and morals involved. Although not the primary objective, this
paper also provides updated information on the perceptions of the urban youth and hence may
be of help for detailed urban sociological studies.

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2 Literature Review

2.1 Feminism

A popular definition describes Feminism as a discourse that involves various movements,
theories, and philosophies which are concerned with the issue of gender difference, advocate
equality for women, and campaign for women's rights and interests (Cornell, 1998).1 According
to some, the history of feminism can be divided into three waves (Walker, 1992). 2

Feminists and scholars have divided the movement's history into three waves, so to say. The
first wave mainly deals with the women's suffrage movements of the 19th and early 20th
century. This period mainly focused on the woman's right to vote. The second wave comprises
of the ideas and practices allied with the women's liberation movement that began in the
1960s. This liberation movement involved campaigning for legal and social equality for women.
The third wave can be considered as a continuation of and also probably as a reaction to the
alleged failures of second-wave feminism. This wave had its beginnings in the early 1990s
(Krolokke & Sorensen, 2005). 3

In her book Feminism, Jane Freedman (2002) crudely describes the feministic problem as a
debate over whether women should struggle to be equal to men or whether they should
valorize their differences from men (Freedman, 2002).

Delmar (1986) says “It is by no means absurd to suggest that you don’t have to be a feminist to
support women’s rights to equal treatment, and that not all those supportive of women’s
demands are feminist. In this light feminism can claim its own history, practices, ideas but

1
Cornell, Drucilla (1998). At the heart of freedom: feminism, sex, and equality. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University
Press.
Humm, Maggie (1992). Modern feminisms: Political, Literary, Cultural. New York: Columbia University Press
(2006) Collins Dictionary and Thesaurus. London: Collins.
11
Humm, Maggie (1990). The dictionary of feminist theory. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 278.
Agnes, Michael (2007). Webster's New World College Dictionary. John Wiley & Sons.
2
Walker, Rebecca (1992), quot;Becoming the Third Wavequot;, Ms (January/February, 1992): 39–41.
3
Krolokke, Charlotte; Anne Scott Sorensen (2005). quot;Three Waves of Feminism: From Suffragettes to Grrlsquot;, Gender
Communication Theories and Analyses:From Silence to Performance (in English) Sage, 24.

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feminists can make no claim to an exclusive interest in or copyright over problems effecting
women. Feminism can thus be established as a field… but cannot claim women as its domain.”
(As cited in Freedman, 2002, p. 3)

Women in the industrialized world are exploited through what Mies (1986) calls
‘housewifization’, a historical process necessary for the growth of industry through which
women were and are mobilized as the primary consumers of the products of this industry:
“These two processes of colonization and housewifization are closely and causally interlinked.
Without the ongoing exploitation of external colonies – formerly as direct colonies, today
within the international division of labor – the establishment of the ‘internal colony’, that is, a
nuclear family and a woman maintained by a male ‘breadwinner’ would not have been
possible.” (As cited in Freedman, 2002, p. 55)

Catherine Mackinnon (1982) argues that sexuality constitutes gender: “Sexuality, then, is a form
of power. Gender, as socially constructed embodies it, not the reverse. Women and men are
divided by gender, made into the sexes as we know them, by the social requirements of
heterosexuality, which institutionalize male sexual dominance and female sexual submission. If
this is true, sexuality is the linchpin of gender inequality.” (As cited in Freedman, 2002, p. 60)

Enloe (1990) has paid close attention to the impact of colonization on women worldwide (as
cited in Freedman, 2002, p. 83):

“Colonized women have served as sex objects for foreign men. Some have married foreign
men and thus facilitated alliances between foreign governments and companies and
conquered peoples. Others have worked as cooks and nannies for the wives of those foreign
men. They have bolstered white women’s sense of moral superiority by accepting their
religious and social instructions. They have sustained men in their communities when their
masculine self-respect has been battered by colonists’ contempt and condescension.
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Women have planted maize, yams and rice in small plots to support families so that their
husbands could be recruited to work miles away in foreign owned mines and plantations.


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Women as symbols, women as workers and women as nurturers have been crucial to the
entire colonial undertaking.”

2.2 Feminism in India4

Circumstances which are peculiar to the Indian sub-continent makes women’s issues different
from those prevalent in the West. The perception of “self” implies competitive individualism
where “people are born free yet everywhere in chains”. Contrary to this framework, the
individual in the Indian society is considered to be just one part of the larger social fabric,
where the individual depends upon social cooperation and demonstrates self-denial for the
greater good for the family or the society. The concept of the “powerful woman” is only
accommodated into the Indian patriarchal culture through religion. This arrangement has
retained visibility in all sections of the society, by providing women with established “cultural
spaces”.

Indian women have to negotiate, and sometimes endure, an assortment of oppressive
patriarchal family structures like age, ordinal status and relationship to men through family
origin, marriage and procreation as well as other patriarchal attributes - dowry, siring sons etc. -
kinship, caste, community, village and the state. Maneuvering in the complexity of the Indian
social structure and circumstances unique to the Indian woman, Indian feminist scholars and
activists have had to struggle to define the nuances of feminism in India. However several
communities in India, such as the Nairs of Kerala, some Maratha clans and some Bengalis

4
References
Bhasin, Kamala and Khan, Nighat Said. quot;Some Questions on Feminism and Its Relevance in South Asiaquot;, Kali for
Women, New Delhi, 1986.
Chaudhuri, Maitrayee. (ed.). quot;Feminism in India: Issues in Contemporary Indian Feminismquot;, Kali for Women,
New Delhi, 2004.
13
Kumar, Radha. quot;The History of Doingquot;, Kali for Women, New Delhi, 1998
Jain, Pratibh and Sharma, Sangeeta (ed.). quot;Women in Freedom Struggle: Invisible Imagesquot; in Women Images,
Rawat Publication, Jaipur, 1995.
Singh, Maina Chawla. quot;Feminism in Indiaquot;, Asian Journal of Women’s Studies. Seoul, 30 June 2004. Vol. 10, Iss.
2; 48.

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exhibit matriarchal tendencies, with the head of the family being the oldest women rather than
the oldest man. Sikh culture is also perceived to promote gender neutrality. (Singh, 2004)

On careful examination we realize that India has multiple patriarchies and so there are multiple
feminisms too. Hence feminism in India cannot (and should not) be confined to a singular
theoretical point of reference; it has evolved in relation to historical and cultural realities,
perceptions and actions of women, collectively and as individuals. The popular definition of
feminism in the Indian context is quot;An awareness of women’s oppression and exploitation in
society, at work and within the family, and conscious action by women and men to change this
situationquot; (Bhasin & Khan, 1986). The logical way towards a society equitable to both the sexes
will be to acknowledge the existence of sexism in our daily lives in the first place and then
challenging and eventually eliminating it by deconstructing the mutually exclusive notions of
femininity and masculinity as biologically determined categories.

There is almost a stereotype of the male-female dichotomy in the Indian context, with the male
oppressing the female at all times. This is not necessarily true because it was men had initiated
reforms against various social evils targeted at the woman, in the history of India. Patriarchy is
not the only form of hierarchy; relational hierarchies, where women of the same family are
pitted against each other, are far more unpleasant. And as the relational hierarchy proves, not
all women are exactly powerless at all times. Caste and community identities only intensify the
other hierarchies. The polytheistic Hindu temple provides venerated images of women as
unique but yet complementary to those of male deities.

According to Narayan (1997), feminists in India have sought to address issue specific to Indian
women (as cited in Freedman, 2002, Page 82):
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“Issue that feminist groups in India have politically engaged with includes problems of
dowry-murder and dowry related harassment of women, police rape of women in custody;


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issues relating to women’s poverty, health and reproduction; and issues of ecology and
communalism that affect women’s lives. Indian feminist political activities clearly make
feminists and feminism part of the national political landscape of many Third World
countries. I am arguing that Third World feminism is not a mindless mimicking of ‘Western
agendas’ in one clear and simple sentence – that, for instance, Indian feminism is clearly a
response to issues specifically confronting many Indian women.”

2.3 Portrayal of Feminism and Women’s Issues in the Media

Ammu Joseph (2006) and Kalapana Sharma (2006) have analyzed the gender issues covered by
the Indian media in the light of media globalization in their updated book (Joseph & Sharma,
2006). 5 They have tried addressing the new set of questions concerning women’s access to
media and to information as users, their participation in media and communication structures
and their portrayal and perspectives in media content.

Joseph (2006) highlights the commercialization of International Women’s Day, Mother’s Day
and Valentine’s Day as an example of causes turned into occasions for celebratory consumption
by the media. She critiques the portrayal of the woman in media today (p. 134):

“Just as the media tend to celebrate individual women ‘achievers’ and generalize their
accomplishments, they are apt to valorize individual women ‘survivors’ and gloss over the structural,
systemic roots of their suffering. It appears that women have to be victims of heroines of success stories
to be sure to catch the attention of the media these days.”

Joseph (2006) links up Indian media, globalization and liberalization in the following way (p.
347):

“…several of these trends were noticeable in the Indian press in the early 1990s, with the advent of
economic ‘liberalization’ and globalization. They have subsequently become more pronounced and
entrenched as the fruits of economic ‘reform’ began to benefit the burgeoning middle class and turn
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5
Joseph, Ammu., & Sharma, Kalpana. (2006). Whose News? The Media and Women’s Issues. New Delhi: Sage

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them into avid consumers of the growing range of products and services offered by indigenous
enterprises and national and multi-national corporations.

The media have been involved in this process as agents of change and they have, in turn, been recast by
it. Perhaps, the most symbolic example of this symbiotic relationship is the link between the media and
the beauty industry, which particularly became conspicuous through the 1990s. (Referring to beauty
pageants and subsequent upswing of the beauty industry)”

Some of the trends as perceived by Joseph (2006) are as follows:

‘Women’s issues’ are still, by and large, seen as narrow, niche issues and covered as such; some
•
– especially dramatic or lurid cases of violence or discrimination – continue to receive more
coverage than other equally important issues.
Serious coverage of significant gender related events/issues, when it occurs, is often lost in the
•
carpet coverage accorded to trivial pursuits.
Blatant sexism and crude stereotyping are less evident but subtler forms – possible more
•
pernicious and effective – persist.
Special pages for coverage of gender (and/or development) have disappeared, although a few
•
columns written from a feminist/gender perspective continue.
The focus is primarily on individual women rather than on women as collective and/or as female
•
members of diverse communities with some shared experiences and concerns, needs and
opinions.
‘Ordinary’ women and their experiences and opinions, are either missing or represented almost
•
exclusively by urban, middle class women.
Socially, economically, geographically and other wise disadvantaged women and their
•
experiences and opinions are virtually absent.

‘Transnational Television, Culture Identity and Change: When Star Came To India’, by Melissa
Butcher, constitutes not just of the history of the development of television in India, nor is it
solely an examination of its impact. Melissa Butcher also studies the mechanisms of change 16
measured out in the continuity and disjunction of cultural boundaries. Focusing on young
people who are often considered to be the most vulnerable to change or “cultural

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degeneration”, she demonstrates that the resilience of youth is at times underestimated, as is
the impact of other changes in India brought about by economic liberalization and state policies
in areas such as education.

‘Media, Gender and Identity’, by David Gauntlett provides a new introduction to, and analysis
of, the relationship between the media and gender identities today. From the time when
numerous of the key texts on media and gender were written, a lot has changed. ‘Girl power’
has risen and better roles for women in TV and film have been created, whilst we hear that
masculinity is ‘in crisis’. New identities abound, but some traditional images persist too. Within
this landscape of complex media messages, there are individuals trying to establish their own
identities, to feel comfortable in themselves and as part of society. Media influences are clearly
subtle and indirect. David Gauntlett proposes a new route to understanding this, by providing
clear chapters on theorists Anthony Giddens, Michel Foucault and Judith Butler, to show how
recent ideas in identity negotiation and queer theory can be used to understand the place of
popular media in people’s lives. Merging accounts of previous studies and theorists with all-
new research and interviews, Gauntlett explores the gender landscape of contemporary movies
and TV, and shows how a range of media - including men’s magazines, women’s magazines,
pop music and self-help books - are used in people’s shaping of self-identity. (Gauntlett, 2002)
Soma Chatterjee (2006)6 opines that while gender is often seen as a narrow, special interest
issue, gender awareness can lead to a better, more holistic understanding of any situation:

“On the one hand, by endorsing a few liberal reforms like equal pay, the media reinforces
the message that women have every right to expect to be treated as equal citizens, with the
same rights, responsibilities, and opportunities as men. On the other hand, by mocking and
dismissing the way feminist activists look, dress, behave and talk, the media also endorses
the notion that in some cases, female subordination and sexual objectification were not only
fine but desirable as well. 17

6
http://www.indiatogether.org/2006/may/opi-potential.htm#continue

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This contradiction, sanctioning the notion of women as autonomous and equal citizens
while also endorsing the idea that women are around to be gazed at (advertisements,
beauty contests, fashion parades, film), has lessened women's potential then and has the
same effect today. Although the media did foster the spread of the liberation movement
through its vast coverage, the media also hampered the movement's potential and women's
potential as individuals by placing female attractiveness at the forefront.” (Chatterjee, 2006)

Mallika Das published in the November 2000 issue of Sex Roles: A Journal of Research (Das, Sex
Roles: A Journal of Research, 2000) 7, shedding some light on the following areas:
Changing male and female roles in Indian ads over the past decade
•
Changes in the frequency and visibility of men and women in Indian ads
•
Changes in the images of men and women and the evolution of stereotypes thereof
•
Necessity of media literacy for women and girls
•

The Sex Roles (Das, Men and Women in Indian Magazine Advertisements: A Preliminary
Report, 2000) study compared the portrayal of men and women in Indian magazine ads vis-à-
vis international media and advertisements. The similarities, according to the study, largely
borne out by fact seem to be that
1. The general portrayal of men and women in Indian ads is very stereotypical
2. However, the stereotypes in India seems to be evolving and softening
3. In India, men and women appear in ads for different product categories, as is the case in
the West.
4. For women, role portrayals seem to be influenced by the nature or category of the
product. This is the case in some other nations too.

18

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Full article: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2294/is_2000_Nov/ai_75959822/print

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In case of male portrayals, the following major differences were found:
1. Men were mostly portrayed in athletic roles, as per a US study in 1997 (Kolbe &
Albanese). However, this study observed that only 11.4 per cent of Indian advertisemnts
showed men in such roles. This proportion was less than 9.5 per cent in previous
periods.
2. Men are not portrayed in negatively in Indian ads, although they appear in a traditional
manner. This is opposed to international findings, where male portrayals have changed
less compared to female role portrayals over the past few decades.
Two major differences in female role portrayals were noted:

1. The Indian ads are devoid of some very commonly used stereotypes of the western
advertising media. For example, women in Indian ads were more likely to be portrayed
in ‘neutral’ or ‘other’ ways and less likely to be portrayed as sex objects, unlike many
American and English advertisements. Women modeling for mobiles, automobiles,
pharmacy or FMCG act as protagonists and carry neutral portrayals. Indian ads are also
less likely to depict women in quot;dependencyquot; roles as compared to British ads. A point
to note is that that these results are similar to those of Korea and Japan where, again,
females were less likely to be portrayed in negative and stereotypical ways vis-à-vis the
West. The religious and cultural differences between India and western nations may
very well account for these contrasts.
2. The polarized portrayals found in the West – a tendency to portray women in
dependency and housewife roles and in nontraditional activities, career-oriented, and
authority figure roles (in English print ads) – was not found for India by Das' study.
'Polarizing' implies strong opposite portrayals whereby one woman is shown driving all
alone with a confident expression on her face juxtaposed against the image of a
woman sensually posing for some cosmetic product or vouching for the advantages of
19
children’s’ health drinks. Although the trend in India is to seldom portray women as
housewives or someone concerned about their looks, even the nontraditional, career-


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oriented, or authority figure roles are rarely highlighted. Instead, there seems to be an
increase in gender neutral portrayals of women, partly attributable to the dramatic
increase in advertisements for such products.

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Utsav Chaudhuri

3 Research Objective

The literature review brought forth the knowledge gap existing in the perception of feminism
and chauvinism by the urban Indian youth, who are the target audience of many brands. The
dearth of literature on the perceptions of the urban youth as well as the role of the Indian
media in shaping and showcasing the stereotypes of the 21st century society represents this
knowledge gap. Sustainable marketing is possible only through holistically understanding the
society and addressing the need gaps in a manner compliant with the existing and evolving
sensibilities.

Thus the research objective is to address the existing knowledge gap by attempting to
understand the perceptions of feminism and stereotypes prevalent in urban India. The
research attempts to study both the media and the message that may either reflect the
existing perceptions or has the potential to shape them. The goal is to provide the marketers
with updated literature which will help the brands understand the perceptions of its
consumers better. The research also seeks to provide updated information on perceptions of
urban youth, which can be used for further sociological studies.

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Methodology
4

4.1 Research Design

The research involves primary as well as secondary research. The primary research is qualitative
in nature with In-depth interviews. The secondary research includes analysis of mass media
namely TV, Print (newspapers, magazines, books) and advertisements.

4.2 Sampling Plan

The primary research involved interviewing 42 candidates. The demographic profile of the
sample interviewed is as follows:

Respondents' city
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Mumbai Delhi/NCR Ahmedabad Chennai Chandigarh Others

As per the requirement and scope of the dissertation, the sample (candidates) has been chosen
from the major cities of India. The sample also included few candidates from Tier II cities like
Pune and Nagpur and one NRI from Come, Italy.

Since the objective of the dissertation is to focus and analyze the views of the youth, the age
profile of the sample is 15 to 26 year olds, which represents the college-going students and also
the working professionals who are into their early career stage.
22


Utsav Chaudhuri

Age Profile Sex Profile
40
34
35
30
25
20 Male, 1
9, 45%
15 Female,
10 6
2
5 23, 55%
0
15 - 21 years 22 - 26 years Above 26 years

The sex ratio of the sample is almost even, with a slightly heavier female population. More
women candidates have been selected in the survey sample to help understand the
perceptions of women and their social status in greater detail.

Occupational Status

14, 33%
Student
Working Professional
28, 67%

The sample population has a bias towards the students numbers as the student bracket
represents the lower age group which are not only major consumers but are also great
influencers in their family and peer group. The working population sample has been kept young
to ensure that the thought and views derived are those of the opinion leaders of tomorrow. 23


Utsav Chaudhuri

Annual Household Income (lakhs)
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
<2 2 to 5 5 to 8 8 to 12 >12

As the household income profile of the sample shows, the candidates selected are from (urban)
SEC A1 and A2 (Market Research Society of India, 2009). The candidates being from the highest
SEC, these youth are at the edge of new social developments and are exposed to the greatest
and newest variety of media. This SEC also interacts with brands at a large scale, contributes a
good chunk of revenues to many brands and they are very opinionated about their brand
perceptions.

4.3 Data Collection and Analysis

The research includes information compiled from in-depth interviews. The interviews were
guided by a questionnaire and also included screening of two TV commercials. The ‘Probing
Technique’ has been used in the in-depth interview to gain insights.

The research data has been analyzed under different ‘headers’ in compliance with the scope
and objective of the dissertation as detailed in the next chapter.

24


Utsav Chaudhuri

5 Research Analysis

5.1 Feminism of Urban India

The meaning of feminism in urban India can stretch the limits; limits that all of us may not think
of. Feminism of the present urban and rural India is very much different. Even in the urban
variety there are extremes and everything in between. One of the contemporary women
bloggers in India, Meenakshi Reddy Madhavan, packages these feminisms of urban India
‘boldly’ in her book ‘You Are Here’. One of the characters in her novel, 25 year old Arshi,
represents one facet of feminism in the current urban generation – a composite of the young,
educated women whom you meet by the bunch today in Mumbai, Delhi or Bangalore.
(Madhavan, 2008) Arshi is the representative of the segment of young women who smoke,
drink and fornicate their way through urban life and treat men as the emotional and financial
umbilical cord. But if liberation is sweepingly defined as the freedom to do whatever men do,
and to form the woman’s identity through her relationships with other men, then Reddy
Madhavan's heroines are less liberated than they think. Although Arshi portrays the dualities
that the urban Indian woman straddles, she would’ve been a true feminist only if her identity
would’ve been independently defined without the construct of her relationship with her man.
Was Arshi an Indian version of Bridget Jones Diary? Well, for the West that saw feminism
originate, evolve and outgrow into post-feminism, breaking of the male hegemony is a logical
and sequential construct that has slowly developed over decades. But an India, without an
organized feministic revolution in the past, leap-frogging straight into post-feminist way of life
is unsustainable due to lack fundamentals. Although Indian history is replete with examples of
the woman warrior waging social battles for the general good of untouchables, landless or even
Hindu/Muslim, there has never been a holistic feminist movement that has been path-breaking.

Urban feminism has been constituted by compromise and hypocrisy. It has been demonstrated
25
by daughters ‘fighting’ with parents to extend the nocturnal outdoor deadlines but not daring
to challenge the social structure by marrying a man of a different religion. This ‘liberated’


Utsav Chaudhuri

woman, who is financially independent, will surrender to the man at night and will privately
cope with the phenomenon of workplace harassment but will never dissent this systemic decay.

Many of my friends who are very feminist in their thoughts and opinions perfectly conform to
their gender roles in their own families. So the woman invariably takes up the role of being the
more nurturing partner who takes his care when he is sick and also cooks food and does the
cleaning. These ‘progressive’ women probably conform to their stipulated gender roles to a
great extent to avoid being left out alone in life.

When we look at the rural Indian woman’s journey post Independence, one can’t help but feel
that Indian feminism and liberation is beyond sex, cigarettes and alcohol attributable to Arshi’s
urban demographic. One comprehends the scope of liberation of women in India when we see
millions of near-impoverished women in villages joining micro-credit cooperatives, handicraft-
making networks like the Self-Employed Women's Association and village council electorate.
Subdued and abused wives transforming into go-getters, turning male regimes on their heads is
truly awe inspiring. But because these women are not the eye-candy that the media seeks, they
are clearly not as liberated as their urban counterparts.

What does Feminism mean to you? On being asked this question, most of my respondents, men
and women, didn’t know what to answer. Their faces had quizzical looks as their minds were
probably trying to remember what their textbooks used to say about feminism. Or perhaps
some film they’ve seen or some article or book they’ve read. But for a generation which has
been termed as the millennials – people born after 1980 who have grown up with the personal
computer and have picked up the convenience of the internet on their way to adulthood –
concept of feminism gathers dust in their heads in this consumption driven economy. Wasn’t
girl power the norm now-a-days? Weren’t a plethora of products addressed at the woman
empowering and liberating them? Clever marketers were talking to this generation 26
simultaneously, perhaps more engagingly through various media, along with their parents and
the formal education. Apparently not much thought was invested in understanding the


Utsav Chaudhuri

feminism or chauvinism of the society around us. We live in our own stereotypes and these are
our comfort zones. It took some shaking up to get the respondents out of their comfort zones
defined by their urban youth stereotype where equality of the sexes was a given, at least at the
superficial level.

A majority of the women I interviewed believed that feminism is a concept that strives to make
the female equal to the male. As one of my female respondents put it, “…it's a freedom
movement against patriarchal society and an attempt to provide women will all the
opportunities to help them develop and realize their full potential without being ostracized”.
But there are neutralizing (female) voices that add a dash of rationality to avoid pure jingoism
in the name of feminism and women’s empowerment – “Feminism is a school of thought which
fiercely supports the way women feel and think even if it is negative. It is a belief that women
possess equal political, economic, sexual, intellectual, social as well as property rights as men
do. Women should be and are equal to men in all the spheres of life. But unfortunately a large
portion of feminism is being practiced in India by those women who are already empowered
and have choices in life. Feminism should be practiced in a positive way.” The woman is not
afraid to concede her shortcomings. She accedes to instances where she uses feminism only to
win over or downplay the other gender – “Supporters of females… most times against males;
(feminism) wants women to be dominant and (women) can go to any extent to prove
themselves”. The rationally tempered thought process of today’s youth is what makes me
believe that India will transcend most of what ails her today. As was evident in my interviewing
experience, the young Indian woman not only expects to be treated equally but also feels that
they deserve the respect that was erstwhile reserved for the male gender.

Of course there are sentiments of feministic hardliners in some of the interviewees – “A woman
who is proud of who she is… has her own point of view… is not blindly submissive and knows
27
that she has the same rights as a man and asserts those rights when required.” Somewhere you
can also sense a tinge of aggression in the educated and/or ‘liberated’ woman when she not


Utsav Chaudhuri

only believes that she is equal or better than the male but is always on the verge of asserting
her equality.

One of the respondents believed that feminism shouldn’t be restricted to the issues of women
as it encompasses more. She made one of the most insightful statements when she quipped,
“Feminism is most usually defined as being pro-women, but I guess in a broader sense, I'd use it
to include being pro-gender (so, women or homosexuals) and pro-oppressed (who're usually
either poor, are women or are homosexuals).” Indeed this is the feminism that the rural woman
has started to demonstrate with their active participation in various cooperatives and, perhaps,
they are working progressively towards their individual and collective liberation in the true
sense – an aspect not always demonstrated by their urban counterpart.

Not all women are opinionated on the subject of feminism. Nonchalance is visible when some
women commented, “(Feminism is) just complicating everything in life… maybe we should
really not think so much… just let it be…”

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Utsav Chaudhuri

5.2 Chauvinism of Urban India

Some of the men believe that feminism means freedom for women. This progressive lot
believes that chauvinism is ‘assholism’. Even if this lot is consciously or unintentionally
chauvinistic, they are at least ready to be pointed out of their chauvinistic traits and are willing
to take corrective action based on logical wisdom.

Then there are the men who understand the concept and significance of feminism but feel that
women have construed it incorrectly: “Normally it is associated with male bashing.....but it is a
movement for breaking the gender stereotypes and the mind constructs.” Somewhere some of
the respondents were either affected personally or were pained to see the interpretation of the
concept of feminism in the media: “Feminism is an ideology which aims to alleviate the status
of women in the society. Feminism challenges patriarchy and believes in equal rights for men
and women. But the sad part is that many people gets anti-men when they demand gender
equality. I do support feminism and non discrimination, but men shouldn’t be punished for
being men. If we talk of equality it should mean real equality.” The use of ‘people’ (and not
women) for the practicing feminists in the above quote is noteworthy. At least in this case, the
male respondent doesn’t restrict his disappointment superficially to the women alone but
comments on all the practicing feminists irrespective of their gender. One of the respondents
puts it down very matter-of-factly at the practical level: “(being) aware of your own gender and
(being) proud of it; but that does not mean u get it by male bashing… should be confident of
one’s self…” But there are times when the Indian male is cautious and is concerned of the
feasibility of the application of feminism in the day-to-day life: “Feminism is… to believe that
the female is in no way inferior to the male... even if it may be impractical at times…”

Chauvinism, as compared to feminism, is vague in the urban minds. Most of the respondents
were of the consensus ‘anti-female’ is chauvinism. For most women, “chauvinism is usually
29
used in conjunction with men” and is “male dominance and stereotyping of women”. As one
lady said, “Chauvinism is the attitude wherein people are overly protective about the


Utsav Chaudhuri

superiority of their kind over others and also promote their own interests. Aren't the words
male and chauvinism generally used together - Male chauvinism is the only thing that comes to
my mind when I think of chauvinism!” and there is another describing it as “the male (ego)
power trip”.

For some, chauvinism is the systematic treatment reserved for the women, which the society
applies consciously or unconsciously: “(Chauvinism is) the belief that men are better than
women in certain things only because they were born with quot;XYquot; chromosomes… the differential
treatment given to women only because they are women and different expectations from men
because they are men. For example - It is not ok to carry heavy bags if it is a woman, even if she
is physically capable of doing it. But the same offer is never made to men. It is not ok for men to
cry in public even if in pain, while the women can do so. Making crying which is actually a good
way to release stress a weakness, and add guilt factor to it for both genders.”

An interesting insight coming out of the example of the baggage quoted above is that the man
is seldom offered to share the luggage with either another man and (more rarely) with a
woman. This gives us a lead as to how chauvinism, if assumed to be an ailment, can infect both
the genders. As one of the female respondents quipped, “…it is a prejudiced belief or
unreasoned support towards a person, party or idea.” This transcends the discussion and
doesn’t restrict the concept to one of the genders. So sometimes it can be “an irrational
allegiance towards any one group”. So there are people who think “chauvinism is where there
is a strong hatred and malice towards the other group; the hatred is extreme and has no
rational sense behind it.” So there are women who see chauvinism beyond the man-woman
equation and acknowledge it as an endemic systemic problem. So when a woman says that
“(chauvinism is) being extreme and unrealistically”, the shortcoming of both the genders is
highlighted. One of the ladies eloquently put it to me: “Chauvinism, I think, is the belief that ‘I
30
am all important… without me, you are nothing’. I don't think its gender specific. Anyone who
believes that his or her existence is indispensable is, I think, being chauvinistic.”


Utsav Chaudhuri

There is of course the ‘instant coffee’ kinds. So when a woman says that “It depends on the
situation… if we are getting benefits from this so better to go by this...”, I leave it to the
discretion of the audience to decide the ‘chauvinistic quotient’. But I think that this segment of
women is more bothered by the practicalities and chauvinism (or even feminism) is almost a
mean to an end. In my opinion, from what I derive out of observing the World around me, the
majority falls into this segment. For men it is comes naturally to be in this category. This
segment being the largest, people like the one quoted, find it easy to find acceptance with the
‘majority’. As more and more people join the majority, the majority is only reinforced. This
segment, consisting of ‘convenience people’, if I may put it that way, is also represented by
Arshi, Reddy Madhavan’s novel character that I had described earlier. They will be chauvinistic
feminist on the whole – donning the garb of feminism but subconsciously practicing chauvinism
at some level for various reasons.

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Utsav Chaudhuri

5.3 The issue of Stereotyping

The issue of stereotyping is almost intertwined with the issues of feminism and chauvinism in
India. Most agree that stereotyping is prevalent and probably even unavoidable. As one of my
male respondents put it, “(Stereotyping is) assuming and judging before knowing and not trying
to understand”. He even conceded that his friends definitely do stereotyping and sometimes
even he does it. According to him, stereotyping is sometimes conscious and at other times is at
the subconscious. He also feels that there are stereotypes in media but there is no ‘right’
stereotype. Another male respondent willingly agreed that he stereotypes: “… I do
(stereotyping)… for example I can tell if the car is being driven by a lady from 300 m away!”

Many of my male respondents are aware of their tendency to stereotype and attribute it to the
upbringing through the family and society around: “Stereotyping, to me, is 'attribution of
characteristics' without much knowledge. It is being judgmental about something without
knowing much about it… Yes a lot of my friends stereotype men/women… Sometimes I also do
the same as I am a part of this male-dominated society and have been brought up in this
environment.” Another male respondent brings out the convenience aspect of practical
stereotyping: “…for the sake of convenience, bringing out the idiosyncrasies of a race, section
of society etc. And yes, even indulging in it… (Yes, the world around indulges in stereotyping)
from hostel-mates to Russell Peters.” One of the male respondents says that they are aware of
their shortcoming (stereotyping) and either avoid using it or use it judiciously (knowing that it
can be very wrong): “(Stereotyping is) putting things into black and white… fitting things into
predefined mental boxes!! Yes some of my friends do… but thankfully majority has been
through this and is friends for last 20 years and gender really is incidental for us.” According to
him, the idea is to be aware of indulgence in stereotyping – if one is aware that he is
stereotyping then the chances of having an open mind is more. A male respondent turned the
tables by saying, “(now-a-days) men are stereotyped to be chauvinists and females as feminist”. 32


Utsav Chaudhuri

A lady was quick to point out to me that stereotyping can also be a function of memory and
experience: “Although such behavior may qualify as stereotyping, we do expect a particular
gender to behave in a particular way based on our observations and cumulative memory. For
e.g. I’ve found men to be more tech savvy than women. If I assume this observation to be
somewhat true for my future purposes, I may be indulging in stereotyping. But every time I see
another man being more tech-savvy than a woman, my ‘stereotype’ gets reinforced”. Another
woman pointed out to me that stereotyping is almost an answer to the basic urge of people to
know more about other people: “Stereotyping would be to assign certain behaviors to
particular social roles. It would basically mean to generalize for the benefit of predicting
someone's behavior. People always have the need to understand others, etc. Without
stereotyping, our understanding of others would become extremely difficult. Hence we do it all
the time. And yes, my friends tend to do the men/women stereotyping a lot.”

Most of my respondents don’t regard stereotyping per se as evil. They almost regard it as
inevitable. However, some of them expect people to realize when they indulge in stereotyping
so that they are not overtly judgmental over things and people, as this lady says, “When you
generalize behaviors, and say it is typically male/female/Indian/rural/urban. It is prejudice and
construct of behavior as we believe it to be. Quite often my friends stereotype people; though,
sadly, most of them don't even realize when they are doing it. It has become part and parcel of
the system.” The inevitability is being attributed to the lack of time to know-it-all by one of my
male respondents: “I don't see any substance in the concept of the stereotyping... everyone
knows that every person is unique in some way or other but we always tends to generalize
situations and people on the basis of our beliefs and attitude. You might call this concept as
stereotyping or experiential inferences. After all the life is not long enough to judge every
person as a different individual being, which is just an ideal case.” It is also interesting to know
how one of my female respondents assumed stereotyping to be wrong: “Stereotyping is a
33
system where there are generalizations and assumptions, that people make about the
characteristics of all members of a group, based on an image (often wrong) about what people


Utsav Chaudhuri

in that group are like. Yes, in certain ways they (people around) do (stereotype)… in fact at
times even I end up doing that but do feel guilty later on and try not to do it again in the near
future.”

Some respondents attributed validity to stereotypes. As one of the female respondents puts it,
“Stereotyping is putting a person into a particular mould and judging him/her based on the
traits of that mould. For example, all south Indians are dark skinned. Unfortunately, stereotypes
are true no matter how much you try to brush them away and that's why they exist. Yeah, men
and women are stereotyped.”

Whether stereotypes are right are wrong is a subject of eternal debate. However, in my
opinion, stereotypes are created by two sources – one is the education given by the family,
society and the ‘system’; the other source is the self. Every observation is recorded in the mind
and played in the background when something similar is observed. The former source always
helps to create the mental bias towards observing a particular event in a particular light. These
two combined forms the stereotype in our mind. I can elucidate the idea by mapping my
thought process that leads to my stereotype of women not being able to carry heavy luggage –
my upbringing has somewhere instilled ‘chivalry’ in me. This is a function of my social
conditioning. Every time I see a fellow lady traveler struggling with a heavy bag and then
looking at me hoping for help, my stereotype gets confirmed. I know that there are women who
are physically strong to carry heavy luggage. But majority of women I have come across struggle
with heavy luggage and somehow seek male help – either from family or friends and sometimes
even strangers! So this is how my social education of ‘chivalry’ cohorts with my personal
observation and memory tends me to think that I should offer help to ladies carrying heavy
luggage.

Ignorance was bliss once upon a time. Now it is dangerous not only to the self but also for the 34
society. Some men and women weren’t sure what constituted chauvinism and stereotyping.
However, in this ignorant lot, most people however vaguely related feminism to being pro-


Utsav Chaudhuri

women, and sometimes anti-men. It will be hard to believe that they don’t know of chauvinism
and stereotyping because they don’t indulge in some. And if the assumption of they practicing
chauvinism and stereotyping is correct, it is appalling to learn how deeply chauvinism and
stereotypes are entrenched in their psyche at the subconscious level.

35


Utsav Chaudhuri

5.4 Chaos and disillusionment of gender

Some of the women interviewed believed that feminism, somewhat rightly, preaches the
superiority of women to men. They believe that they are “better than men in most aspects”. As
if an answer to this jingoism of feminism, Indian males have created walls that prevent their
minds to see the other side. So I am not surprised when none of my male respondents wanted
elevate the female over male – it was only giving equal status to the female. The status quo was
as if the women were being ‘uplifted’ to the position of men, the ultimate status, and no more.
The Indian man conveniently perceives feminism as the anti-male instead of the pro-female. In
my opinion, Indian feminism should be an effort to equate the genders. For the woman it
should be the belief of prospering alongside, and not through, the man. For decades, the Indian
male has (inappropriately) acted superior to the female. As a result there has been gradual
decomposition of the Indian woman’s life. Oppression gave rise to rebellion of varying
magnitudes in different sectors of the Indian society. However, if I may take the liberty to
define this rebellion as feminism, it would be a disservice to feminism if used to preach the
superiority of the female over the male, instead of equality. The ‘superiority-game’ is a zero
sum game which will be perpetually on, unless the final objective is identified as achieving
equality of the genders instead of establishing superiority of one gender over another. For the
social eco-system, consisting of the man and the woman, the gender politicians must
understand that each sex has limitations in their psychology. There can never be one unified
theory encompassing both the genders – feminism or otherwise. As physics demonstrates, the
atom has protons and electron of opposite charges. Hence they attract and co-exist in the
atom. Electrostatics doesn’t allow entropic harmony between like charges – a system of likes
(same charges) is inevitably unstable. The responsibility of the gender politicians is to ideally act
as the neutrons of the atom – pacifying, moderating and maintaining the harmony between the
proton and the electron, represented by the two genders.
36


Utsav Chaudhuri

5.5 Indian media and gender

When a child is born, it does not have the choice to select its sex. Little does the child know that
it’s not merely sex but an inevitable gender (social) issue for the rest of his or her life. The child
is conditioned right from the beginning to believe that Dad is the male parent and Mom is the
female parent. From there on the social construct of gender begins to take root in the human
mind. Media plays a significant role in constructing the male-female equation in the mind of
individuals. Besides the mass media – TV, print, radio, cinema and now the internet and mobile
– the formal education system are the other direct influences in forming gender stereotypes in
the human mind, apart from the upbringing by the family and society. Hence it is important to
understand, analyze and comprehend the gender portrayals in media. To limit the scope of
discussion, we shall consider only advertising media and to some extent other broader mass
media like TV and print.

When asked about the gender portrayals in mainstream media, respondents have felt that the
media has been traditionally using stereotypes. However, with the rise of new media like
mobile and the internet, there is a lot of interactivity. Initially, in broadcast and print media, the
audience was talked down upon by the authors. Interactivity has placed the power to comment
on opinions in the hands of the audience. So suddenly the mute audience has been empowered
to decide the right or wrong, with great speed. So if there is an opinion which is not liked, the
audience can easily throw e-rotten tomatoes at the author. This feedback mechanism in the
new media lends a lot of credibility as, like the normal distribution curve, errors and
misinterpretations gets minimized through active audience participation.

On being asked whether media uses stereotypes and to what extent, I got colorful responses.
One of the respondents felt that stereotyping is especially heavy in entertainment media:
“stereotypes do exist in media, especially entertainment media… some examples are, in
37
Hollywood, criminals are generally black (wrong stereotype)”. The respondent further opined
that the entire concept of TG, in media and otherwise is based on concept of stereotyping:


Utsav Chaudhuri

“Segmentation is nothing but a stereotypical representation of a certain section of the society”.
Another respondent pointed out that representation of certain ethnicities in movies, ads or
television soaps is an example of stereotyping and takes the issue beyond that of the gender:
“…one of the major such stereotypical representations is the portrayal of Parsis in popular
media”, she quipped.

Some of the respondents came up with very clear examples of such stereotyping – the
portrayal different family characters, say the saas and bahu are very stereotypical. Some
respondents were very vocal to point out that the saas-bahu stereotype is not widely applicable
as the average saas or bahu is happy to make the ends meet and has no energy or time to hatch
conspiracies that are shown on staple diet soaps.

One of the male respondents pointed out the stereotypes in advertisements: “… (stereotyping)
is always there in advertising… old people-young girl-village girl-male hunk-fair girl-great
mother-caring father-complete man”. He went on to elucidate the Raymond advertisement in
which the ‘completeness’ of the man is harped upon and is linked with his attire and
appearance. Another respondent quoted the Page 3 example – all the ‘celebrities’ appearing on
Page 3 need to dress, appear and talk in a certain manner befitting the Page 3. The same
respondent also talked about the representation of the political class in the media. The
politicians are always thrown hard questions and they always manage to evade those questions
with politically correct answers! Another lady quipped that the secretary shown in movies and
serials invariably turns out to be a woman! There were vocal comments on the TV serials: “the
‘good’ guy is all good and vice versa women have unending energy, never tired, balance their
personal and professional lives perfectly managing to please EVERYONE”. Some other also
quoted example specific to certain sects in the Indian society. “Isn’t the Sardar necessarily
dumb, if not an emotional fool, in most Indian media? The media can’t think of them
38
otherwise… and Parsis are buffoons!” quotes an agitated respondent. Another respondent


Utsav Chaudhuri

spoke on similar sarcastic lines, “Punjabis are always supposed to break into a Bhangra
whenever they are happy!”

Stereotyping in media was also taken beyond gender by many respondents. Some of the
respondents felt that any malpractice on Indian soil is invariably linked to Pakistan by the
media, sometimes in haste, without proper enquiry. The respondent also gets the impression
that media, to a large extent, builds the stereotype of the terrorist being a Muslim. Another
respondent highlighted the plight of homosexuality in the Indian media, “It is pathetic to see
the portrayal of gay men in Indian media – advertisements, cinema etc. It is not funny that a
particular sexual orientation has to be always looked down upon in the name of humor. Let
alone the issue of lesbianism. The Indian media, with its frivolous portrayal of guys is not even
ready for lesbianism or homosexuality.” Another example of media stereotyping sections of
society was brought forward by a respondent, “Why does the Muslim always have to prove his
loyalty towards the nation in various films… Sarfarosh… Gadar… Border… the list goes on. The
last time I remember of a ‘normal’ potryal of Muslim was in Iqbal.”

People were quite vocal in commenting on the stereotype they saw in advertisements. “Why
does the mom have to be a ‘supermom’ managing work and home…rearing an all-rounder
child… taking care and loving the family and husband? Is it how women and children are or is it
how the advertising media wants the society to be?” Another respondent was quick to point
out that erstwhile the mom in advertisements was a housewife taking caring of family only;
now, in addition to that, the woman is also earning. So the role and responsibility has increased
and hasn’t really evened out. Some of the respondents came down heavily on marketing in
general, saying that certain product categories like cars are reserved for the male gender: “For
two wheelers, females were given the scooter… but for cars remain a male domain… the SUV
has a very male-biased image towards it.”
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Utsav Chaudhuri

5.5.1 Gender Stereotypes in Media

Based on the interaction with my respondents and my general observations of gender
portrayals in media, I find that female roles are condensed into the following categories by the
media:

1. Traditional: This includes the sub-categories such as ‘dependency’, ‘housewife’,
‘concerned with looks’ and ‘sex object’.
2. Neutral: This is the plain ‘neutral’ as well as the other miscellaneous category.
3. Nontraditional: This category tends to portray the woman in a positive light by showing
shades of ‘career orientation’ or as an ‘authority figure’.

Similarly I see the male role categorized as

1. Traditional – macho/dominant: This category usually has the ‘sex appeal’ going and is
generally ‘dominant over female’.
2. Traditional – Other: This includes sub categories such as ‘authority figure’, ‘family man’,
‘career oriented’ or ‘involved in sports’.
3. Neutral: Where men are not shown in stereotypical ways. This even includes the
portrayal of a ‘weak’ or a ‘frustrated’ man.

In a private study conducted by a leading communications agency in 2007, they’ve formed eight
‘stereotypes’ of youth to aid their communication planning. These eight ‘segment’ have been
formed after studying the gender portrayals prevalent in media as well as primary research:

1. Orientation towards success: These are the people who want to ‘arrive in life’ as soon as
possible.
2. Need to stand out in crowd: Need to differentiate, even if it is through stoking envy in
others. 40

3. Live up life: These people break the monotony and ‘let the good times roll’ with their
friends.

Utsav Chaudhuri

4. Quintessential machismo: Stand up for a cause (theme of Tata Tea ‘Jaago Re’ campaign)
or plain bravado (the Thums Up spirit).
5. Attractive to the opposite sex: This desire can be traced to the basic instinct and
communications plays at the psyche even if it is at the imaginary level. An example is the
Axe deodorant ads.
6. The surreal or exaggerated: Many technology or automobile brands use this stereotype
for communications. E.g. Mountain Dew or many SUV automobile ads.

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Utsav Chaudhuri

5.6 Gender and Brand Communication

Brands have to increasingly address each of the sexes to achieve better segmentation and
targeting. Not only is this in the interest of the brands but also the consumers. Such focused
targeting by brands not only helps the brand maximize its returns but the consumer is also
heard better, enabling products and brands to address the needs and wants of the consumers
better. Although modern marketing communication is getting better at targeting the sexes,
somewhere the gender is not being accorded with the necessary importance. This has resulted
in brand communications which end up reflecting regressive stereotypes that generate bad
breath in the market and alienate customers from the brand in the long run. A case in point was
the huge uproar on the initial communications of Fair & Lovely where the brand was playing to
a regressive chauvinistic theme, portraying the woman as a ‘man’s object’ with sole intention of
marrying her off. Obviously it get received a huge uproar of protests from the very woman’s
segment that the brand was targeting. Hence there is a need for the marketing communication
fraternity to understand gender as deeply as possible, to avoid social blunders; because every
time a brand may not come back from the dead.

5.6.1 The example of Fair & Lovely

The Fair & Lovely brand is an example which, by the virtue of treading the gender line, warrants
more discussion here. The product idea of Fair & Lovely stems from the ‘Bottom of Pyramid’
theory of C. K Prahalad where he says that the buying power of billions of poor is a terrific and
stunning unexploited business opportunity. In an article ‘Selling to the Poor’ (Prahalad &
Hammond, 2004) that Prahalad co-wrote with Hammond, he provides a good summary of his
views with a reference to the brand Fair & Lovely:

“Beyond such benefits as higher standards of living and greater purchasing power, poor
consumers find real value in dignity and choice. In part, lack of choice is what being poor is all
42
about. In India, a young woman working as a sweeper outdoors in the hot sun recently
expressed pride in being able to use a fashion product – Fair and Lovely cream, which is part


Utsav Chaudhuri

sun screen, part moisturizer, and part skin-lightener – because, she says, her hard labor will take
less of a toll on her skin than it did on her parents'. She has a choice and feels empowered
because of an affordable consumer product formulated for her needs.”

However, this theory was criticized by Prof. Aneel Karnani of Stephen M. Ross School of
Business at the University of Michigan, in one of his articles (Karnani, Fortune at the Bottom of
the Pyramid: A Mirage, 2006):

“This is no empowerment! At best, it is an illusion; at worst, it serves to entrench her
disempowerment. Women's movements in countries from India to Malaysia to Egypt obviously
do not agree with Hammond and Prahalad, and have campaigned against these products. The
way to truly empower this woman is to make her less poor, financially independent, and better
educated; we need social and cultural changes that eliminate the prejudices that are the cause
of her deprivations.”

Karnani devised a comprehensive paper (Karnani, Doing Well By Doing Good - Case Study: 'Fair
& Lovely' Whitening Cream, 2007) where he critiqued the (marketing) idea of a fairness cream
misusing the bottom-of-pyramid theory:

“Fair and Lovely is clearly doing well; it is a very profitable and high growth brand for Unilever in
many countries, especially in India. The company is not breaking any laws; millions of women
voluntarily buy the product and seem to be loyal customers. However, it is, at least, debatable
whether it is doing good. It is unlikely Unilever is fulfilling some quot;positive social goalquot; and might
even be working to the detriment of a larger social objective. This paper does not mean to
demonize Unilever. But, there is no reason to canonize Unilever either.”

In this paper, Karnani redoubtably establishes that Unilever has been playing on the racial
sensitiveness by marketing Fair & Lovely to the poor women in India and elsewhere in Asia. The
communications of Fair & Lovely in India has traditionally portrayed dark skinned women as
43
depressed but, with the use of the product, get progressively light-skinned and in the process
get good jobs, boyfriends or husbands and generally become happy. Karnani argues in the


Utsav Chaudhuri

aforementioned case study that it would be suicidal for any advertising director to run such
advertisements in the more progressive markets elsewhere in the World. Even in India, two
racist ads showing women in poor light were thrown off the air following much agitation by the
women.

It is a great debate whether focusing on one product and excluding all others confutes
Prahalad's larger theses that the poor represent an underserved market and whether
companies can quot;do well and do goodquot; at the same time. This is a complex issue where both
Prahalad and Karnani agree that such examples as Mohammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank
show that there are indeed socially beneficial ways to profitably provide services to the poor.

An interesting point to note, with regards to the above argument between Prahalad and
Karnani as well as the bottom-of-pyramid theory’s link to Fair & Lovely is that Prahalad served
on the Board of Directors of HUL (earlier HLL).

I showed one of the earlier Fair & Lovely controversial advertisements to my 42 respondents to
analyze their responses. In this TV commercial, the woman is originally shown having a dark
complexion, which supposedly restricts her to pursue a career as an air hostess. The (dark) girl
is also shown to be low on confidence, almost indicative of an inferiority complex due to her
dark complexion (a stereotype) in Picture 1.

44

Picture 1: Inferiority complex? Picture 2: Rejection due to dark complexion


Utsav Chaudhuri

Picture 2 shows the helplessness and even submission in case of rejection due to dark
complexion. Her father is worried over his daughter’s dark complexion too.

Picture 3: Angst due to rejection

Picture 3 continues with the helplessness from the previous scene albeit there is angst against
the ‘system’ and her misfortune. The father is contemplating ways to overcome the problems
faced by her daughter.

A point to note here is her career’s start is so heavily dependent on her skin’s color that her
other qualities and merits are overshadowed into insignificance.

45


Utsav Chaudhuri

The father ‘discovers’ Fair & Lovely as an
ayurvedic solution to lighten his daughter’s skin
color. It is interesting to note that after using
Fair & Lovely, not only does the woman
metamorphizes into a fairer woman, she has
renewed self-confidence and a sense of self
discovery! Picture 4 shows that the man is
impressed, if not awestruck, by the fairness
driven beauty of the lady.

Picture 4: Man is impressed with ‘new’ fair woman

Now, with her fairer skin (Picture 5), she is able
to get a flying start to her career (literally, getting
off the plane!) and feels a sense of achievement.
Even the media is shown to be all over her. A
point of debate, with regards to this particular
scene, is whether the flying class prefers fairness
over competency in their air hostesses. Or
whether media coverage is an acronym for the
sign of ‘having arrived’ professionally?

Picture 5: Success followed by media coverage

After showing this Fair & Lovely TV commercial, the respondents were asked disguised
questions to understand their perceptions of this brand with gender as the backdrop. The
following were the findings:

46


Utsav Chaudhuri

How important is skin color? Does skin
color have a bearing on one's personality?

Important
Ofcourse not!
22%
19%

Makes no
Somewhat
difference
important
26%
33%

Around 55% are inclined to give weightage to a person’s skin color while forming an image
about their personality.

How influential is the skin color in choosing
one's spouse?
Very Important
2%

Important
18%

Doesn't matter
Also considered
50%
30%

47


Utsav Chaudhuri

20% of the respondents still rank skin color as one of the main factors influencing their choice
for a spouse. An additional 30% give skin some weightage while choosing one’s spouse. Thus
we see that skin color continues to be important to at least half of the urban youth.

As a brand, Fair & Lovely is
Masculine
Unisex 5%
2%

Feminine
93%

Here, we see that Fair & Lovely is firmly positioned as a feminine brand.

48


Utsav Chaudhuri

Do you think that Fair & Lovely empowers
the woman?
Definitely
5%

Somewhat
31%

Nope!
64%

A majority of the population sampled believe that the brand doesn’t really empower the
woman. This result assumes greater significance taking into light that Fair & Lovely has changed
its communication over the years to portray a more empowered woman. In the recent
communications, the brand is supposed to be an enabler for the woman’s impending success
and also to differentiate herself.

49


Utsav Chaudhuri

In the Fair & Lovely communications (TV
commercials, print ads etc.), which sex
emerges more powerful?
Neither male nor Both appear equal
female 3%
7%
Male
26%

Female
64%

As Aneel Karnani comments in one of his articles ‘How fair is Fair & Lovely?’8

“Fair & Lovely, the largest-selling skin whitening cream in the world, is certainly doing well.
Launched in 1978, it holds a commanding 50-70 per cent share of the skin whitening market in
India, a market that is valued at over Rs 1,200 crore (Rs 12 billion) and growing at 10-15 per cent
per annum. HLL christened Fair & Lovely as one of its six mega brands and has successfully
launched new product formulations from lotions to gels and soaps.” (Karnani, How fair is Fair &
Lovely?, 2007)

The debate rages on…

50

8
Source: http://in.rediff.com/money/2007/mar/09guest.htm

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