CHENNAI: Almost every branch of media, it seems, has not been able to come to terms with the Peter Parker principle — with great power comes great responsibility. The outrageous expressions of misogyny, communal hatred, sexism, casteism, ignorance and downright stupidity, can be traced back to this concept of not holding oneself accountable to one’s contributions to the bigger picture.
We see it of news organisations, of movies and music. But how much of this would hold good for television — advertisements that continue to peddle the same stereotypical gender roles that people across the world are struggling to shed.
“We see it everywhere, don’t we? It’s always a woman when it comes to kitchen appliances, cleaning products, detergents, energy drinks for children — like none of these are used by men. Even soap, the way they sell soap for women and men says it all. The one for women has to cover the soap’s moisturising capabilities, rich fragrance, the glowing effect it has to offer, and often, its skin lightening ability. But for the men, it’s all wilderness and protection against germs,” says Manasa Kumar, a frustrated consumer of advertisements.
What’s the reason?
Men in ad films are relegated to promoting products of symbolic strength, from TMT steel rods to cement and SUVs. You don’t see ads that show them engaging in everyday domestic work like cleaning the toilet or packing the kid’s lunch. Only recently have certain brands let the menfolk make the coffee. Why has the industry held on to such trite trends? Filmmaker Rajiv Menon suggests that there is a reason for it.
“It is related to market research about target audiences. This target audience is so dynamic and changes so dramatically so fast. For example, the median age of women watching these advertisements is consistently going up. Most of the young people today watch OTTs and are not sitting through the ads. This action of the ad maker to target a particular community is not because of any gender; they just believe that this is the audience. If the marketing figures tell you that this is not the case, then it’ll change,” he explains.
But there is much being done within these constraints, he says. “In advertising, they try to reach out to the largest common denominator. Now, there is a constant endeavour to not show the lady as just a housewife but show her as a working woman who handles the house work. For even in the B and C centres, women are asking to be shown as people in control of the family, making erudite judgements. You will notice that so many ideas coming up with slogans like ‘mera idea hai’ or showing that the mom has chosen well. Advertisers are already aware of this (need for change) and are dealing with it but the demographics that they are working with are still in the process of changing,” he notes.
Challenges of change
Looking past the economics of it, professor and theatre director Mangai Arasu says it has to do with people’s mindset and that is not easy to change. “It is difficult to give up the privileges — they operate beneath this idea of masculine virtues within the patriarchal system. This concept of masculinity that is seeping through all these media, the violent form would be the crimes that we are seeing around us. Probably, you are at the other (benign) end when you’re talking about ads and the arts, the act of image building. I think it stems from insecurity and you are forced to continue that way to maintain a semblance of peace,” she says.
Rajiv argues that the industry too has picked up on the changes that the society has learned to adapt to over the years. “As societies change, the brands have to innovate and remain topical. It becomes necessary for brands to be ethical, for them to be venerated on social media. If you make an ad that is regressive, people are going to start trolling you and then you are finished. Positive trolls are also required to see your brand,” he details. He puts forth Tanishq as an example. While being a global gold brand, it strays from the mainstream wedding narrative and instead shows women as being independent and making their own choices about the jewellery they buy. Likewise, even traditional advertisers are now picking up on non-conventional roles, he says. “There is a change happening and I think you will have more,” he adds.
Towards that end, Mangai says, “Whoever is interested in any level of utopia needs to keep the conversation going. It is going to become a lot more difficult with the context becoming communalised and what not. There is also the need to do a lot of combined struggle. There is no black and white.” Perhaps, the ads of the future will paint a different picture for the generations to come.