This PPT is prepared as a part of a research paper presentation for Two-day y national Seminar organized by Veer Narmad South Gujarat University.

1. National Seminar on ‘English Studies in India: A Paradigm Shift in Language and Literary
Discourse’
Organized by the Department of English, Veer Narmad South Gujarat University
Presentedby TrushaliDodiya
Email ID: trushalidodiya84@gmail.com
Student at
Department of English, MK Bhavnagar University
28th February 2024
A Feminist Study of Selected Indian
Advertisements

2. Table of Content
•Introduction
•Portrayal of Women
•Body Image and Beauty Standards
•Femvertising
•Language and Narratives
•Changing Trends of Advertisements
•Feminist Critique
•Conclusion
•References

3. • Is feminism in contemporary India still considered
significant, and how is it perceived and understood by the
people of today?
• How are women portrayed in today’s Indian society, and
how does the entertainment industry along with social media
contribute to these portrayals?
• Does social media affect how we see gender roles?
• To what extent does social media shape our views on gender
roles in India? Are there any specific trends we can identify?

4. Introduction
 ‘Cultural studies is interested in how communication and community are linked’
as Pramod K. Nayar noted in his book ‘An Introduction to Cultural Studies’, that
communication is about language, discourse, and representation. (Nayar 38-39)
 Advertisements serve as mass communication shaping societal perceptions and
consumption.
 16th- 17th Century- beginning of magazines and newspapers- Advertising
 20th Century - an era of great scientific innovations
 Beginning of Digital advertising
 Advertisements are meant for the marketing of certain products- apart from that
ads are essential factors that carry the cultural and societal perceptions that shape
ways of looking
 Ads reflect what’s there in the society- Pramod Nayar talks about gender roles
 Gender stereotypes are prominent in Ads

6. Portrayal of Women in Advertisements
• Rosalinda Gill in ‘Gender and Media’(2007) talks about how Media
Studies have become essential to shaping societal perceptions related to
gender roles and the feminist discourse.(Gill)
• Men and Women are portrayed differently
• ‘Gender Advertisements’ by Erving Goffman
• ‘Ways of Seeing’ by John Berger
• Rajgopal and Gales have examined how advertisements and media
images strongly influence restrictive gender stereotypes more than
feminist literature or academic research. (Rajagopal and Gales)
• Barbara Stern - essential question posed by Holland regarding literature,
breaking it down into three components: the advertising text ("what"),
the consumer ("who"), and the response process ("how").

7. • Matlin's sixth stereotype asserts that women's bodies are
depicted differently from men's in advertising.
• Women are often presented in a sexual or vulnerable
position to enhance product sales, whether the
advertisement is for shaving cream, alcoholic beverage, or
products
• Ex., Edge Shaving Cream, Pepsi-Cola, or Absolute Vodka.
• Traditional roles- Mother, Housewife
• Beauty standards

8. Language and Narrative
• “One is not born, but rather becomes a woman”(Beauvoir)
• Use of language
• Derrida – Deconstructive reading is necessary to unfold the
narrative – “Language bears within itself the necessity of its own
critic”.
• Preferences of songs
• Indication of gender stereotypes

9. Beverages- Slice
• Body posture- sensuality
• Music -"Rasiya Aja"(Slice and Goyal) to "Nasha
Pyar Ka,"(Slice India)
• The use of traditional concepts like
"Swayamvar" creates a metaphorical link
between choosing Slice and selecting a life
partner.

10. • Pepsi's advertising history
• Slogans from "Yahi hai Right Choice baby" to "Dil Mange More"
(Pepsi)(Pepsi)- Appeal to desire
• The use of phrases like "Meri Jaan" -a personalized connection between the
consumer and the product, with women often being the focal point of this
appeal.(Pepsi)
Beverages- Pepsi
Male Body Spray
• Perpetuate traditional and conventional stereotypes
• For instance, the Wild Stone body spray for men -tagline
"लोग तो नोटिस करेगे ही" (people will definitely notice) and
the hashtag #IntensifyYourGame.
• In these ads, women are portrayed as irresistibly drawn to
men who use the product.(Wildstone)

11. Body Image and Beauty Standards
• Naomi Wolf's "The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty are Used Against
Women,"
• Soap advertisements, including those for Nirma, Liril, and Santoor- place a
significant emphasis on their appearance.
• In the case of Nirma soap ads, the iconic jingle "Tu husna pari tu jane jaha"
- a persistent focus on the beauty of women. This continuity suggests a
deliberate choice to maintain a particular image associated with the
brand.(Nirma)
• In ‘It's the Image That Is Imperfect: Advertising and Its Impact on Women’
Rajgopal and Gales deal with how these advertisements create an illusion
about beauty standards (Rajgopal and Gales)
• Women feel themselves as being imperfect and using certain products will
remove their imperfections

12. Femvertising
• Feminism + Advertising= Femvertising
• Negm in “Femvertising social marketing: a
focus on perceived authenticity and
perceived congruence of the advertising and
consumers' attitudes toward female
portrayal” investigated "femvertising" -
advertising aimed at promoting gender
equality and empowering women by
challenging traditional stereotypes. (Negm)

13. Changing Trends Of Advertisements
• Some contemporary ads portray women in more progressive and
diverse roles, challenging traditional stereotypes and reflecting
changing societal attitudes toward gender roles in India.
• Jeyarania and Vasanthan(2023) review how representations of
women in Indian advertising have changed over time
• Pooja Chatley- Persistence of these stereotypes (Chatley)
• Santoor soap ads take a slightly different approach by showcasing a
woman who attracts someone with her skills, later revealed to be a
mother(Santoor Stay Young)

14. Deconstructive Reading and Feminist Critique
• Diverging from traditional beauty standards.
• #StopTheBeautyTest(Dove India) campaign
• Accompanied by the question "कब तक चलेगी खूबसूरती की ये बदसूरत
परख? आखखर ककतनी खूबसूरती काफी है?"(Dove India) (How long will
this ugly test of beauty continue? Ultimately, how much beauty is
sufficient?),
• The subtitle "खाकिया नहीीं खूकबया देखखए" (See virtues, not flaws)
encourages a shift in perspective, urging viewers to focus on qualities
beyond physical appearance.

15. • Ariel- #ShareTheLoad #IsLaundryOnlyWomansJob?
• The Nirma Washing Powder ad presents a noteworthy departure from traditional gender
stereotypes by featuring four women actively helping an ambulance out of a muddy puddle
while many men observe.(Nirma)
• Tata Tea- One ad features Shahrukh Khan discussing the imbalance in how male and
female names are presented in movies. His commitment to putting the heroine's name first
in all his films -अबसे मेरी हर टिल्म मे टहरोइन का नाम आगे होगा, signifies a call for
substantial change, emphasizing the need for collective efforts to bring about a significant
transformation. T
• The tagline, "बड़े बदलाव क
े कलए हर एक को छोटी शुरुआत करनी पड़ेगी”.
• Tata Tea - A father who, despite his son's race, attributes the loss to a girl- tagline
"Inequality gets Learnt. Equality needs Teaching" (Jaago Re)

16. Conclusion
• Though the trends of gender portrayal are changing,
there is a continuous representation of such stereotypes
• Questions need to be addressed
• We need a feminist approach to deal with the changing
forms of gender stereotypes and representations

17. References
• Stern, Barbara B. “Feminist Literary Criticism and the Deconstruction of Ads: A Postmodern View of Advertising and
Consumer Responses.” Journal of Consumer Research, vol. 19, no. 4, 1993, pp. 556-566. JSTOR,
https://www.jstor.org/stable/2489440. Accessed 9 February 2024.
• Beauvoir, Simone. The Second Sex. Edited by Sheila Malovany-Chevallier, translated by Constance Borde and Sheila
Malovany-Chevallier, Random House, 2014.
• Dove India. “Dove | #StopTheBeautyTest (Hindi).” YouTube, 2021,
https://youtu.be/E3kWzRB6Yy8?si=qx6p3gl8KsvS9yLB.
• Gill, Rosalind, and Rosalind Clair Gill. Gender and the media. Polity Press, 2007.
• Jaago Re. “Shahrukh Khan's Choti Shuruaat - Tata Tea Jaago Re New TVC.” YouTube, 16 June 2023,
https://youtu.be/gAhJ0Ryccf0?si=GzYfHbQHNq_r4AIX.
• Jaago Re. “Tata Tea - Inequality gets Learnt. Equality needs Teaching.” YouTube, 2017,
https://youtu.be/SpPozOvNrKA?si=TcWQh6RQiPJTLl0l.
• Liril India. “LIRIL Fresh is Back Ad.” YouTube, 2015, https://youtu.be/Db9hpqChCZU?si=0-EydxTTRcIgC484.
• Jeyarania, J., and R. Vasanthan. “THE EVOLVING IMAGE OF WOMEN IN INDIAN ADVERTISEMENTS: A REVIEW.”
ShodhKosh: Journal of Visual and Performing Arts Depiction of Women in Artistic Works, 2023, pp. 84–89,
https://dx.doi.org/10.29121/shodhkosh.v3.i2SE.2022.256. Accessed 24 February 2024.
• Nayar, Pramod K. An Introduction to Cultural Studies. Second ed., Viva Books Private Limited, 2008.
• Nirma. “Nirma Washing Powder Ambulance.” YouTube, 2014, https://youtu.be/YHOZAl0OX84?si=hWs-uiTPDXMA3rhh.
• Nirma India. Woh hai itni haseen, dhoondey titliyan... Saundarya Sabun Nirma - 65 sec. 2023. YouTube,
https://youtu.be/IHXWYgloX5E?si=cgbSKeyfXWVokLDr.
• Negm, Eiman Medhat. “Femvertising social marketing: a focus on perceived authenticity and perceived congruence of the
advertising and consumers' attitudes toward female portrayal.” Journal of Humanities and Applied Social Sciences, 2023.
Emerald Insight, https://emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JHASS-05-2023-0053/full/html.

18. •Pepsi. “Old Lehar Pepsi TVC - Yehi Hai Right Choice Baby ft. Aamir Khan, Aishwarya & Mahima Chaudhury.” YouTube,
https://youtu.be/RXubpKOGWCU?si=Wqo75niiB0YWmrHx.
•Pepsi. “Shahrukh Khan | Old Pepsi Ad | Rani Mukherjee, Kajol, Shahid Kapoor | 1999.” YouTube, 2019,
https://youtu.be/q4gpDFcgBeE?si=K9BPB7QE34GL-4YB.
•Rajagopal, Indhu, and Jennifer Gales. “It's the Image That Is Imperfect: Advertising and Its Impact on Women.” Economic and
Political Weekly, vol. 37, no. 32, 2002, pp. 3333-3337. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/4412464. Accessed 2023.
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•Santoor Stay Young. Santoor Soap TV Commercial- Hindi. 2014. YouTube,
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•Wildstoneofficial. “Wild Stone Classic Deos for Men - Log Toh Notice Karenge!” YouTube, 2022,
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