DOES ADVERTISING ACCURATELY REFLECT THE NEW-AGE WOMAN?

Has today’s advertising kept pace with scores of Indian women emerging from the shadows to seek their rightful place in society? 4Ps B&M's Monojit Lahiri presents various views

Resurgent India! India shining! Woman power unleashed! Superwomen in the corridors of power! Evolved, educated, accomplished, articulate and confident, this new woman is a blazing reality in today’s India! After decades of prejudice inflicted by tradition and a male-dominated society, women – at least a significant minority – seem to be coming into their own. And magazines, publications, special supplements, debates, discussions and seminars, they all seem to be fixated on energetically championing the female cause now!

But has Indian advertising – which has made huge waves globally in all major platforms, forums and meets – for its turn been able to sensitively, fairly and realistically track, reflect, mirror or portray this seismic change? Has Indian advertising been able to capture the nuances of this fascinating creature successfully straddling several universes with all the complexity, confidence and contradictions at her disposal? Or is the re-enforcing of stereotypes with corny and predictable makeovers simply cosmetic tokenism?

It is interesting to note what Michele Kristula-Green (the revered Asia-Pacific President of Leo Burnett) articulated at a recent presentation that she made on this subject, where she accused advertisers of constantly portraying women “in the man’s version of what they should be.” The ad biz guys, a recent study says, seem to be way-off on at least five crucial parameters – money, sexuality, humour, emotion and authenticity. The study also revealed that unlike the West, women in the Asian society are not comfortable with blatant portrayals of sex, because for them it is a part of their intrinsic femininity – and not something to be exhibited in a titillating, man-baiting way. Finally – and this is critical – the study says that in Asian societies, girls are taught to view emotions as a strength not a weakness; and hence their responses to messages and communication are far different from what is shown in today’s well-packaged yet logically worthless advertisements!

We asked a few evolved, intelligent women and their reactions were both interesting. And startling!

Journalist Mahua Chatterjee fires the first salvo. She believes that despite all the blah-blah and ra-ra in the media, women like her were still an aberration, an exception. “However, our tribe is on the ascent and definitely a quantum leap from our mother’s generation. Advertising’s essential agenda is engaging, convincing and catering to its target group, which for most part, is still steeped in tradition. So, you get what you get. Sure, there are exceptions – like the insurance ad where the granny cosies up with her husband and later, gets blackmailed repeatedly by her chaalu grandson – which is wonderful, but alas, nowhere enough. We could do with a lot more courageous, adventurous, risk-free and exciting advertising that reflects today’s woman with both drama and chutzpah. Can the ad guys do it?”

Film-maker Aparna Sen – whose latest movie The Japanese Wife released to rave reviews – while talking to us, conveys her huge disappointment. While she salutes the crafting and slickness (of advertisements), she is convinced that most of these efforts are blatantly one-dimensional. “North Indian, fair, urban, advertising seems to be fixated on this stereotype! How and why is there practically no sign of the southern, eastern or north-eastern woman? Don’t they exist? If at all they feature, it’s either in caricature form or tokenism! Such a pity.” Kolkata-based media personality Rita Bhimani disagrees and reckons that change indeed is in the air. “Sure, there will always be stereotyping, catering and pandering to connect with the masses, but within categories – cosmetics, healthcare, bikes and automobiles – there has been a lot of quirky, funny and interesting ads portraying today’s woman with large quotients of fun, energy and enterprise.”

Masscom expert Tiyasha Ray begs to differ. “Most of the stuff that pans out is totally regressive and out-of-sync with the here and now! I guess it has to do with ‘Adville’ not mustering up the required guts and ability to effect a breakthrough and content to bogey along a familiar comfort zone as also women themselves being quite content to be seen in that light. Generations of conditioning have programmed them to think in a certain way. Today, they believe that perhaps, this is the way we need to be perceived and what’s all this feminist hoo-haa about?”

Ray, however, admits that she personally is prepared to go into this battle, anytime, any day! Theatre luminary Lushin Dubey switches lanes to offer a completely new perspective. “More than advertising projecting the ‘New Woman’, the New Woman seems to be totally seduced by advertising! She appears to totally believe, even celebrate the image that she sees... and this is both distressing and dangerous because it sends out the wrong signals. It implies that TV is this big hospital-cum-beauty parlour-cum-gym, where all shapes and sizes are photo-shopped and air-brushed to perfection! Scary...”

The last words must come from Omkar Sane, author (Welcome To Advertising. Now Get Lost!) and ad-tracker. “Actually, it’s because of the tainted windows, AC cabins and the advertising code for women established during the dark ages!” He points out that in the area of finance or healthcare, it is always the man who understands, applies and takes credit for the action while the woman sits and smiles. “Gul Panag didn’t talk too much in the Tata Sky ads, did she? It was Aamir who apparently knew everything and played a starring role.” Sane laments the fact that advertising “seems to wait for society to change and then show its spurs; while society, for its turn, hopes like hell that advertising will lead the way and effect the much-needed change.” Neither does that; and all one ends up doing is... changing the damn channel!

Well, if you belong to the club that thinks Julius ‘advertising’ Caesar is a brute, then friends, Indians, ladies, unite...

DOES ADVERTISING ACCURATELY REFLECT THE NEW-AGE WOMAN?

HAS TODAY’S ADVERTISING LOST THE PLOT?

In the hysterical anxiety to engage and entertain an impatient and promiscuous youth-oriented target base, is advertising forgetting its basic agenda – of informing, convincing and selling? 4Ps B&M's Monojit Lahiri investigates

In the Hollywood of the late fifties and early sixties, anxiety, confusion and hysteria had set in due to movies not being able to engage the viewer in a way they were expected to. The reason? Television had entered the scene and the earlier ‘captive’ audience suddenly had a compelling choice not to watch the stuff they didn’t choose to. So what did Hollywood do? The secret, trick, knack, art – call it what you will – that the big daddies of movies used was to understand the strength of their medium and then strike at the core philosophy. Instead of trying to improve the substance of movies to compete with the meaningful serials coming on television, they upped the ante by ballooning the budget, scale and spectacle of movies in a way that the twenty-one inch idiot box could never hope to match! In other words, rather than giving more arty movies (meant for the ‘intelligent’ viewer), movie houses went for the larger-than-life metaphor, showcasing surrealistic scenes that could only be, if at all, imagined. And it worked liked nobody’s business! It seemed that the world was made up of more people wanting dunce, yet spectacular screen entertainment, than meaningful ‘stuff’, a reality that exists till today.

The question is, is today’s advertising scene echoing a déjà vu? Due to the changing scenario, is the ad fraternity mistaking (perhaps correctly so) style for substance, form for content? Are frivolity and entertainment the new games in town? Is engagement – at any cost – the prime motive, totally obliterating the basic agenda of advertising which supposedly was to inform, persuade and sell? Look at the latest ads around you – from that car ad showcasing a smiling celebrity in the throes of pleasure, to that cell phone service manufacturer imploring you to jump on the next tiger you see on the road to of course ‘save the tiger’, the intent is clearly to catch the viewer’s attention, than to educate him about the exact qualities of the product. What gives? Is the ad-world finally over the edge?

Priti Nair, Managing Partner BBH, in fact disagrees, “Even a couple of years ago, there were many more creatively adventurous ads. Today, maybe a fall-out of the recession, a lot less risk-taking ads are seen. Most stuff is focused, direct… boring. I think we need to push the envelope a lot more.” Lloyd Mathias, President and Chief Marketing Officer, TataTel, brings his own spin to the table, “Like any other social medium, advertising reflects the mood of the times. The simplistic inform-persuade-sell mode worked beautifully for a long time but once communication became sophisticated, technology entered, there was a paradigm shift. Multi-tasking became the order the day. It is not uncommon to see today’s kids on the mobile while hitting the net, right? So in this age of Youtube, Twitter and Facebook, advertising content has to keep pace. It can’t be as direct, naïve and simplistic as it once was. The new-age consumer would dismiss it, straightaway.” Besides, adds Mathias, for hard-core information and details about products and services that are in the hi-ticket category, the net provides it all; one doesn’t have to depend on advertising. “The job [of advertising] today is to primarily push the brand in an endearing fashion that triggers the recall factor.”

Abir Chakravarti, VP Bates, believes that the rules of the game have changed, “The famous AIDA principle – Attention, Interest, Desire, Action – works only in parts, with most of the focus on the first two. In today’s proliferating brands and media avenue universe, the function of advertising has dramatically altered. Unprecedented brand promiscuity among the youth has demanded an unprecedented focus on grabbing their attention. Also, for the entire AIDA principle to work, a 360 degree spin is required. We live in different times and advertising is trying to keep pace. Sure, there are plenty of occasions when guys and brands go over the top. That’s an irresponsible cavalier approach and totally uncalled for!” And Ujjal Sinha, CEO of the Kolkata-based Genesis Advertising, has the last word. He believes that by and large, today’s ad guys have lost the plot. “In their anxiety to go global, they seem to be aping the West. There is a definite sense of insecurity powered by the mistaken belief that the more bizarre, big budget and spectacular the ad, the more it will resonate with the public. It’s a giant leap in the wrong direction…” Now that is another story altogether. 

HAS TODAY’S ADVERTISING LOST THE PLOT?

CAN WOMEN BE ‘EFFECTIVE’ LEADERS?

We revisit the rhetorical question and jump across to a few women for their responses on why hasn’t the equality query been solved, despite eons of man-woman existence

Relax-feminists, libbers, bra-burners and the army of smart and successful women who are burning the top slot of their respective ‘spaces’ with mind-blowing work and professionalism! The article is not to question or challenge their proven commitment, focus, ability or capability in the area of performance or achievement… but to examine why (despite their proven track-record) the ‘big one’ eludes them. We asked a few people and the feedback was as entertaining as enlightening...

Poonam Singh, a young MBA aspirant believes that women have it in them to be “inspirational leaders because they use the Transformational style as opposed to men’s Transactional style. They are willing to listen, empathise and understand a colleague/subordinate’s problem.” However, Singh believes women have one “serious chink in their armour” – the aspect of emotionality. Unlike men who are focused, one-dimensional, business-like and hard-core pragmatic, women can [and often do] goof up in taking important decisions driven by the heart, not head.

Another student, Eshani Jha stands the stated weakness on its head and emphasises, “It is this very emotional quotient that makes her a better leader.” At the end of the day, she defends, it’s ‘people’ whom you lead – not computers, machinery, buildings, glass, concrete or stone – and therefore the inspirational leader is one who invests as much of the ‘heart’ as the ‘head’. Media House executive (a working mother in her early thirties) Mridula Sahay approaches the issue with her cautious maturity befitting the station in life. “I would hesitate to jump to conclusions or unleash opinions without pulling back and seeing the big picture.” She believes that ‘leadership’ is something that is inborn and (like in men) you either have this trait or don’t. It is seldom acquired. “If this issue [vis-à-vis women] is raised today it is because lesser women are there holding down leadership-status appointments, than men. The reason is basically historical. Women are perceived as the home-makers, while men are the providers, going out, doing jobs of work and earning a living. This places the two in different domains. Leadership – obviously – is more relevant and legitimate in the work place and therefore it has (traditionally) been linked to men. Today, with more women breaking the glass ceiling to invade the once ‘Men Only’-space, questions like these will invariably arise. This represents a tacit recognition of women’s presence in the higher echelons of business and industry and augurs well for our future.”

The critical question is: If leadership is about management, supervision, control and guidance in an authoritative mode, women are born leaders because they deploy and leverage these traits, successfully, everyday! But then, why is there still a huge coterie that still does not perceive women as true ‘leaders’? “Rampant gender-bias, and sex discrimination,” says Priya, a New York based IT employee for a multinational. “But there’s also the fear of experimenting at the top – women, by genetic makeup, cannot withstand the stress and work overload that men can. Therefore, shareholders feel extremely afraid to test out something totally new,” she adds.

Fittingly the last words are provided by an iconic woman who brilliantly fills several spaces with magical effectiveness, Aparna Sen. “Firstly, we need to understand the meaning of the word effective. Popular (male) belief will equate it with success, related to result, performance and achievement. For me, the word resonates with a different glow… It translates into the desire and ability to understand, mould, form, shape and inspire ordinary people to extraordinary heights. It takes into account everyday women who languish in the shadows, an unsung and unheralded community, because they are not high-profile corporate divas like the Indra Nooyis, Sulajja Firodia Motwanis, Vinita Balis, Shobhana Bhartias, Naina Lal Kidwais or Kiran Mazumdar Shaws. For me they are more effective because minus the massive infrastructure or resources of the workplace, these sublime creatures keep doing their stuff everyday, rising above a million problems, fighting against all odds, to emerge victorious.”

Woman, your time to lead will come; but not now... not soon...

CAN WOMEN BE ‘EFFECTIVE’ LEADERS?

6 COMMON PANGAAS TO EFFECTIVE ADVERTISING!

The road to good, engaging and effective advertising is often a bumpy one. Why? Our consulting editor attempts to unravel some of them.

Adland, to some of its practitioners, is a territory that is hallowed, sacred and powered by yellow, moth-eaten, stone-age clichéd laws. They are meant to be irrefutable and writ in stone. It’s time we look at six of these commandments – before burying them with an RIP epitaph! Ready? Let’s go...

Research Overkill: Some advertisers use research based on the rather pompous premise that what people say they do is what they’ll do! The history of advertising is choc-a-bloc with profitable ideas that died needlessly due to this premise, based on mindless scorekeeping – an overuse of research. Somewhere, research became the amazing art and science of turning potent magic to potent waste! The famous Anita Roddick of Body Shop once said research was “like looking at the rear view mirror of a fast-moving car.” We say, research and destroy!

OBJECTIVITY: Some other advertisers are constantly obsessed with finding the ‘logically and objectively right answers’, instead of the emotionally appropriate responses. No prizes for guessing what the result is… The simple fact is they are scared of risk, don’t trust their instincts and believe that the letter is more important than the spirit. Economists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky proved a few years back that consumers don’t think objectively (and they won the Nobel Prize for that). Then why should you?

Familiarity: Breeds contempt, inertia and clichés… and yet, clients continue to wail, “Give me something like…,” right? Brands were invented to achieve differentiation and what was effective then, is mud when repeated. When was the last time you heard a politician articulate truth with power and fearless passion? Or when you read a letter from your bank that got your eyes to glaze over? Got a talk from your boss that empowered you to focus on commitment to excellence rather than bottomlines? Innovate in advertising regularly (not in brands; that doesn’t help apparently); change the design, or the layout, or the colours, whatever! Let the customer not get familiar with the ad!

Cynicism: Like love and magic, you have to believe in advertising, rather than assume that the quality of the product would be enough to sell it. If advertising doesn’t make the waves it should, it’s because instead of going about discovering the richness (or infidelities) of human insight, marketers spend their lives and big bucks “ticking all boxes” and following “the checklist!” This results in lookalike, superficial, uninspired advertising. When faith colours profession, commodity turns into brands showcasing the essential values of the intangibles – passion, sensuality, story.

Interference: Wasn’t it the great pope of advertising, David Ogilvy, who said that one should stop barking when they have a dog? Sure, it’s a ‘collaborative’ activity, but nothing can be worse than decisions made by committees and through consensus! Like the moviebiz, advertising is a nervous industry and therefore checks and balances and risk-proof safety nets come into play like crazy; but in this crazy paranoia, reenforced by the new buzz word ‘relationship-bonding’, well-meaning clients (and superiors) peck to death great ideas of a creative whizkid, whose concepts are screaming to be approved! The secret is to let people get on with their jobs. Recognise, motivate, inspire, suggest, but never interfere. Sadly, as the late H. G. Wells once wrote, with chilling truth, “No passion in the world is equal to the passion to alter someone else’s draft!”

Gloss, Polish, Fake: While advertising is indeed the art of dramatising the truth, hyping reality and slicking up the mundane, it often goes over the top and becomes “cheesy! To any half-way sensitive, sane and informed human being, there is terrific irony at play here. As the world gets more new-age, there is an increased yearning for old-fashioned values, like authenticity, slow food, reading groups, organic vegetables, concerns over issues like climate control, preservation of tigers, et al. Unless you reach out and touch, no one will reach out and touch your brand. Nobody trusts voices that posit to be all things to all people. Why should Brands behave differently?

6 COMMON PANGAAS TO EFFECTIVE ADVERTISING!