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Advertising, a charismatic tool of promotion, has done
wonders for advertisers. In fact, it has not only affected
us but has also become an integral part of our life. Gender-based
advertising is one of the easiest tools to put across the
advertising messages to the consumers. Past researches have
reflected the inequality in terms of the portrayal of women
as compared to men. Researches conducted in developed nations
like the US, the UK have revealed that women are mainly
portrayed in advertisements as housewives, sex objects,
dependent on men, and an object to please others while men
are shown as authoritative, dominant, decision makers. It
has also been identified that portrayal is also greatly
affected on the basis of the products being advertised.
But this is being ignored by the advertiser in case of women
because sometimes one may find a woman in an ad of a product
targeted to men. The category of men's undergarment is one
of the instances where they are used to sell the brand.
It has been observed that women are the subject of biasedness
in terms of their portrayal in advertisements.
Advertising, being a tool of mass communication, not only
provides edutainment but also depicts the trends of different
generations prevailing in the society and sometimes works
as a catalyst in changing the general perception of people
regarding certain practices. The advertisement of Surf is
a case in point. In 1980s, the ad of Surf, a famous brand
of Hindustan Unilever Limited (earlier HLL), portrayed "Lalita
Ji" as a middle income Indian housewife, reflecting
her frugality and no non-sense attitude. At that time, women
were mainly restricted to household chores and most of the
time purchasing decisions were taken by the male members
of the family. This particular advertisement showed the
aspirations of those middle-class women who wanted to come
out if their houses and make a professional career. The
depiction of Lalita Ji also showed that she is clear in
her mind regarding what she wants and is confident about
her decisions. This was the portrayal of women in a positive
sense but there are several other instances where women
are used as an object of gaze and a material to lure people
to gain their attention.
Earlier, women were depicted modestly but now in every
other advertisement one can find them highly sensualized.
It has been observed by many researches that the way women
are portrayed in advertisements has greatly affected the
self-concept in an average woman in terms of the looks and
features. Such depiction has led to negative repercussions
on women's health and body dissatisfaction amongst them
as they indulge themselves in detrimental means of getting
that body structure. They are also subjected to unrealistic
beauty standards that are not achievable through natural
process. In reality, whatever may be the consequences, the
portrayal of women in this way has become the trend and
they are used increasingly even if that product category
is not meant for them. Table 1 depicts the befitting case-related
analysis for reference.
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