The Myth of post feminist advertisement- The case of Indian advertisement
The basic idea behind Post feminism is that feminism has achieved its desired goals and so it’s time we distance ourselves from the feminist movement or in other words undo feminism. According to Angela Mc Robbie, post feminism refers to an active process by which feminist gains of 1970s and 80s came to be undermined. It also suggest that by means of the troops of freedom and choice, which are inextricably connected with the category ‘young women’ feminism is decisively aged and made to seem redundant (McRobbie,2007).
One of the ways in which feminism is disparaged is through media advertisement. Contemporary advertisement does repetitive repudiation and repression of feminism by using the tool of female individualism. Female achievement is not due to feminism but female individualism. Mc Robbie argues even if feminism is taken into account, it does not necessarily intend to serve the purpose. It’s the individual choice of the model to show her body and hence there is no objectification, instead it only shows her empowered individual status. Striptease as a site of exploitation is a thing of past and its time feminism move beyond that. It tellingly depicts that feminism is taken into account to undo it.
In post feminist content women is shown to be empowered to take free decisions, participate equally in the public sphere along with men. One cannot however say that representation of women is always conflicting but it is often seen that this new kind of adverts depicts strong women but propagates subtle sexism and inequalities. In Rosalind Gills words post feminism is an era of new sexism and unmanageable inequalities (Gill, 2011).
In this essay I would like to reflect on changing portrayal of Indian women in so called post feminist advert also referred as gender friendly advertisement. Women’s depiction in Indian advertisement has changed a lot, wherein earlier women were used to sell goods most importantly, goods used in domestic purposes like surf, detergent, oil etc. and her portrayal mostly remained as good women, who never forgets her first priority Home.
However in the contemporary times, women are portrayed not just as mere consumers but active agents in the market economy.
Chakravarti quotes, ‘Earlier women were almost invariably used instrumentally to sell goods, many of which they did not use (and this type of ads continues even today) now women are being targeted by the market directly. Further they are being targeted not merely as consumers of goods but as desirers and active buyers of goods’ (Chakravarti 2000).
GOOD INDIAN WIVES- adverts from ’80s and ‘90s
We all remember Vidya Balan’s very famous Active Wheel detergent advertisement, where she uses the detergent to clean her husband shirt which is as dirty as mechanic’s shirt. Although her husband complain that why she is spending so much money on detergent, she only replies that it is cheap and very effective. Vidya’s pride lies in the whiteness of her husband’s shirt. With the use of the detergent she able to handle the finances of the house better and also because of her choice of detergent the husband’s possibility of getting promotion increases, as his image in office enhances.
Old Indian advertisement mostly used to depict women as the Smart wife, who would enthusiastically work in the domestic sphere and buy products that help them do the domestic chores efficiently . There are countless other Indian adverts depicting good wives making smart product choices for domestic bliss.
21ST CENTURY “GENDER FIENDLY INDIAN ADVERTS” !!
There has been a drastic shift from earlier portrayal of women in advertisement as now women are not merely consumers, active empowered buyers. Image of women in advertisement has change. Example now Prestige advertisement does not show a naïve domesticated wife, whose life needs to made easier by using a kitchen product. Instead we see strong, independent and empowered women like Aishwarya Rai who use the Prestige appliances to save time and even Abhishek Bachan cooks dinner for his wife using Prestige products to show love and concern.
Similarly nowadays usage of detergent is not only women’s work. The new Ariel Ad campaign says ‘Share the Load’ and ends questioning ‘Why Laundry is a Mother’s Job?’ Both Prestige and Ariel Ads looks promising because women are not depicted merely as domestic subjects with sexist content instead it’s applauded for its feminist visions of equality. Its seems quite promising to see Abhishek cooks for his wife Aishwarya using prestige cooker, but it does not stop him from using the same rhetoric’ Jo Bibi se karee pyar bho prestige se kese kare inkaar’’.
In my opinion this promising advert is an old wine in new bottle. Same goes with the Ariel detergent advert which says be the helping hand of your wife, mother and daughter, who never questions about the everyday unpaid labor. It urges men to do their share of household works (Driscol, 2016).Well this Advert can be appreciated for questioning why laundry is only women’s department but it fails to dismantle the patriarchal idea that laundry is women’s work only. The idea of helping hand only reinforces the idea that no matter how empowered a women is, her prime duty remains her home so why not men be just the helping hand .
These kinds of gender friendly Ads are very much appreciated by the public for its supposed equality and no nonsense contents .What remains a major concern in the adverts is that scope to question the intention of the globalized market , as women are shown empowered. What is need to question, if equality is there in Indian homes and offices?
Indian women has been depicted in diverse way over the year’s. In the post feminist era which I suppose is a myth, women is free, powerful and empowered at least in adverts. A question that really lingers, is she really free? If she is free and empowered why there is so much repudiation against feminism and women’s movement. Well there can be many answers to this ,one for sure is the fear that feminist politics can dismantle patriarchal state structures .So better to resort to gender friendly contents, which can only invoke feminist criticism and nothing else. Women’s position remains stagnant.
“Limited agency is granted to women by the market and media projecting the state’s point of view to uphold the family, the market and a Hinduised and centralized nationalism, all of which are currently embedded in the dominant structures of patriarchy (Chakravarti, 2000)”.
Women’s position does not change, nor equality is achieved nor sexism ends. Instead new forms of sexism and inequalities perpetuate through advertisement. Rosalind Gill talks about new sexism in post feminist climate, where equality is assumed but still men is privileged. Feminist arguments are taken on board to anticipate and rebut potential accusations of sexism (Gill, 2011).
Even if inequality remains and sexism prevails, women is celebrated on women’s day across India for being the most powerful ,respectable and beautiful. No matter what ,she is and will always be the best mother, wife, cook, daughter, sister and what not. Post feminist advertisement is hypocrisy indeed!!
Works Cited
CHAKRAVARTI, U. (2000). State, Market and Freedom of Expression Women and Electronic Media. Economic and Political Weekly.
Driscol, B. (2016). Feminist Detergent Advert Is Urging Men To Do Their Share Of Household Chores.
HUFFPOST. Gill, R. (2011). Sexism Reloaded, or, it’s Time to get Angry Again. Feminist Media Studies. McRobbie, A. (2007). Post‐feminism and popular culture. Feminist Media Studies,
