Fourth International Conference on Communication & Media Studies

Abstract

In this study, the researchers consider the representation of feminist ideology in the Indian advertising industry specifically under the theoretical framework of ‘marketplace feminism’ and commodification of empowerment’ where progressive ideas like equality are used as branding/marketing strategies to sell products to the growing middle class urban population of India. The study undertakes analysis of historical representation of women in Indian advertising industry along with the content coding and textual analysis of the video imagery to answer primary question: To what extent does the `commodification of women empowerment’ in Indian advertisements trivialise the issue focusing on the individual action neglecting the larger systemic inequalities? The secondary question explored: What are the politics of these advertisements in the context of their potential to disrupt the gender stereotypes and how the power imbalance is portrayed? What is the agency of the socio-political-geographical and economic change aimed in the advertisements using todays ideas of feminism as a sales strategy? The study uses the example of Share the Load campaign by Ariel widely communicated through digital social media platforms due the mass proliferation of internet in India. The research questions the probability of misplaced solutions to gender stereotypes provided in contemporary digital advertising space creating obstacles to battle against the greater systemic oppression in the Indian community.