It’s Time for a ‘Break’

Bedtime stories and the pink world of Barbie dolls that adorn our childhood days instil a desire in our grown-up minds – a desire to live in an enchanted world of fairy tales where we could all be princes and princesses, a world where the life of every ugly duckling meets a happy ending, where the miserable life of Cinderella gets transformed with a flick of fairy godmother’s wand, where pumpkins turn into ornate carriages, and where mermaids fall in love with princes of the land. This desire lurks somewhere in all of us and minting money by nurturing this desire to the extreme end is the ‘advertising world.’ Advertisements today are made to play upon our deepest unknown desires, luring us into buying products which we otherwise wouldn’t wish to buy.

The Indian advertising industry seems to uphold the western beauty myth of thin, young, able-bodied, heterosexual, and light-skinned women. In an attempt to display such epitomes of perfection, they send out the message that those who do not fall into this bracket are imperfect. To overcome such inadequacies many starve themselves, develop eating disorders, take up harmful measures and believe everything that rationality dictates not to believe. For instance, fair skin is the dream of many in India. It is a dream that voices itself in the various matrimonial ads demanding a ‘fair-skinned bride.’ This desire to possess fair skin has been exploited much in the various commercial spots on television. They show how darkness of the skin casts clouds of gloom over the life of a girl and how a wonder cream that transforms dark skin into magically fair skin comes to rescue and wins her the love of her life. Though the rational side of the consumers tells them the impossibility of turning fair in a few days, their hope built up by the fantasising ads make them discard their senses. Even men are being ensnared into the idealised lean, muscular and fair-skinned image that seems to be shrouding the concept of ‘tall, dark, and handsome men,’ increasing the business of fitness centres and fairness creams for men.

Children form another area upon which advertisements focus. It has been proven that children wield an immense power of purchasing. This is the reason why products related to children find place in the lower shelves of the supermarket. They are tactfully placed there for children to see and whine a little to include them in their shopping cart. What’s worse is that with children starring in the various advertisements of soft drinks and junk food, a healthy meal gets replaced with pizzas, burgers and aerated drinks leading children to an unhealthy tomorrow.

Another misuse of this powerful means of persuasion is seen in recent mobile phone ad in which, a female employee, when refused a promotion, uses a secretly captured video clip of her boss against him. Such ads not only put the potential of working women in question but also encourage the wrong use of technology to suit ones purpose.

Advertisement is indeed a useful and influential marketing strategy but in the struggle to overcome competition from other brands, every company tries to pose as the best, creating utter confusion and chaos in the minds of the consumer who, being unable to decide, ends up buying the product making the maximum pompous display. With superstars from the film industry and the field of sports, who are idolised by people across the country, becoming mediums of such harmful propagation, the low budget government ads like ‘jaago grahak jaago’ produced to make the consumers aware, become the much awaited moment to flip channels or to attend to the nature’s call. Advertisements are a powerful source of reform. They, if channelized in the interest of the consumer, can encourage quality buying and can provide the country with a healthy today and tomorrow.