<div>Jaggi Dasan walked into the audio-visual room, all animated and disturbed. A few of his team were pasting frames of a story board on the pin board in sequence for a meeting. Wherever two people got together, they rued over the recent rape and assault of Nirbhaya.<br /><br />And so did the people in the conference room. Shaina Pandya, his colleague and associate creative director at Alcove Advertising, was bent over some artworks and text. Drawing a chair up to her Jaggi said, "Shaina, the news channels are so angry with the politicians you have to watch news to believe it. There is no more politician-loving. Anchors are calling their bluff and saying, do not use this girl's plight to get a photo-op. We wanted to see all women, all politicians united on this; instead we see women of all parties rubbishing each other, ... via this tragedy. Seriously <em>yaar</em>, this country is such an amazing kaleidoscope... for every moment there is a new expression! Just check Yahoo news, there is a video playing..."<br /><br />The home page burst into view with the announcement of a porn queen in town. Aseem Dhaval, the account manager, made a poor joke and two of the junior team fellows cackled. When Shaina did not react, Aseem's smile shrank. " Oops! Sorry, Shaina...."<br /><br /><strong>Shaina:</strong> No, no, please go ahead... to each his own variety of entertainment. It's okay... But in a country that has shown it can rape and throw the used woman out of a moving bus to die, this lady's show, what is it? An appreciation of fine art? The timing is all wrong, guys. And you are a sensitive bunch so I am freaking out. One side we have a lady used and killed. And on the other side is the arrival of a porn queen. It does make a mockery of it all. <br /><br />"Jaggi, you were aghast at the politicians' state of mind. How different are we?"<br /><br />The past several days had been gripping for everyone anywhere in India. The violated and outraged young lady lay in an ICU somewhere valiantly urging her demolished body to be brave and restore itself into one. And right in its midst was news of arrangements being made for the arrival of a porn actress, who was the anti-thesis of all that was going on, continued. That rankled.<br /><br />Aseem's attitude, felt Shaina, seemed to say that the attack on Nirbhaya was a fleeting disturbance in his life; and the announcement of the porn puppet's return marked the return of normalcy. Jaggi, sensing her revolt, wished to restore peace.<br /><br /><strong>Jaggi</strong>: Shaina, the grief is collectively held by all of us. Some of us are very confused, some angry, some sad, some disturbed...our individual expression may vary, but grief is what we all hold...<br /><strong><br />Shaina</strong> (nodding): You did not add 'fear', Jaggi. This episode has brought the devil to our doorstep. Every thought of mine is filled with dread, with anger too, but dread predominantly. And as long as all of us are not united in denouncing what has happened, it will mean that we don't care about this <em>enough</em> and the devil will remain on the doorstep. <br /><br /><strong>Jaggi:</strong> But everyone is in the collective and denouncing what happened! Aseem is an idiot and unable to deal with his grief. People like him need to check in on normalcy to be sure their lives have not changed... that's all.<br /><br /><strong>Shaina:</strong> Exactly! "That's all"! That's how it is! Not many have the emotional stamina to put their lives on hold and examine what they have been ignoring all along! Life is NOT normal anymore, Jaggi. Like the twin towers that dissolved before our very eyes, the devouring of the young lady has unleashed an ugly cannibal in our midst. If we do not change the way we think, the way we speak, the way we act and the way we feel, that cannibal will live... the cannibal of indifference, the cannibal of disrespect. <br /><br />Shaina's mood worsened. Her face clouding with frustration, she said, "Jaggi, we continue to work via sex to sell anything from chawal ka aata to a mosquito repellent. I am beginning to feel that even we, the glorified corporate -- exalted, rich, seemingly educated humans -- exploit women... this is wrong." <br /><br />Silence laced with confusion spread among them. Then Masooma Shaikh, an account head, said, "Insecure is what a woman feels physically. That is why the intensity of the pain of rape is felt more by women. Like many women say, we have been enduring this since childhood because for some reason a female is unsafe from birth. Therefore, I agree with Shaina. We have been mindlessly talking about beautiful bodies, and as women, we have also been keeping quiet mindlessly.<br /> <br />In the process, our ability to think of women<em> other than</em> as objects that gratify is dulled. And this could well be why the world gets bothered by the idea of women as strategic thinkers, leaders. As a race, we are unable to attribute woman with thought, decisions, and viewpoints. And that is what I mean by 'mindless', so that today, we operate on autopilot when it comes to responding to women.<br /><br />Take today: I just saw an ad for an online clothing shop. This lady comes on screen all clothed, then she sheds her clothes one by one, with each move embellished with coquetry and a wriggle of the bottom. That means, that is the only attribute of a woman that came to your mind as a creator of an ad for clothes, no? It struck me that if she had just dropped the clothes, the messaging would have been, 'Oh, what a variety of clothes!' But the thrusts and wriggles and coquetry lends voyeurism to the peeling off of the clothes! Of course, when I scrolled down, I saw that all comments were from men.<br /> <br /><strong>Jaggi:</strong> But we have always advertised like that, nobody thought it was unpleasant!<br /><br /><strong>Masooma:</strong> Unpleasant? But when a rape that shocks our sensibilities happens, even lipstick feels ugly, Jaggi.</div><div> </div><div>break-page-break</div><div><br /><strong>Shaina:</strong> Do you see what she sees, Jaggi, Aseem? And Masooma is 15 years younger than I am. Everyday there is an ad that pretends to sell soap or medicines or peanut butter but the spotlight is on the female anatomy. Who have we been kidding all along? <br /><br />Shaina clicked on a folder on her iPad and showed them an ad for a low-cost airline. "Clearly, very unnecessary and so eminently pointless," she said as they saw visuals that showed a woman in underwear and a certain posture that was shocking, and a copy line that said 'Red Hot Fares and crew'.<br /><br />"By using a retro appeal in the lady's looks, the agency had sought to put the stamp of 'cute and ancient' to the ad," said Shaina. "But it was a form of sexual harassment, see? Everyone missed the point, that the management was tongue-in-cheek, offering its crew for free with the fares! Can they?"<br /><br /><strong>Jaggi:</strong> Oh yeah and they did get into trouble over that ad. The Advertising Standards Authority hauled them over the coals and had them withdraw the ad...<br /><br /><strong>Shaina</strong>: But what about the part where they <em>created</em> this ad, what about that part? Can that be removed? The part where the creative idea was triggered, the idea, where does it reside? Their PR head apparently threw a fit and called the ASA backward or similar. PR head being male.<br /><br /><strong>Masooma:</strong> Or is this unique to the airlines world? Take the Kingfisher calendar girls for one. Then Pan Am's TV serial about its airlines and using its own crew -- also retro -- where Maggie Ryan, the purser, is telling a customer whose hands are misbehaving, that she is not included in the price of the ticket. While I too know that propositioning goes on, why make it look cute and 'awww'?<br /><br /><strong>Shaina:</strong> It seems a very learned PR pundit said, I quote: "There are far more lust-filled men than staunch feminists so they've probably got more to gain than to lose." And that is the crux of why women continue to be despicably treated by men.<br /><br />"So you see Jaggi, if female cabin crew are linked to sexually suggestive behaviour, surely the same could be said for underwear models, makeup models or even shoe ads. Heck even coffee, ice cream, perfume, soft drinks, … oh how the list continues, all superimpose sex upon women to sell their product. The fact that car shows use bikini clad women to lure car enthusiasts, affirms that PR pundit's observation. Because the focus of car shows is the male psyche. <br /><strong><br />Masooma:</strong> Why, even that summer anti-dryness cream uses a sari clad woman's waist and the suggestive touch by the husband. Yet there is skin <em>all</em> over the body, then why the waist? Why suggest? Are we so badly off when it comes to great marketing ideas?<br /><br /><strong>Jaggi:</strong> Then we protest too much, don't we?<br /><br /><strong>Shaina:</strong> And rightly so, no? Why does the dentist on a toothpaste ad talk with urgency, care, gentleness and authority and not yell like a frustrated parent of a child who will not brush his teeth? So that the mind picks up the right message, right? So we could use appropriate messaging to get appropriate behaviours. That is all.<br /> <br /><strong>Masooma:</strong> The message in the advert has to be precise, to the point we are making and not use garnishing. Every aspect of an ad, I was taught in b-school, should convey the brand message. So now take this hoarding for a medical center that shows a young mother and her 5-year-old son lying on their stomachs and looking into the camera. It's a close up… and the mother reveals a hint of a cleavage… and it is clearly deliberate. Necessary? Aspect of brand? Germane to product? <br /><br /><strong>Aseem:</strong><em> Yaaaar.</em>.. aren't you girls getting touchy? Ads with women only show women with legs and skin... it has always been there, unless you are selling insurance to old people.<br /><br /><strong>Shaina:</strong> Jaggi, I am not saying any of this to defend or offend any ad. You got the drift. Unfortunately, Aseem is handicapped by his attitude so he is never going to get it, but our advertising has to lift itself up and present women as people we respect and go beyond body to her essence as a human. We as advertising people have changed many attitudes. We created the shy male, men who care for their headmasters, men who save animals, we created the participative father... then why not the respectful male?<br /><br /><strong>Jaggi:</strong> I agree that despite increasing sophistication in advertising, sex is still one of the main and primary enhancement tools in the generation of strong brands. But to think women are exploited (in the process) by and in such ads might be a myth! A counter-argument suggests that men are exploited to a greater degree than women because they are the main people who are targeted by the ad. <br /><br /><strong>Shaina:</strong> But we are talking about the use of women as sexual props, not any exploitation. A survey in UK's Adweek sometime back (2005) looked at responses to advertisements with sexual content. While 48 per cent of men like ads with sexual content, only 8 per cent of women do. Similarly, 63 per cent of men said that ads with sexual themes make them look, while only 28 per cent of women said they react in the same way.<br /><br /><strong><img width="300" vspace="7" hspace="7" height="238" align="right" alt="" src="/image/image_gallery?uuid=42b64062-4cd6-41a0-84e9-5a9bb032fe91&groupId=222852&t=1361799776561" />Aseem:</strong> There, you said it! It is clear that men are targeted directly by these advertisements and that, when it comes to the bottom line, men are being exploited for their proclivity to parting with money when shown a picture of a beautiful woman. The degradation of women in advertising is incidental to its primary aim of urging purchase, and to suggest that purely women are exploited does not make logical sense. The real object of degradation is the consumer him- or herself, whose needs and desires are exploited by an all-pervading atmosphere of complex consumption.<br /><br /><strong>Shaina</strong>: It is well possible that you are lost between your own words.<br /> <br /><strong>Aseem.</strong> The point is the context. The context has now demanded that we relook at how we portray women, in the light of all that we have been forced to call to mind in the past several weeks, Jaggi. Till then, we did not complain seriously even when the cheerleader girls shook their posteriors for every six runs at Wankhede. Who put those girls in tiny underwear on the cricket fringes? And to encourage whom, pray?</div><div> <br />"Aseem, Jaggi, drag your eyes to the point I make and which you hesitate to see. Does an ad for medication need cleavage? It seems to me that we as a country are very excited by all that we can do. So we are now pushing the limits."<br /> </div><div>break-page-break</div><div><br />Just then Taran Alur, the senior director of Alcove, walked in apologising for being late. He then said, "So let us look at Jeymini Diamonds' story board quickly, I believe Goldy (another creative head) has given it the right touch! The client is coming in at 2, so we need to broadly narrate to him what the story in the commercial could be."<br /><br />Aseem took him through the storyboard -- a well dressed man was gently placing a string of diamonds around a pretty lady's neck... and in frame 3 and 4 his hands lingered, making suggestive movements on her neck.... <br /><br /><strong>Alur: </strong>Shaina? You okay with the drift? Any observations? <br /><br /><strong>Shaina:</strong> Yeah, okay to a point, but we must remove the two frames - the 3rd and the 4th -- lingering hand, finger drawing circles... bad creative.<br /><br /><strong>Alur:</strong> It's okay, just 2-3 frames… Sorry? No? Why, what's wrong? It adds the right touch of intimacy.<br /><strong><br />Shaina</strong> (wryly): What intimacy are you looking for in a diamond ad, Taran? He is the husband, he is buying her diamonds, she is delighted... case complete. Just throw in the models and the diamonds and hand the docket to the films department to produce...<br /><br /><strong>Jaggi</strong> (trying hard to suppress a growing smile): Then how will this ad be any different from one for Adidas' cross trainer shoes?<br /><br /><strong>Alur:</strong> All-rright! So I have missed something, eh? What's the issue?<br /><br /><strong>Shaina:</strong> Well, the issue is that we are sexing it up. For a purchase of diamonds, why go cult it like Debeers to sell only to the romantic, or those seeking payback? Extremely backward. The woman of today does not need a man to 'give' her diamonds. She goes and buys it... ufff!<br /><br /><strong>Alur</strong> (alarmed): I still don't get it. When you make a present to someone, a thanks, a hug, a smile is natural I thought. A flirting glance is common among couples. And they are a couple! Why are you so over-sensitive about it? What's with her, please? <br /><strong><br />Jaggi:</strong> Taran, she has a point. We took a long time to get to it, so let me help you cut to the chase. <br /><br /><strong>Shaina:</strong> I am sensitive because the whole country today seems to think not only nothing is wrong with a touch, but they are entitled to go far beyond and treat the woman like a public touch screen! Somewhere it has begun to seem as if the advertiser is selling the lady model, while the product -- coffee, medicines, cycles, agarbattis, shower gel -- all come free.<br /><br /><strong>Alur:</strong> What is it? Why are you smarting so much? Did you not create the ad for Zak, the car? Yes, Jaggi? Recall, where the guy opens this car in a show room and faints on seeing a body beautiful inside, with the words 'breathtaking'?<br /><br /><strong>Shaina</strong>: Not any 'body' but a body in underwear. The herd mentality. I ran with the crowd that believed a car needs expression of a beautiful body to sell. How stupid I was to present the male idea of body when I should have used Cuisinart's Die-Cast Food Processor's body... good looks and fabulous performance, both!<br /><br /><strong>Alur</strong>: You seem to miss the point that this ad in fact targets the male, and is exploiting him with the use of a pretty woman to part with his credit card! <br /><br /><strong>Shaina: </strong>Touche! That diamond storyboard drives home the last point you made, albeit obtusely. That men part with money for diamonds in the face of a pretty lass. Which is not how we want to sell, right? It does not even stand for who we are! Don't you see a product needs to sell for what it is! I mean how desperate are we?<br /><br /><strong>Alur:</strong> Shaina, it is an ad, for heaven's sake!<br /><br /><strong>Masooma:</strong> And ads are expected to be persuasive…. If the messaging is warped, the persuasion could be dangerous. Like the jeweler store ad where you are cajoled to save for your daughter's marriage! Very bad!<br /><br /><strong>Shaina:</strong> Taran, today we have a context and this context begs us to be alert to what we say and why we say it. India just voted to end rapes. We cannot anymore continue being blasé. Have you seen this ad for sports accessories? Let me show you some… They write only the first and last alphabets of their brand name - F and K, dotting the distance between the two; and they use visuals that stun the head and tell you it is a young brand... but is young equal to promiscuous, provocative and pornographic? Damn, I have a 13-year-old at home!<br /><br />Shaina opened a folder that unravelled a series of 9-10 print ads. "These ads seem to hint at knowing the pulse of the youth. Like this, Taran? Is your son like this, Jaggi? Their latest ad is one where a girl leaves a boys' hostel in just a bed sheet! The agency defended it in these words: <em>'This is our newest range for the summer. It had to be different... the bag had to show interesting ways in which women use it. The girl leaving the boy's hostel was a totally different kind of idea. Men do it all the time, but this film was from a woman's perspective.</em>..' <br /><br />"Really? Is that how women think or men?"<br /><br />Alur was uncomfortable. "I haven't seen these before. Jaggi... you seen them?"<br /><br /><strong>Jaggi:</strong> They have been around for some time. On YouTube, etc. They seem to present a forced personality of the youth, an image they are forcing, I feel. <br /> <br /><strong>Alur:</strong> Sure sexuality in advertising does have the potential to affect human values, but need not always... For example, if you look at the Heinz ads in the US market, for both beans and ketchup, they have tried models and 'saucy copy lines' including woman-whipping-man videos -- downright desperate and dumb. They never worked and were withdrawn faster than they were put up. So, now it is back to product and good taste. So if Heinz uses saucy copy lines, our value system won't be affected because we buy Heinz for its taste, let's say. Ditto for products from Swiss watches to desi ghee. <br /> <br /><strong>Aseem:</strong> On the flip side, as new things like technology come in, we power ourselves to venture into areas that our ancestors never did, such as paragliding, windsurfing... open heart surgeries.... We all do what we all do!<br /><br /><strong>Alur:</strong> Yet, I see your point, Shaina. And if you mean we must curb the desire to use sex, sexuality, sensuality and their ilk to sell products, then I am fine with it, as long as we don't get too severe as a result. Advertising should be fun, not severe. I do not want you to nurse the feeling that there is an undercurrent of gender superiority in advertising where the male viewpoint somehow prevails....<br /><br /><strong>Shaina</strong>: But it <em>does </em>prevail, Taran, it does! Males decide who looks hot and ads convey the same, don't they? Consider the following: By the age of 10, most girls are afraid of becoming fat. Many more adolescent school girls than boys, diet.<br /><br />Among college students, a larger percentage of women than men report feeling unhappy about their looks. Women in the general population report more negative attitudes about their physical appearance than do men. Sadly, negative body image often begins when girls are young and extends far into adulthood. For some women, it lasts their entire lives, thanks to skinny models with hourglass figures used by products from toothpastes to airliners.<br /><strong><br />Alur:</strong> But women do want to look good, so a body consciousness is natural. Men are conscious too!<br /><strong><br />Jaggi: </strong>And maybe that is what advertisers use to justify the need for women in their ads <br /><br /><strong>Shaina:</strong> I think it is many lifetimes of conditioning that has led advertising to be gender insensitive. The men who say the stuff they do for that sports accessories F........k ad come from parents and grandparents and so forth who have seriously engendered a male-oriented world. This is why today some men like Aseem are of the view that an ad with women's bodies revealed will help sell products, because they are catering to other men. <br /><br /><strong>Alur</strong>: I don't think so Shaina. It would then mean that the world has a predominant male perspective and interpretation.<br /><br /><strong>Shaina:</strong> Now you are challenging me, Taran. We will meet you after your diamond man leaves at 2.30....<br /><br /><strong>To be continued</strong><br /><br />casestudymeera (at)gmail(dot)com <br /><br /><em>Read Businessworld case studies on Facebook</em><br /><br />(This story was published in Businessworld Issue Dated 11-03-2013)</div>
