Advertisements - Moulding
Customer Perceptions – Their Effectiveness – A layman’s viewpoint.
Dinesh
K Kapila
Advertising as such is often
criticised for embedding stereotypes, for crass commercialism and for driving a
mindless consumerist culture. This is quite accurate also as any number of
advertisements for fairness creams, detergents and lingerie would bear out. But
then consumerism also drives employment, an objective we cannot lose sight of.
However, once in a while you get to view an advertisement that bucks the trend
and endeavours to mould customer perceptions while sticking to its brief, that
is, driving sales of the product.
Ultimately this is what advertising is all about, generating awareness,
consequently driving sales and facilitating the acquiring of or maintaining
market share, commercial considerations
are always paramount and rightly so.
Now a
fairness cream literally sells itself, the demand for it is deeply entrenched
in our culture, maybe two hundred years of rule by the “fair skinned” British
made it an aspiration. Advertising such as this only plays upon this cultural
mindset and notches up sales. Years ago
Hyundai India made its then unknown brand in India a trusted name by an
extensive advertising campaign involving a celebrity and today sits at the second spot in sales of
cars. Maruti is retailing its new
automatic car, the Celerio in a similar manner. However none of these campaigns
has addressed the issue of moulding cultural mindsets associated with entrenched
societal attitudes for enabling the commercial sales to scale up. Years ago
(pre independence India) the Tea Board had run campaigns to encourage tea
drinking in India, as tea drinking was frowned upon, today we are the largest
consumers of this beverage. Here again a Board, albeit representing the
industry collectively, did the advertising for moulding customer attitudes, not
a company as such.
The only one successful campaign by
a company I can remember from recent times is the two wheeler advertisement
aimed at girls stating “why should boys have all the fun”. What many do not
realise is the tremendous debate it generated in many households, as our
country is multi layered in cultures, religions and mindsets. I know it as I have
used it as an opening gambit in seminars on gender and noted with deep interest
the hostility it drew from many men and
even some women. If not open debates, it
was silent debates within families, as the patriarch could decry such
advertising while the girls silently countered it. This is of course anecdotal evidence from
small town India and its nearby settlements and a couple of mini metros. The
two wheeler may have sold well but as many young girls and young women told me,
it was not the advertisement but the need to have a form of transport which
drove the sales. The cultural context was not commented upon as such, it could
have been an aspiration but then many of the female sex in our country have to
adhere to social norms of demureness and the playing down of their
individuality. However inspite of
apparent denials, I did detect that the aspiration in the advertisement, the
scent of individual freedom, drew the attention of girls across a wide
spectrum, even if played down as expected in our society.
This brings to two advertisements
which have drawn my interest of late, the campaigns by Havells for its electrical
utility consumer appliances (irons, mixies etc) and that of Big Bazaar on its range of clothes for
girls including knee length shorts or dresses. The Havells advertisement is
consistent, each advertisement has a woman asserting that she is not an
appliance or only meant to use it and quite apparently nudging the husband in a
nice manner to pick up the appliance and attend to the task himself. The
Big Bazaar advertisement stating the country is changing (presumably the light
and deft touches means for the better) - while drawing attention to its
products has one advertisement where a traditional looking grandma is seen
looking for a short dress for her granddaughter. The objective is to
subliminally embed that its ok to wear a
short dress for young girls, which would be by itself a major issue to trigger
major family differences. The Havells advertisement is different as it portrays
confident young working married women asserting pertly mixed with gentleness their
identity. This difference in these advertisements is only on the surface as
both are regarding the female gender and its need to be somewhat free from
suffocating societal constraints and stiff patriarchal and even matriarchal
dictates.
At this stage a third and older
advertisement maybe referred to also, the advertisement by Bharat Matrimony
wherein a girl states she wants to work after marriage and then her husband is
shown not only standing up for her but even serving her at the dining table –
as they sit together he picks up her plate for serving her a portion. This advertisement
is ofcourse the most revolutionary, a girl stating before marriage that she
wants to work after marriage, the groom standing up for her after marriage and
stating that she works not because she has to but wants to and lastly the
serving of food by him to her as the family sits collectively at the table.
Considering the emasculation of the typical India Young Male within his home,
then his being simultaneously lionised and feted as though he is somehow
different and superior, then the tremendous hold mothers have within families,
this advertisement is challenging many societal attitudes in a gentle manner
while playing up the groom as the girl watches quietly with a smile in her
eyes. Before many protest at my
explanation, in how many families we know for real even now, the hubby comes
home, drops of the car keys in the wife’s hands and then waits for a glass of
water to be handed over to him, going to the kitchen presumably tiring him even
more.
Now the real issue and concern,
do such advertisements succeed. Succeed not in the sense of moulding social
attitudes as such but purely commercially, for they are ultimately selling a
product. The moulding of attitudes, whether temporary or permanent, whether of
a small quantum or more, has to be able to sell the product. The scooter sold
also because of the abysmal state of public transport in India and the issue of
safety of girls, in a bus she could be subject to eve teasing, atleast on a
scooter, while it’s certainly an unsafe ride, the danger from lechery is
reduced. Male attitudes in the feudalist inclined states and even in so called
progressive states are decades away from improving as of now and are vital
considerations in such decisions.
A caveat at this stage, this
article has to be read after understanding the nuances and varied layers within
each socio economic segment in our complex nation. Each group may view it
differently but the common strands have to be observed. Of course at times an
advertisement addresses all segments competently, as those of Cadbury years ago while seeking
to mould consumer attitudes towards chocolates in a nation with a rich cultural
history of its own sweets. Secondly, the presence of electricity, incomes of
atleast a middle class level (maybe lower middle middle or lower) and access to
a TV set with a cable or dish connection and magazines is taken as a given for
this article.
At this stage I feel the main issue
is of India being a deeply layered society with each income and class and
community group being multi layered
within itself very differently, it becomes
tremendously complicated to analyse which group is being addressed and
how it views it and reacts to advertisements presumably directed to it or to a
social class. Seriously, just as an
example I know of rich cultured families where the ladies are quite on an equal
footing and when going out – within India or abroad - travel from home in jeans
and t-shirts and I know of equally rich families where the ladies have to pretend
they are too fond of traditional India dresses and attitudes and then change
over to jeans and t-shirts at airports or even on planes !. Am I taking a
position on this in a judgemental sense, certainly not, but it’s an observation
on the lack of independence even on clothes in a certain context as regards
women even within a particularly well off class. The men as I said are somewhat
ninnies but then many men have to play a balancing role within their families
also. The complex changes underway pose challenges
for marketers and decision makers alike as also within families. The
intelligent marketer understands it and works his way around it or directly.
The issue germane to the
discussion is that there is a tremendous social cultural revolution underway in
our country, where the internet, web,
visual media et all is bringing to notice across a vast swathe of population
the evolving norms and societal developments across the globe and more
relevant, within the nation, this enables them to contrast it with their own
situation and concerns. A backlash will be there certainly and is certainly occurring
as contrasting cultures and deeply embedded attitudes clash, within families,
within communities and within cultures. Attitudes thus vary, within the same
upper class economic grouping a girl with a glass of wine will be par for the
course for some and an alcoholic with many other negative attributes to some.
Hence, in a totally different milieu, in
many villages the mobile is a source of empowerment to the girls (my English
but in a cloistered environment a boon for them) but an evil to the
patriarchs. Jeans have attracted equally
vehement reactions. These are simple examples but are deeply symptomatic of the
revolution underway and the inevitable attitudinal clashes. Just to belabour
the point, there are families where if a
daughter in law works, her income is directly appropriated by the family, it’s
taken for granted. The issue of concern , does she want to do it, what about
her feelings on the issue. What is
correct or incorrect and what degree of correctness or incorrectness is there
in a action or reaction is often problematic to judge or comment upon. This applies even to politicians in our
democratic context as they grapple with these issues. A huge middle class is certainly evolving
with aspirations of its own and requires
deft handling as it grapples with its concerns.
The break up of the joint family
has also been a source of freedom and empowerment to many females but a source
of nostalgia to many, specially the men. Recently I was at a discussion where many
men, all holding senior positions and weighty responsibilities, went off on a
tangent and decried the fast growing service industry, the multi hued coloured
stories I heard would set off a revolt
of the youth in sheer disgust in many metros. However this only buttresses my point of contrasting and
polarised positions within the same income groups as cultural attitudes are at
varying levels. At the same time a lady
sent me a short poem, it disturbed me as it said in a sad poignant manner that
post marriage a girl would work to nurture her family without an identity and
without her name on the nameplate of the house. It can be shrugged off but is a
truism. In such a milieu a refreshing advertisement mixing successfully a
commercial orientation with a social touch in a positive manner is always
welcome.
The evolution of cosmopolitan attitudes and
levelling of attitudes and mindsets within similar income groups and
communities is occurring mainly in
metros and some (not all) mini metros only as of now. This is becoming a
harmonised group and while many experts see it as an example for fast
urbanising India to evolve towards, but an equally violent reaction by way of
hardening of positions is also evident within the metros too. However across
India a vast segment is changing slowly, a culture of empowerment is evolving
and has taken on its own momentum. An
atmosphere of openness, trust, harmony and happiness sought to be created by
some advertisements immediately draws eyeballs and attention.
However back to the moot point,
The Big Bazaar Advertisement would certainly resonate in metros and mini metros and since Big Bazaar is located primarily in these
cities would succeed. There is a class which
is in any case buying these dresses but the class at the tipping point in
metros and mini metros would be expected to associate with the advertisements and
feel encouraged to experiment. So the
actual conversion factor could be limited in terms of sales. Likewise the
Havells advertisements would certainly resonate more within the metros and mini
metros much more than in other locations. However since they are utility
products and certainly encourage female aspirations intelligently, they would
have attracted attention of the decision makers – the home makers - across many
segments and geographical locations and resultantly should have a positive
impact on sales. Ofcourse advertisements by themselves do not sell products,
the margins, service levels pricing etc are major determinants but this short
piece is focused only on the advertisements per se.
We have advertisements which sell
jewellery on the presumption that a girl opposed to marriage would change her
mind after trying on their jewellery. Dumb it is but then if it sells the
product who are we to object. But the moulding of customer aspirations and
attitudes is certainly underway and as our nation urbanises, the churn will
only increase. Advertisements as
discussed above set the goalposts in this churn. I can only say that while the creative teams
need to be complimented but did they really know what they were actually set
out on !. Be that is may, I have observed such
advertisements do resonate in middle income India and the more such
advertisements, the better.
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