1st Edition
The Cult of Beauty Gender Discourse in Indian Advertising
This book deconstructs the quintessential Indian woman that the advertising industry portrays across the spectrum by looking at Indian advertisements across multiple brands with a gender lens based on societal and sociological perspectives. It delves into various critical issues like the differences between culture-defined gender roles/expectations and women’s portrayal in the ad narrative, and which product category has consistently portrayed women as sex objects.
Drawing insights from a seminal research study and Erving Goffman’s classic book ‘Gender Advertisements’, it traces the journey of three decades, beginning the 1990s – the era of liberalization in India, to map trends and patterns in Indian advertising and presents the perspectives of the creative teams and top managements across Indian and global advertising agencies. It discusses the application of a Gender Sensitivity Barometer (GSB) which the creative teams can use to find out how sensitive or insensitive the ad has been based on pre-determined indicators suggested by the GSB.
This book will be useful to students, researchers and faculty working in the field of management, advertising, mass communication, psychology, gender studies and sociology. It will also be an indispensable companion to professionals from the field of advertising and related areas.
1. Is Advertising as Guilty as It Is Made Out to Be? 2. What Women Want? The Long and Arduous Journey of Struggle for Gender Equity 3. Gender Insensitivity in Advertising is not a Myth! 4. Some Hope, some Despair! A Medley of Ads 5. From Horse’s Mouth- Straight from the source! 6. The Arrival of Metrosexual Man in the Indian Ad Narrative: Creating New Archetypes 7. Gender mainstreaming in media schools and workplaces 8. Gender Insensitive Laws – A Global Concern 9. Do self-regulation codes in advertising have enough teeth? Critiquing professional codes of self-regulation 10. Current Discourse on Gender and its Implications 11. Wake-up call for the ad sector – The New Consumer Protection Act, 2019 12. What next? The Agenda for Tomorrow
Biography
Jaishri Jethwaney did her Doctorate from the School of International Studies, JNU, her Masters in Political Science from Hindu College, Delhi University; and professional education in mass communication and journalism both in India and abroad. In an academic career spanning over 25 years, she was Professor & Program Director at the coveted Indian Institute of Mass Communication, followed by two-year stint as Project Director in the ICSSR research project on Gender Discourse in Indian Advertising which was followed by her extensively reviewed book, The Beauty Paradigm: Gender Discourse in Indian Advertising (2022) Currently Dr Jethwaney is the Senior Advisor in Public Health Communication with the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare in its Immunology Technical Support Unit (ITSU) since December 2022.
Prof. Jethwaney has been a lead communication expert for many national and international consultancies in the social sector arena. She is on the board of studies of several central and state universities.
A widely read author, Prof. Jethwaney’s books on Advertising, Corporate Communication and Social Sector Communication are very popular among academics, professionals, and scholars not only in India but also many countries.
