PORTRAYAL OF WOMEN IN INDIAN TV ADVERTISEMENTS

(RegistrationNo:12002358) ,Ms.JuliaOinam

ABSTRACT

IndiaisaDevelopmentCountry Therearemanychangescomesinthelastfewdecadeslikeeconomic,regulatory,politicalandcultural.Duetochangesinsocial systemourlifestyleandmindsetischanging.Oneofthemajorchangesisthechangingsocialstatusofwomen.Theincreasingfemaleliteracyratehasresultedin increased participation of women in workforce. This article examines changes in the portrayal of women in advertising with a particular focus on television advertising. India is a country of development.There have been many changes over the past few decades, including economics, regulations, politics, and culture. Alongwithchangesinsocialsystems,ourwayoflifeandworldviewarechanging.Oneofthemainchangesisthechangeinwomen'ssocialstatus.Increasingwomen's literacyrateshaveincreasedwomen'sparticipationinthelabormarket.Thisarticleexamineschangesintheportrayalofwomeninadvertisingwithaparticularfocus ontelevisionadvertising.

KEYWORDS:Women,IndianTVAdvertisements,Role.

INTRODUCTION:

Women'srolesinvariousfieldsaroundtheworld,includingadvertising,science andpolitics,havechangedovertheyears.Today,30%ofemployeesinthesoftware industry are women.They have also established themselves as experts in variousareasoflife.Today,womennolongergatherbehindkitchenwalls.Their urgetostepoutthedoorhastaughtsocietytothinkdifferently Thedepictionof womeninadvertisinghasarousedinterestbothinacademia(Das,2000;Siuand Au,1997)andpractitionersalike.Socioculturalchangeshaveoccurredinsociety in recent decades, as evidenced by the growing number of women seeking work, changes in family role structures, and women's unfavorable attitudes towardtraditionalgenderrolestereotypes.

TVcommercialsarepartofsocietyandaffectourdailylives,bothconsciously andunconsciously Therefore,thecontentandmessageoftelevisionadvertising playsaveryimportantroleinshapingsocietyandbeyond.Today,womennolongergatherbehindkitchenwalls.Theirurgetostepoutthedoorhastaughtsociety tothinkdifferently.

There has been a significant change in the way women are portrayed in Indian television commercials in recent years. Advertising in India has portrayed womenasgirls,expectantmothers,housewives,businessmen,andwomenwho add to the appeal of advertising in a variety of contexts and in countless ways. Thewaywomenareportrayedinadvertisinghaschangedovertime,reflecting thechangestakingplaceinsociety

Moststudiesshowthatwomeninadvertisingarepresentedasastereotypedrole worldwide.Therehavebeenmanystudiesofdepictionsofwomeninadvertising, butmostofthemweredoneinaWesterncontext.Das(2000)foundthattherepresentationofwomeninIndianandotherAsianadvertisingdiffersfromWestern advertising because of cultural values, beliefs and norms, and religion Societyisinfluencedinmanyways,includingculturalvalues,lifestyles,andpeople'sbehavior Themediaalsoplaysanimportantroleinmaintainingvaluesin society Itisseenasanimportanttoolforinfluencingandcommunicatingsocial values.

ObjectificationtoEmpowerment:

Women'srolesarebeginningtochangethrougheducation,self-esteem,andeconomicindependence.Onceuponatime,awomanhadtowaitformen'smoneyto buy her things, but with time, everything changed. Male-dominated consumptionlinesareshiftingtowardswomen.Women,likemen,areindependentofeconomicstability

Thetrueempowermentliesintheindividualempowermentofwomen.Theneed ofwomenchangesaccordingtotheirgeographicalarenaofruralorurbanorcity Empowerment lies in the gender equality in social, economic, political and healthstatus.Theremustbeequalsharingintheresponsibilitiesofhomebymaritaldutieslikenurturingofthechildrentothesocialaccountability Educationis one of the most important tool which enhances the knowledge and skills, selfrespectandconfidencewhichachievetheempowermentstate. Theeradication ofgenderequalityistomakeherindependentdecisionmakersforthewelfareof herself,familyandsociety

LITERATUREREVIEW:

The role of women in media advertising has been discussed by many authors from various angles. Due to globalization, growing market economy and the rapiddevelopmentineducationandemploymentthereisashiftintheroleandstatusofawomaninthesocietyfromtotallydependentonaman,confinedtothe st domesticspheretoanindependentcareerwomanofthe21 century,whoisnow equally contributing for the development of her family and the society But advertisers failed to catch this development that evolved in the role of women overtheyears.Womenstillaredominantlyrestrictedtotheageoldgenderconstructionsandtraditionalrolesofhousewives,dependentonmen,happilydoing the household works, incompetent, as sex and decorative object i.e. the instrumenttograbtheattention.

There are certain characteristics that can be seen in most advertisements that havewomaninthem.Womenareusuallythecenterofattention.Sheisconsidered a sexual object. She usually wears revealing clothes. The camera usually takestheformofamaleeyelookingatawomanfromheadtotoe.Womenare childishandneedy,andareseenasobjectsofmen'sdesiresormaternallight.She takescareofthechildren,cooksinthekitchenandwaitsforaman.Sheisoften describedascapricious,notsmart,irrational,ordemanding.Hervoiceisgenerallylowandseductive.Whenshegetswhatshewants,astereotypeusuallylikea floweroraring,sheiswillingtoofferitasarewardtoamanwhohascommercial sex.Ifyoulookclosely,it'sgenerallyover-drawn.

ResearchConcerningStereotypingofWomenInTelevisionCommercials:

Oneofthefirststudiesthattalkedabouttheimageofwomenintelevisioncommercials was by BARDWICK and Schumann (1967) BARDWICK and Schumann (1967) analysed male and female role portrayals in television commercialsandconcludedthatwomenareportrayedprimarilyashomeboundoras housewives. Courtney and Whipple (1974) studied the portrayal of women in television commercials and found significant differences between men and women.Womenwereoverrepresentedinadvertisementsforcosmeticsandwere less likely to appear in advertisements for cars, trucks and related products. Seventyfivepercentofalladvertisementsusingwomenwereforproductsfound inthekitchenorbathroom,reinforcingthestereotypethatawomanísplaceisin thehome.Comparedtomen,womenwereportrayedprimarilyinhomesettings and not in business settings. Women did not make important decisions and, finally,womenwereviewedasdependentonmenandprimarilysexualobjects. CourtneyandWhipple(1974)definedasexualobjectas"awomanwhodoesnot playaroleinadvertisingbutappearsasadecoration".Additionally,87%ofvoice actors are male and only 6% of voice actors are female (Courtney &Whipple, 1974). More recent studies have confirmed this (CULLEY & Bennett, 1976; Dominick & Rauch, 1972; Lundstrom & Scordamaglia, 1977; McArthur & RESKO,1975;OIDONNELL&OIDONNELL,1978;Schneider&Schneider, 1979).

Onestudylookedatprime-timetelevisionadvertisingsamplestodeterminehow gender portrayals differed in advertising of drugs and other commodities (GRAIG,1992).Craig(1992)foundthatwomenweremorelikelythanmento appearascharactersindrugadvertisementsthaninadvertisementsforotherproducts.Womenwerealsoportrayedasprofessionalsinhomehealthcare,oftenas motherscaringforsickchildrenorsickhusbands.

AccordingtoGRAIG(1992):Thissupportsthehypothesisthatdrugadvertisers hold stereotypes of female home carers (p. 309). The results of GRAIG study (1992) indicate that advertisers of over thecounter (OTC) medications exploit thestereotypeofwomenasnurturersandcaregiversintheirprimetimenetwork televisioncommercials.WomenhavebeenfoundtobeprimaryorcentralcharactersintheseadsandtheyhavebeenportrayedasexpertsonOTCmedicinesby eitheractingasdemonstratorsoftheproducttoothersorasparentsadministering medicationstochildren.AccordingtoGRAIG(1992),manyOTCmedicineads inthesampleshowahusbandorachildturningtoawife/motherforadviceand helpduringatimeofillnessandinvariablythewife/motherselectstheAdvertisersproductasappropriatesolutionfortheirsymptoms(p.309).Theportrayalof meninmedicineadvertisementswaseitherabsentorunrealisticandmenwere shown as relying on the wife/mother to make the simplest decisions on home medicalcare(GRAIG,1992).

RoleofwomeninIndianAdvertising:

Women have been depicted in numerous contexts and in innumerable ways in Indianadvertising–asagirlchild,aprospectivemother,ahomemarker,acareer womanandasonewhojustenhancestheappealoftheadvertisement.However, majorityofmodernIndianadvertisementspresentamorerealisticandbalanced pictureofwoman.Therehasbeenageneralshiftwherebyadvertisementshave movedfromshowcasingwomenmerelyastraditionboundhomemakerstothose playingmodernroles.ThemoderndayIndianworkingwoman,whoplaysmultifacetedrolesandemergesasonewhois,notonlyinfullcontrolofherself,but also has the power to influence others around her The plethora of changes in Indiaonthecultural,socialandeducationalfrontshasbroughtaboutatransformation in society, which, in turn, is also finding its influence on the advertisementsoftheday.

As women now make up majority of the workforce, role descriptions are expected to be much broader Although job-oriented roles are beginning to become common, most advertisements still portray women as faithful housewivesinsecondarypositionsortakingcareofthehouse,husbandandchildren. AthletessuchasSainaMirzaandSainaNeval,likeothermalesportsfigures,are oftenseenandacceptedashavingreferencepowersinvariousproductadvertisements.

RESEARCHMETHOD:

ResearchProblem:

Advertisement plays a vital role in our daily life but now a day advertisement undervariouspressureshavebecomethecommercialchannelsonlyandfailedto reflectthesocialproblemsoraspirationsoftheentirepopulation,especiallythe problems faced by women. So, the portrayal of women in Indian media like visualadvertisementsornewspaperisbecominganareaofgreatconcerntothe peoplehavinginterestinsocialresearchandstudies.

OBJECTIVE:

Tounderstandtheknowledgeabouttheroleofwomeninadvertisement.

TostudytheportrayalofWomenintoday'sEraofTVadvertisement.

To examine the impact of Advertisement in constructing the image of women. 4. ToAnalysestheeffectofculturalvaluesbyadvertisementinwomen.

ResearchMethod:

Inthisstudy,Surveyhasbeenselectedastheresearchmethod.Inthismethodsurveymethodisthebestmethodtofindoutthegoalsofthisresearch.Thesample sizeoftherespondentsis53intheurbanareasofLudhiana.ResearchworkcarriedoverisonlyintheurbanareasofsouthLudhianaandnotinruralareas.

SamplingMethod:

Convenienceoraccidentalsamplingwillbeusedinthisresearchwhichisanonprobabilitytechnique.Accidentalsamplingcanbeusedtoapproximatearandom sample.Thishelpsinconductingtheresearchwithonlythepeoplewhoareavailable,whoareeasilyrecruitableorvolunteers.Thesamplesizeoftherespondents is53intheurbanareasofLudhiana.

Scope:

ThestudyisconcernedwithperceptionofRoleofwomeninpresentdayadvertisement and how Indian advertisement effect in constructing the images of womeninLudhianatown.Researchworkcarriedoverisonlyintheurbanareas ofsouthLudhianaandnotinruralareas.

LIMITATIONS:

1. ThestudyislimitedtotheroleofwomeninIndianadvertisement.

2. ThestudywillbeonlyinLudhianatownnotaboutotherarea.

3. Thesurveysampleislimitedonlyto53respondents.

4. ResearchworkcarriedoverisonlyintheurbanareasofsouthLudhianaand notinruralareas.

Analysis:Forthedataanalysiswillbeusingdescriptivemethod.

DATAANALYSIS: Table1:DistributionofrespondentsbasedonGender

Interpretation:

Inasampleof53responses,40respondentswereFemalewhichwas75.5%and remaining13wereMaleanditisfoundthattherewerenorespondentsfromthe thirdcategory

Table2:Distributionofrespondentsabouthowmanyrespondentsknow abouttvadvertisement?

Particulars Responses Percentage Yes 53 100 No 0 0 Total 53 100%

Interpretation:

Fromtheabovetable,itisinferredthatoutof53respondentsmostofthePeople arealreadyawareaboutthetvadvertisement.TVadvertisementplayavitalrole inourdailylife.NowadaysTVAdvertisementsarehelpingtocreateawareness about women in society In my research study 100 % people were aware about TVAdvertisement.

Table3:Distributionofrespondentsbasedonthecategoryofwhich womenareinfluencingmuchtodayduetotheTVadvertisement?

Interpretation:

Intheabovetableoutof53respondentmostofthepeoplebelievethatHousewife andworkingwomenaremuchInfluencingtodayduetoTVadvertisement.Only somepeoplearetherewhodon'tbelievethatwomenareInfluencingbytvadvertisement.

Table4:Distributionofrespondentsbasedoncategoryofmostcommon ProductofAdvertisementthatisimpactfulonacommonwomantoday

Interpretation:

Intheabovetableoutof53respondentsitshowsthatPeopleareawareaboutcertainadvertisementsforthecertaincategories.Cosmeticproductsoneofthemost commonproductsnowadaysthatpeopleknow.Onlyfewpeoplearetherewho areawareaboutotheradvertisements.

Table5:DistributionofrespondentsbasedontheWomenInfluencedby differentaspectssuchaslifestyle,Image,Reputationetc.

Interpretation:

Fromtheabovetable,itisinferredthatmostofthepeopleagreethattvadvertisementplayavitalroleinwomenlife.Nowadayswomenlifearechangingdayby daysuchaslifestyle,Image,Reputationetc.

Table6: Inthelastfewdecadesoftwentiethcenturywhatisthestatusof womentodayaccordingtothepastfewdecades?

Particulars

Responses Percentage

Good 31 58.5

Bad 6 11.3

NoIdea 16 30.2

Total 53 100%

Interpretation:

Nodoubtadvertisementhaschangedthewomenlifeandsociety Nowadayspeople are much educated and intelligent and they are supporting their children in everywalkoflife.Thestatusofwomenhasbeenalreadychangedfromthelast fewdecades.

Table7: DoyoueverfeelthatAdsrarelyshowwomenasIndependent decisionmakers;contributingpositivelytowardsthesociety?

Particulars Responses Percentage

Yes 42 79.2 No 11 20.8

Total 53 100%

Interpretation:

TVAdvertisement has changed the women life. Now a days women are IndependentdecisionmakerandMostofthefamilyaremotivatingtheirchildrenor wifeineverystepoflife. Intheabovetableoutof53respondent42saidYesthey feelthatAdsrarelyshowwomenasIndependentdecisionmakers;contributing positivelytowardsthesocietyand11saidNo.

Table8:DoyoufeeltheAdvertisementslikeSanitaryProductswillhelp ineradicatingAwarenessaboutwomenHealthproblemsintherural areas?

Particulars Responses Percentage

Yes 46 86.8 No 7 13.2

Total 53 100%

Source:SecondaryData

Interpretation:

IntheabovetableItisfoundthatTVadvertisementhasmakeagreatImpacton ourSociety NowadaysOnlybecauseoftheTVAdvertisementmostofthepeopleareawareaboutwomenhealthProblems.Outof53respondent46saidyes they feel that Advertisements like Sanitary Products will help in eradicating AwarenessaboutwomenHealthproblemsintheruralareasand7saidno.

CONCLUSION:

Theresultsindicatethattheroleofwomanintelevisionadvertisinghaschanged over the decades. Now a days women are playing a vital role in our daily life. TheyareworkingProfessionallyandHousewifebothineverywalkoftheirlife. Thefindingsofthestudystatesthattheportrayalofwomenhaschanged,butonly slightly Thisstudyhasattemptedtocoverasmanyadvertisementsaspossibleto studythechangingportrayalofwomanintelevisionadvertisinginIndia.However,notalladvertisementshavebeencovered,sofutureresearchersmaycover more advertisements. In addition, it is possible to study the changing image of men,andcomparativeanalysiswillmakethestudyclearer Ithelpsmultinational organizationssotheycanbenchmarkadsfromothercountries.

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