Mysogynist Indian ads – There is no breather from the sexist society. It always have bound women by stigmas and as the entertainment industry mirrors the society, the advertisements have always straightjacketed women by we didn’t bat an eyelid. Take for instance, the Fairness cream advertisements which hint that in order to be successful, a woman has to be FAIR & LOVELY!
Nelson Mandela once said-“Freedom can’t be achieved unless women have been emancipated from all forms of oppression. Our endeavours must be about the liberation of the woman”, which our society seems to antagonise partially riding on veiled orthodoxy and portraying the womenfolk weak in the advertisements. We have never paid heed to the content and accepted them as they came, but it’s time we did.
Here are the examples of such insipidly Mysogynist Indian Ads being ever made in India:
Mysogynist Indian Ads –
1 – Snickers TVC:
This ad has a controversial tagline “Bhukh lagi to tu ladki ban jata hai” (You nag like a girl when you feel hungry. So, apparently all the annoying habits are associated to girls no matter if it’s the guy’s innate problem.
2 – Airtel Smartphone Network Ad:
This ad aims at being progressive but is could not break free the web of regression. It shows a wife as boss to her husband but when she returns home, she is the one who cooks and waits for the husband.
3 – Again ad:
This vaginal tightening cream ad tells you how you should feel like a virgin again to become a more pleasurable object to your husband. It hasn’t anything to do with the woman at all.
4 – MTR ad:
This ad emphasises the idea that a woman has to be adept at multi-tasking and take care of the household and meet the needs of the members of the household. It shows a woman with six hands.
5 – Moov ad:
This throws light on the idea how the housewife does her daily chores while the husband remains nonchalant and watches cricket. Obviously, strenuous work makes her back ache where she is given to Moov and has to get back to work soon after. May be if the man of the house’s cooperation in her chores would keep the backache at bay?
6 – Kellogg’s Special K:
This advertisement is bodyshaming in disguise. No matter how much dissent we raise against Bodyshaming, advertisements like this will always fuel the misogyny. We always associate women with beauty and sculpted body and this advertisement reinforces the same idea.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mwVKTASmqQ
7 – Lotus cooking oil ad:
This is regressive with a capital R. The culturally defined role of a newlywed bride is to impress her new household and this ad concretizes the idea.
8 – Mother Dairy ad:
This ad hints at how helpless women become when they can’t stand up for themselves again the sole breadwinner of the family.
These are Mysogynist Indian Ads and invited a lot of flak after their release. These are not taking a step forward but taking it back. Orthodoxy is an incurable disease, so is patriarchy. So, it’s an imperative to raise frontier of resistance against it.
