The beauty paradigm: gender discourse in Indian advertising

Table of content Preface Acknowledgements Is Advertising as Guilty as It Is Made Out to Be? What Women Want? Gender Insensitivity in Indian Ads-Numbers Don't Lie! Some Hope Some Despair! A Medley of Ads Straight from the Source! The Arrival of Metrosexual Man in the Indian Ad Narrative Gender Mainstreaming in Media Schools and Workplaces Gender Sensitive Laws: A Global Concern Do Self-regulation Codes in Advertising Have Enough Teeth? Current Discourse on Gender in the Ecosystem and Its Implications Wake-up Call for the Ad Sector What Next? The Agenda for Tomorrow

Fair skin sells the cream Trendy women sell the scooter Dashing men sell the car Seductive gestures can sell almost anything If media only mirrors reality, is advertising then guilty of misogyny, voyeurism and objectification of women? In an attempt to look at Indian ads across various brand categories with a gender lens based on societal and sociological perspectives, The Beauty Paradigm: Gender Discourse in Indian Advertising deconstructs the quintessential Indian woman that the advertising industry depicts across the spectrum. Drawing insights from a seminal research study and Erving Goffman's classic book 'Gender Advertisements', this book traces the journey of a few decades to map trends and patterns in Indian advertising and presents the perspectives of the creative teams and top managements across Indian and global agencies.