Catering to Indian and British Tastes:
Gender in Early Indian Print Advertisements
 Javed Masood
An attractive young woman’s face or body has always been the selling point for most of the printed advertisements. Besides using women to pull the attention of the (male) gaze, the advertisements also reaffirm older male-centric roles and stereotypes for women especially in Indian society. This seems odd at first sight since such print-culture is often associated with the representation of the ‘face of modernity’ and ‘progress’ in the twentieth century.
 This project aimed at collecting and archiving print advertisements from the popular English newspapers and periodicals published in India in roughly three periods – 1940s, 1960s and 1980s, tolook for examples of visual portrayal of men and women depicting modern and westernized lifestyle whilemaintaining much of the gender stereotypes. Among the archives of periodicals traced forthis project were The Hindu (Madras), The Illustrated Weekly of India (Mumbai/Delhi), and a few others.
The first part of this virtual essay compares different variations on advertisements from 1946-47, a few months before India got Independence from British Rule. It’s also a time when the special products targeted towards British consumers shared the same space, on a ‘typical’ newspaper page, with figures of national heroes of the proposed independent nation and with newly emerging Indian products.
 The first classified advertisement in India appeared in Hicky's Bengal Gazette, in 1780, in Calcutta. However, modern Indian advertising can be traced to the late 1920s and early 1930s when two English companies, J. Walter Thompson (JWT) and D.J. Keymer's, laid the foundations of professional advertising in India. Looking at a few examples of print advertisements published in the 1940s, the most distinct feature in terms of the representation of women seem to be the sharp contrast between the European and Indian facial features and lifestyles, as if different advertisements were made for the readers of different classes or identities. Since many products were actually direct imports from Britain or Europe, their print campaigns are also exact copies of what was being printed in London or elsewhere. But often, in the middle of these European looking ads, you may find a campaign for an Indian product showing a beautiful Indian woman. Some ads (such as that of the Tata Mills cloth material) actually stress on different ethnic groups from India and their costumes featuring, for instance, a ‘tribal’ woman, or a maiden bathing in a pond with lotuses blossoming. But a few ads also reflect the desire of an Indian to look or live like the British – an Indian gentleman, for instance, depicted in European suit and tie, or the European hairstyles being tried on Indian women in some ads.
 In the late 1940s, as self-reliance became the political goal, Indians moved out to form new advertising agencies. Dattaram, National, and Sista were set up during this period in Bombay, along with Tom & Bay in Poona. These agencies initially confined their activities to buying advertising slots in newspapers and magazines. In the early twentieth century, the main focus was only on press advertisements in which the British administrators and the princely families were offered luxurious goods, voyages, and other services. In 1941 Leela Chitnis was signed on by Lux as the first Indian film actress to endorse the beauty soap. The underlying themes that were prominent in the new media were World War II, the Great Famine, and the struggle for Indian independence. The watershed of Indian advertising was in the 1950s, when with the commencement of industrialization as many Indians undertook mass production that led to "India-centric" advertising. The first advertisement company called "The Ad Club — Calcutta"  was founded in 1956, and the first visual mnemonic was created — National Advertising designed the "Murphy baby" (the baby model for Murphy radio). With Independence new social and economic changes emerged in the newly formed nation. The Indian middle class emerged and ended the hitherto exclusive clientele of the noble and princely classes. The advertising focus shifted from status-driven goods to convenience-driven consumer goods.
In this visual gallery, we present a juxtaposition and interpretation of different kinds of advertisements by placing them vis-a-vis each other – allowing the viewer to compare those addressing the Indian clients and the ones meant for British, although in some cases this classification may not work entirely. The blurbs or the copy from the ads has also been provided in the captions. >>>
We invite the readers/visitors to comment and compare this juxtaposition of images. |