Sanju's, my brother's, doggo, Tashu, loves Marie biscuits. He seems to like the very taste and fragrance of these biscuits meant for the diabetic. That is, I suppose, because he is not allowed to eat the Parle-G, that is, human food considered bad for pooches. If he were to eat the Parle-G biscuits, he would be addicted to them. Why, I am myself a hardcore fan of those gooey sweet squares.
Why all these details? Well, the Parle-G biscuit company has a lovely DIWALI ad as its propaganda machine. The ad talks of a grandmother-grandson duo. Unlike his real life counterparts, this grandson is ready to understand the grandmother's various knick-knacks, her special treasures.
Thus he gets to know family traditions such as his father's hand-made sky-lanterns, the homemade eats, and so on. He surprises everyone by bringing home all the 'raw material'. His family decides to indulge him, and thus is celebrated a happy, together, home-made Diwali.
Such home-n-hearth centered Diwali full of Indian rituals is missing from the ads of big-ticket companies such as the Tanishq, for instance. This lady, Shanti Priyaji is her name, I think, who has been running a 'no bindi' campaign, analyses how over the time these big companies have wiped out the festive joy from their ads, and instead have reduced the Diwali-Dasara ads in to mere surefire buying baits.
The 'no bindi' campaign lady has yet another trenchant objection against the big ticket companies. The ads, she points out, are consciously de-Hindu-ised. That is to say, all the native symbols of festivities are missing from the ambience of the ad's, and instead there is a clear Urduisation of the feel.
Media is the message, said Marshall McLuhan. Media can subtly send subliminal messages that create a particular narrative. Such 'politics of/over culture' sure needs to be understood, analysed, and addressed. That indeed is the need of the hour as the trans-nation companies find it convenient to 'americanise' the mindset, and thus the market!
Pratima@As aspirational India is a huge market, it IS most interesting to unravel the subtle mind-games being played to capture the imagination and the psyche, and thus mould the mindset, of the consumer! Such are the analyses that form the staple food of the 'Cultural Studies' debates!!
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