From colonialism to
globalization, there are stories aplenty in India. These stories, some good and
some ugly, convey the triumphs and trial of the Indian middle class, the zeal
to adapt and lead by the industry, the dawn of the consuming class and several
others. One such interesting story is the hybridity in Indian
Advertising.
It is believed that the colonial past
divided India into two parts – the colonizer and the colonized. Over time, this
difference led the colonized to believe the existence of two dichotomous worlds
– home/ world, inside/outside, material/spiritual and so on. This ambivalent
relationship between the ‘traditional home’ and the ‘modern world’ continues
even today.
Indian advertisers, when faced
with the challenge of selling a modern product, have tried to embed the product
among Hindu imagery – like use of Gods and practices, draping women in saris
and dressed in traditional attire, local values, etc. One of the earliest representations
of this dichotomy is the creation of a character, Lalitaji for Surf. The
character is described as a shrewd housewife who manages her modern household efficiently
without compromising the traditional values. As India embraced globalization,
one of the home-bred brands, Bajaj launched the popular ‘Hamara Bajaj’
campaign, which illustrates the hybridity of the Indian culture. Thus Indian advertising
illustrates a fine tapestry on which both traditional India and the modern
outlook is woven into an interesting design of multicultural contemporary
global India.
