WOO a MAN

Insurance TV Commercial

Hair Oil Ad

Before reading further below, I insist you to see the two ad commercials and the way women are portrayed in them. Once you are done with the TV commercials take look at the cover page and the top stories that have been mentioned on the cover:

• Tease him tonight (we've got some seriously naughty moves)
• 5 traits a guy should have before you get serous
• Are you getting enough in bed?
• Wedding Wows!
• The smartest things that you can do for your skin.
• Chitrangda Singh: From arty to glam
• Fearless Female Awards
• New Life Rules to follow now.

Now in all the above (2 ad commercials and the magazine cover), the woman's main job is highlighted as being a wife, girlfriend, mother, daughter only. Earlier they used to say directly. Now they say it using other ways and means.

Foe example, the insurance ad--the girl is with her husband or may be boyfriend and she gets very satisfied seeing the other woman who has two kids of her own and is tending to them as if that is the only thing a girl can dream about is having two kids. She can also think of owning a house on her name. But NO. What she can dream of is only about getting married and having two kids and feeding them.

In the other ad, the voice-over itself says that baal hote hai rijhane ke liye, baal hote hai sharmane ke liye and towards the end-- baal hote hai dil churaane ke liye. The complete manner in which the hair oil is positioned in the minds of the women consumer is that she has to have long, beautiful and black hair to blush, charm and seduce a man.

In the magazine, again the same approach. Out of the eight stories mentioned in the cover page only three of them feels like they are actually meant to guide them in actual sense. (I don't how each of them was dealt with individually) Also the cover page girl's story is defined as From Arty to Glam. I mean, it's like showing to the world that this girl has become a glamorous one from being an artist or may be a glamorous artist. But the glam factor has to be there. And the photograph-- a pretty girl with her hair flying, her cleavage very prominent, hands on waist and the expression very charming. A magazine like this which has it's tag line saying The best that you can be. All the women can't be like this model. Why not have an ordinary looking woman in the cover page? Will it not sell?? Of course it won't sell because all this time we have been conditioned that a girl will be accepted only if she is beautiful, slim and "sexy". By the way, what is the definition of sexy? And who defined it in the first place? I think, all the women in this world are sexy in their own ways. And  then there are other stories like Wedding Wows! In a magazine that seems to have been brought out for the urban woman, marriage is again one of the central issues. Every one has to be married. If a girl is not married till 30 then everyone will start asking questions and so and so forth.

The whole objectification of women by the media, specially in advertising is something to be brought under attention. The camera work in such ads focuses on her body parts more than the product. Why are there not many TV shows on air which show women working? They might me mentioned that they are doctors etc. But never ever they are actually shown doing the actual job of a doctor. They are always shown as wives, mothers and in the kitchen cooking food. So the whole message that comes out is this that even if you are a doctor, you have to cook and be with your husband and make him happy.

The basic thing is still the same: the society still thinks that a woman existence, identity and survival some how surrounds that of the man. Without the man she can't do anything and without a man she is not considered antything. The ads, the TV shows, the magazines all seem to come out with only message that WOMAN is supposed to WOO a MAN...