In Indian advertising, diversity is reduced to cultural stereotypes

In a world where the Oscars has been called out for being "too white" and Barbies are now available with bellies and in all ethnicities, Indian advertising can no longer hide behind its arguably shallow credentials of doing a good job at reflecting the diversity which exists in our society. Because in advertising, diversity — race, age, gender, ethnicity, caste, class, sexual orientation, colour, religion, etc — is reduced to cultural stereotypes like Mr Murthy of Voltas fame or the nagging mother and Missus or carefree millennials cruising in SUVs, guzzling cola and taking selfies with Dhoni. Just as bad are marketers who with ever increasing frequency, and variable degrees of slickness have begun to churn out ham-fisted attempts to seem inclusive and progressive by celebrating sisterhood, brotherhood and everything in between. Read the innumerable stories on cause-related marketing, femvertising and brovertising (a popular one in these intolerant times), some of which have run on these very pages. But how often are ads inclusive without making their communication about celebrating diversity? Have we moved beyond the Incredible India vignettes? Or the brand mandated 'inclusiveness' of montage films? What we are after in short is a casual inclusiveness: not the sort that's there for the express purpose of becoming a headline in press releases or content for the CSR section on company websites.
While there are exceptions, Dr Freda Swaminathan of FORE School of Management, who has a PhD on "the cultural dimensions of Indian Advertising", sums up just how inclusive Indian advertising really is: "Advertising in India tends to project the same 'north Indian', fair, cosmopolitan image projected in Bollywood films. It tends to exclude regional target groups, assuming that all audiences aspire to have the imagery projected in films. Most Indian women are not represented. When rural images are projected, they tend to be very 'bhola' or simplistic. Caste and religion are reflected only in festive advertising by depicting subjects that are again north Indian, typically belonging to well-to-do classes. Fairness in the models is used in a manner that is unrealistic to most audiences. Culture is projected with high levels of power distance, where advertising assumes hierarchy and class differences. Male-female roles are role bound especially when the models are meant to be married. Men are projected as very male and women as feminine."

A Season of Selective Diversity

Josy Paul, chairman of BBDO India, has been in the ad business a long time. Last year his agency created the campaign 'Touch the Pickle', for P&G's Whisper, which won the Grand Prix in the inaugural Glass Lion (award for gender-equality in ads) at Cannes. Paul believes Indian advertising still doesn't fully reflect the diversity in our society. That's because advertising is a people business. And people have strident points of view. Furthermore, a highly competitive and volatile environment like India leaves little room for experimentation. Says Paul, "Set formulas are at play and diversity is just a spoken word. But we are seeing the first glimmer of change in areas like gender inclusivity. May be because it's closer to our experience. We can do more though. Technology is probably far more inclusive and welcoming than advertising." There's a reason why we need more marketers to intuitively inject more diversity into the seemingly congenial homogeneity of Indian advertising. Neither pandering nor the culturally ambiguous variety, where all signs of individual identity are erased, will do.

Actor Nandita Das has been actively campaigning against our culture's reverence for fair skin for well over a decade. "It is tough to combat a mindset (the glorification of the fair skin) that finds many manifestations in our Indian songs, stories, myths and fables," she says. Interestingly, advertising could be just the weapon needed to fight these mindsets. Paul believes advertising is even more powerful than cinema. It could be a revolutionary medium of cultural change. "Many nations of consumers talk and live like ads," says brand consultant, Harish Bijoor. Advertising is not just a mirror but also "a perceptioncreator. It makes and moulds generations of attitudes." That's why we blame fairness cream ads for reinforcing a colour bias; that has helped perpetuate hatred and prejudice so deep-seated that you'd be better of wishing for the end of all wars than for exorcising us of that bias. But just like advertising creates negative bias, it can create positive bias. Like Fastrack's 2013 ad featuring two women tumbling out of a closet. Advertising is "not only a market-maker but also mind-maker," says Bijoor. According to Al Moseley of 180 Amsterdam, which created Benetton's (positioned as a beacon of diversity) latest campaign, 'Face of the City; "At mass global scale it can have the power to make those who have prejudicial perceptions feel like the outsiders to society's moral compass."

So, how does one become a truly multicultural marketer? The only way is inside out.

Increased diversity in the workforce

Practically every study on diversity in the workplace will point to its business benefits like improvement in quality of ideas, financial performance and reputation, and better innovation credentials. In 2014 a global study by McKinsey found that companies with racial and ethnic diversity in leadership are 35% more likely to have financial returns above their respective national industry medians. And businesses with gender diversity in leadership are 15% more likely to report better results. P&G found that diverse teams deliver 5% better sales results than homogeneous teams. That holds true even in cases of gender-specific and beauty products. Tampons are not just a female marketer or creative's domain as assumed by most agency folk.

Acts and ads

Creating a new visual and aural language that shows inclusion as a standard mindset is critical. "Accept that diversity is not anecdotal, it's the norm. Take colour. We need models of every colour from across the country," says Bijoor. Who thinks that if they were to put together an Indian colour palette it would rival "an Asian Paints shadecard!" Every casting choice ever made has had significant, but subliminal, ramifications. That's why initiatives like Mitr, India's first transgender modelling agency, are immensely important. So are initiatives like dedicated consumer call centres for people with hearing disabilities and texts in braille on packaging like L'Oreal has in France for its brand La Roche-Posay.

Not a party game

Myopic marketers and agencies generally use diversity rhetoric in ads to break tedium and join the "conversation". But any celebration of diversity by a brand has to be executed with authenticity and honesty. US-based women's rights activist, Afrin Sopariwala believes brands that pretend to care about diversity do more harm because their analysis is never accurate and their vision is still short-sighted and selfish. She says, "To really be diverse will be uncomfortable for a lot of brands, a lot of creatives, and also the audience. But that's where we will find our truest liberation."

If advertising and marketing must shed discriminatory practices, however unintentional, and stereotypes and clichés turned into gospel after decades of unrestrained use, then people in the business must start with asking some uncomfortable questions like, "Am I a bigot?"