Published Paper Details:

Roland Barthes in his book Mythologies (1957) mentioned that myths are all about countermanding culture into common sense, norms and general opinion. This concept can be taken up to understand how dominant ideology functions. 'Hegemony', like myths, translates the perspective and opinions of the ruling class into common sense. This process is so gradual, natural and apolitical that it seems as if it never happened. The apparatuses that are responsible for this, are termed as 'ideological apparatuses" by Gramsci and one such major apparatus is 'advertisement'. Commercials can be collated into myths where they often resolve social contradictions, provide stringent framework of identity and very strategically celebrate the existing social order. In the technology driven world, advertisements and commercials are present everywhere. It is impossible to imagine contemporary Indian modern society without advertisements. They influence the social behavior of people, shape their opinion about everything from products to politics and impact the public sphere with powerful intensity. At present, they are playing a key role in the ideological transformation of public discourse and acting as a genuine mediator of hegemony. They are changing the contemporary public space, creating a framework of identity and celebrating the dominant. In this process, gender representation is a critical aspect to focus on. The Indian advertising industry has evolved into a humongous zone, modern day adverts have taken a complete makeover and an unceasing narrative of virtual reality led to genesis of characters that seem to belong to a parallel world. The predefined image of males and females represented through advertisements initiates the process of hegemony where these perspectives get transformed into common accepted behavior. Women are always represented in a particular shape, size and color. They, in most of the advertisements are treated as sexual objects whose job is to only woo a man. They are provided space either in a brand promoting domestic chores (dishwash, washing machines, cooking items) or as eye candy. These misrepresentations gradually change the public discourse and make people think along these predetermined lines. Through this paper, I intend to focus on the impact of modern-day advertisements on the public discourse. By taking print, digital and social media advertisement into consideration, the paper will highlight & critically analyze representation of Indian contemporary women in adverts and how these misrepresentations transform contemporary Indian public discourse.