Using Women, Unashamedly

Using Women, Unashamedly

By a correspondent

Our modern media champions women¿s rights. Or does it? A woman¿s world seems to exist only on the face (and body) of it. Sex sells? Nah. That¿s old hat. They prefer selling sex now. And why, you don¿t even have to take a very close look. Here, then, are some of the bold (already sold too) initiatives :

The Economic Times carried a feature on Jan 31st in their Chennai edition - "Thin clients get a second lease of life" with the blurb "As return on investment gets highlighted, Rahul Satchitanand takes a look at this cost saving technology". The picture below was of a line up of 13 girls - strapless, sleeveless, shoulderless - smiling most obligingly inspite of having less of everything, including weight. The article itself was a complete techno-analysis of "thin clients" - computer geek-ese for desktop appliances designed to utilize a server for computing tasks. The writer did not sound the slightest bit cheeky but the paper had the gall alright - the row of svelte bodies came with the scintillating caption "It¿s the bottom line that counts. Not surprising that thin is really in."

Not long back, they introduced a new little column/box captioned Figure Watching. The logo-like picture accompanying the text (which focusses on economy-related statistics) features the torso of a model in a kitschy T-shirt. Besides graphics and tables, one sometimes gets to see additional photographs like the one which appeared on 18th April - the report was on healthcare expenditure percentages sourced from the World Health Report 2000 and it was (presumably) juiced up with the photograph of a woman, leaning forward and pumping iron in a figure-hugging body suit of some kind.

The Times of India carried an advertisement by a company called GenSelect which announced "Gender selection now a reality". The enterprise¿s promotional material was later analyzed (by Outlook) and found to be full of vague promises and incomprehensible jargon. But the ad (so willingly carried in a mainstream paper with a whopping circulation, in a country where patriarchy even has couples resorting to unethical foeticides of baby girls) urged parents to "effectively select the sex of their next child" with the promise that it was "upto 96% effective". Elsewhere, on several occasions, the same paper has denounced pre-natal gender selection practices and female infanticide even as it upheld the rights of the girl child. Sharing newsprint are the two contrarian messages. Where does the paper stand?

Sexist imagery is, of course, quite common in the mad, ad world. Could it be that we are moving towards times where the paper is only a vehicle for advertisements with editorial copy a cursorily read filler? Given the percentage of space ads occupy in some publications, that could really be the case. Is truth imitating fiction or is it the other way around? Ad infinitum we have campaigns which splash women across products which have little or nothing to do with a sexy pout. Sample these : Aura alloy wheels recommend a "dress code for your car" - the picture dominating the message is that of a woman, face not visible fully, a gently dipping cleavage adorned with a stainless steel chain which had a pendant showing, you guessed it, alloy wheels.

The TV promo for Marc bathroom accessories keeps us guessing - artistically semi-nude model (of the woman kind), a drop of water travelling down sensual lips and fingertips before we finally get to the point/product - a tap. Swatch watches have a curvaceous bottom adorned in a brief towel and a tattoo (with arrow pointing to the interior of the towel, not that there is much left hidden). In a photospread in Femina (March 1st, 2002) the model wears three Swatches per wrist and has her fists holding her white shirt (partially ajar, apparently nothing but skin inside). She