I've often wondered what perpetuates what, especially when it comes to advertising. Surely, ideas and concepts are at first embedded in reality and therefore adopted, but over decades when these ideas and concepts begin to lose relevance, I'm sure that multiple artificial exposures to them in the form of adverts reinforce their existence in our consciousness.
For example, a desire for fair skin and it's direct correlation to a better spouse many decades ago had led companies to invent fairness creams. There was a clear demand for it, a massive market and a ready made rationale for its existence. The adverts portrayed only what was already existing in society and it was therefore acceptable. It reinforced people's desire for fair skin. Deep down, I want the perfect husband. It doesn't matter that according to myth and now television, his level of perfection is indirectly proportional to the darkness of my skin. It is on TV so it must be true. Thankfully, over the years, India grew up (well, a little anyway). Today, as people are becoming more independent and confident in their skin, the need for 'fairness' on the outside and acquiring a male partner as a life goal has diminished considerably (I know I speak of a certain section but spare me for the sake of exemplification and a larger point). When sales and conversion rates went down, marketers tweaked their ad campaigns to add the new life goals that had replaced older ones. Independent women of today wanted jobs and a career. Let's simply replace a perfect spouse with the perfect job. Let's add a pinch of parental pride and emotion into the mix. Genius. It isn't news that people are fairly impressionable when it comes to these things. That is the premise of marketing. So even if there was no evidence in my real life that I would or would not get a job because of my skin colour, now that it was being shown on TV it must be true. Therefore, I must run to the market and buy myself these miracle creams that will make my life bright and shiny and my parents proud. Marketers rejoiced in their cubicles as they feasted on the low self esteem and herd mentality of their target audience.
A fact that may have existed in society, got tweaked and twisted to yet another fact that would gain importance and recognition. An idea that rose to prominence from reality went to illusion to figment and again, to reality.
So what's perpetuating what, again? And what happened to social responsibility?
