CHAPTER

CHAPTER

7 Understanding
Advertising
Today we are surrounded by advertisements or
ads as we call them. We watch these on
television, listen to them on radio, see them on
the streets and in newspapers and magazines.
Even taxis and rickshaws carry advertisements
on them. When we go to cinemas, we see
advertisements before the film begins and on
the Internet, they often pop-up when we go into
different websites. What do advertisements do?
How do they attract our attention? Read more to
find out…
Advertisements draw our attention to various
products and describe them positively so that we
become interested in buying them. In this chapter,
we will focus on the two advertisements that you see
Look at the two advertisements
above to understand what advertising does and how
above and fill the table.
it works.

Top Taste Daal Care Soap

What are the advertisements selling?
How do they describe the product?
What is the text trying to say? Guests should be served this.
What do the pictures convey? Love of a mother.
Would you want to buy these products
after seeing the advertisement?

Building brands and brand values

Have you ever heard of the word brand

brand? Advertising
is all about building brands. At a very basic level,
Do you think there is a problem in
‘branding’ means stamping a product with a
using the image of the mother as
particular name or sign. This is done in order to
the only person who takes care of
differentiate it from other products in the market.
the child in the Care Soap
advertisement?
So, let us look again at the advertisements above.
Why do you think the manufacturers of the soap
and the daal gave their products a specific name?

Chapter 7: Understanding Advertising 81

 Daals or pulses are usually sold loose in the
market. We usually know daals by their different
types like masoor ki daal, urad ki daal, etc. These
names are not brand names. When a company takes
masoor ki daal and puts it into a packet, it will need
to give the daal a special name. It needs to do this so
that we don’t confuse the daal in that particular
packet with the daal that is sold loose. They decide
on a name like ‘Top Taste Daal’. This naming of the
product is called ‘branding’.

Similarly, in the case of the soap, there are many

soaps in the market today. In bigger towns and cities,
Branding actually came from cattle
we no longer just say soap but rather refer to them
grazing. Cattle of different owners
using the different names of companies that make
grazed together in ranches and they often
them. Given the many soaps in the market, the
got mixed up. The owners thought of a
company will have to give the soap a different and
solution. They started marking their
special name. By doing this they create another
cattle with the owner’s sign by using a
brand of soap.
heated iron. This was called ‘branding’.
Just naming the product may not make us buy it.
The manufacturers that made the soap and the daal
still have to convince us that their soap and daal are
better than the others available in the market. This
is where advertising comes in. It plays a crucial role
in trying to convince us to buy the product that is
advertised.

The task of creating a brand does not stop at giving

the product a special name. For example, just when
‘Top Taste Daal’ begins to be sold, another company
decides to also sell daals in a packet and calls this
‘Best Taste Daal’. So, now there are two branded
daals in the market. Both the companies are keen
that you buy their daals.

The consumer is confused because you really

cannot tell the difference between ‘Top Taste Daal’
and ‘Best Taste Daal’. The manufacturer has to give
the consumer a reason to prefer a particular brand
of daal. Just naming a daal does not help sell it. So,
advertisers begin claiming certain special values for
their brand. In this way, they try to differentiate it

82 Social and Political Life

from other similar products. Look below at how the Manufacturers spend crores of rupees
two daals try and do this. to make sure that we see their
advertisements wherever we go.
From the advertisements, you can now see that
the two daals are saying different things. ‘Top Taste
Daal’ is appealing to our social tradition of treating
guests extremely well. ‘Best Taste Daal’ is appealing
to our concern for our children’s health and that
they eat things that are good for them. Values such
as treating our guests well and making sure our
children get nutritious food are used by brands to
create brand values. These brand values are
conveyed through the use of visuals and words to
give us an overall image that appeals to us.

Brand values and social values

Advertisements are an important part of our social

and cultural life today. We watch advertisements,
discuss them and often judge people according to
the brand products they use. Given that
advertisements are such a powerful source of
influence in our lives, we need to be able to
understand the ways in which they work.

Chapter 7: Understanding Advertising 83

 Let us look more closely at the two advertisements
that we began the chapter with. If we ask all of the
questions listed, we will realise the way in which
these two advertisements work.

Branded daals cost much more than daals that

are sold loose because they include the costs of
packaging and advertising. So, many people cannot
afford them. However, because of the advertisement,
people who cannot afford Top Taste Daal might begin
to feel that they are not treating their guests properly.
Gradually, people will come to believe that only
branded daals are good and will want to buy the
daal that comes in a sealed packet rather than that
which is sold loose. But, in reality there is little
difference between daals that are sold loose and those
sold in a packet. We are just made to imagine the
difference because of the advertisement.

In the Care Soap advertisement, once again a

personal emotion is being used. As a mother, if you
want to show your child you care, then you have to
buy this expensive soap. The advertisement uses the
mother’s concern for her child. It tells the mother
that her love and care is best shown through using
this particular brand of soap. Because of this,
mothers begin to feel that using this soap is a sign
of how much they love their child. In this way, the
advertisement uses the love of a mother for her child
What does this advertisement to sell this expensive soap. Mothers who cannot
want me to feel when I use this afford this soap might begin to feel that they are not
brand? giving their children the best care.

Who is this advertisement talking As you can see with the two advertisements, they
to and who is it leaving out? often target our personal emotions. By linking our
personal emotions to products, advertisements tend
If you have money to buy these to influence the ways in which we value ourselves
products, how would you feel as persons.
when you see these
advertisements? If you do not Often several of our cricket heroes and our
have money, then how would you favourite film stars also try and sell products to us
feel? through advertisements. We may feel tempted to buy
these products because persons whom we consider

84 Social and Political Life

our heroes tell us that they are worth buying. In
addition, advertisements often show us images of
the lifestyles of rich people and seldom show us the
reality of peoples’ lives that we see around us.

This collage,
prepared by school
children, shows
celebrities
promoting
products.
It was recently
reported that a top
cricketer signed a
three-year contract
to do various
advertisements for
Rs 180 crores.
A popular model
may charge
Rs 5 lakh or more
per advertisement.

Advertisements play a big role in our lives. We not

only buy products based on them, but often, having
certain brand products influences the ways in which
we think about ourselves, our friends and our family.
The telecast rate for a 30 second
It is, therefore, important to know how advertising
advertisement on a major TV channel is
works and understand what it does before we choose
Rs 1.65 lakh.The cost of bringing out a
to buy the products that advertisements sell. We need
quarter page colour advertisement in a
to be able to critically understand why they use
leading newspaper is Rs 8.36 lakh.
particular images, the personal emotion that they
are appealing to and the ways in which this affects
how we think about ourselves when we use the
product or are not able to buy it.

Chapter 7: Understanding Advertising 85

 How does an advertisement get made?

Advertising is a very important part of getting people

to buy a brand. This does not happen easily and
several hundred books have been written on this.
Advertisements aim to get people to buy a particular
brand. This basically means that after we see an
advertisement we should want to buy the brand. Let
us see how the persons who make advertisements
decide on what images, text and personal emotions
to use to sell the product.

THE LOVING SOAP We need an advertising campaign that will

At the office of a create a new interest amongst consumers
who are already used to many brands.
prominent advertising agency...

As you know, our company has a strong Sir, our first task as an advertising agency
presence in all the metros and major is to determine the consumer profile for
cities.We would like to introduce our your soap, that is, identify the typical
new freshness soap as a very special user of such a high quality soap. We will
soap in the market, and aim to capture conduct market surveys to get a better
a large number of customers within the idea of this.Then we will visualise a
first six months of its release! campaign that will appeal to our specific
Target Audience.

Excellent! Then please

bring in the best market
research professionals for
the job.
A couple of weeks later... The creative team at the agency starts thinking...

Market surveys have revealed that young All the existing brands of How about associating our soap with
mothers between the ages of 21 and 40 are baby soap in the market the loving care of the mother! We
concerned about the soap they use for their emphasise ‘naturalness’, etc. should say that you cannot fully
children, and are willing to pay a higher price We need a different angle. express your love for your child
for a better product. We should create a brand without your soap!
identity that appeals to them.
We need a
Hmm...good idea. good brand
name to go
with that.

How about Yes, that’s a

Care Soap? brilliant idea!

The agency makes a The visuals and advertisements are

presentation to the client... then tested amongst the target audience.

Our campaign will be based on the concept: Yes. I think this promotes a
‘Care Soap – Express Your Love Afresh’. The new way of expressing love
visuals will focus on mothers and children to and care. I would like to try
re-inforce our brand strategy! this new brand.

Thank you
Madam!
I like the concept!

Once the marketing strategy is considered successful, the advertisement

campaign is finalised and released in various media along with the launch of the new care soap.
 Advertising and democracy

There are various ways in which advertising links to

issues of equality in a democratic society.

Advertising a product costs a lot of money. Usually,

Who do you think is the target crores of rupees are spent advertising a brand.
audience for the social Producing and showing advertisements in the media
advertisements below? is very expensive. Because there are so many
advertisements in the market today, companies have
What is the message that each to show the advertisement again and again to have
social advertisement is trying to it stick in people’s minds.
get across?
What this often means is that only large companies
Having read about diarhhoea can advertise. If you own a small business, you will
epidemic in the chapter on State not have the money to show your product on TV or
Government, can you make a national newspapers and magazines. So, persons
social advertisement on what who sell papad, pickles, sweets and jams that they
precautionary steps should be have made at home are not considered as fashionable
taken to prevent diarrhoea? as brand products. They often have to sell their

Social advertising
Social advertisements refer to advertisements made by the State or private agencies
that have a larger message for society. The following are two social advertisements:

Social
advertisement
regarding
educational
rights of
disabled
children.

Social
advertisement
regarding
crossing of
unmanned
railway
crossings.

88 Social and Political Life

products in weekly markets and neighbourhood
shops that you will read about in the following unit.

It also makes us believe that things that are

packaged and have a brand name are far better than
things that do not come in packets. We forget that
the quality of a product has little to do with the
packaging that it comes in. This shift to packaged
products negatively affects the sales of several small
businesses forcing people out of their livelihoods.

In a democracy in which all people are equal and Advertising makes us believe that things
should be able to lead a life of dignity, advertising that are packaged are better than things
tends to promote a certain lack of respect for the that do not come in packets.
poor. They are not the faces we most often see in
advertisements and so we tend to dismiss their lives
as worthless.

Advertising, because it appeals to personal

emotions also tends to make people who cannot
afford certain brands feel bad. They feel that they
are unable to give their loved ones the best care that
brand products appear to offer.

Chapter 7: Understanding Advertising 89

 Juice sellers like this one are losing Advertising by focusing on the lives of the rich and
customers who, because of advertising, famous helps us forget about issues of poverty,
prefer branded drinks. discrimination and dignity, all of which are central
to the functioning of equality in a democracy. More
than just selling us products, advertisements tell us
how we should live our lives, what we should aspire
and dream for, how we should express our love, what
it means to be smart, successful and beautiful. As
citizens of a democratic society, it is important for
us to be aware of the strong influence that advertising
has on our lives. By critically understanding what
advertisements do, we can make better decisions
about whether we wish to buy a product or not.

90 Social and Political Life

 EXERCISES

1. What do you understand by the word brand? List two

reasons why building brands is central to advertising?

2. Choose two of your favourite print advertisements. Now,

look at each of these and answer the following questions:

a. What visuals and text is being used in these

advertisements to attract my attention?

b. What values are being promoted in these

advertisements?

c. Who is this advertisement speaking to and who is it

leaving out?

d. If you could not afford the brand that is being

advertised how would you feel?

3. Can you explain two ways in which you think advertising

affects issues of equality in a democracy?

4. Making an advertisement requires a lot of creativity. Let

us imagine a situation in which a manufacturer has just
made a new watch. She says that she wants to sell this
watch to school children. She comes to your class and
asks you all to create a brand name as well as an
advertisement for the watch. Divide the class into small
groups and each group create an advertisement for this
watch. Share it with the class.

Glossary

Product: This refers to a thing or service that has been made for being sold in the market.

Consumer: This refers to the person for whom the goods or products have been made and who
pays money to buy and use them.

Brand: This refers to a special identification or name that is associated with a product. Such
identification is created through the process of advertising.

To influence: This refers to the power to change what someone believes or does.

Lifestyle: In this chapter, this word refers to people’s lives being identified by the products they
own, the clothes they wear, the places they eat in, etc.

Chapter 7: Understanding Advertising 91