Entry 3
So its another day and more things to do today. One thing that struck me today as something that I want to talk about was advertisements on Television. Actually I strongly feel about many ads on TV. Several of them are completely unnecessary and very demeaning to majority of society. Btw I'm talking from a strictly Indian point of view.
There are two kinds of ads that bother me most - 1) the Sexist Kind and 2) the Racist Kind - or maybe the second one isn't strictly racist but I'm not sure there is a word to describe it. Anyways you'll see what I mean when I explain it.
I have always been bothered by the second one. But I never saw the first as a threat till my first year at college where one of my professors actually explained how this viewpoint was in fact very very sexist and it must be changed before causing more damage. Of course in India we give this form of sexism a new name and we say it is our culture. I mean of course ads that portray women in a specific domestic role. Be it washing the clothes or cooking the meals or managing their husbands' cholesterol levels. Before I go any further let me also say that there are a few ads that did comply with me standards and I believe that was for fridges - it shows the husband waiting up for his wife and cooking her a nice meal while she gets delayed at he office, and for Pril washing soap where the husband does the dishes. Even Act 2 is very reasonable about this.
In today's world where men and women are equally taking on the responsibility for running the household - be it by providing or by managing, then why should the media and many ad agencies be allowed to portray such views on national television? The 'No Paseena' Campaign should be a strike against all women who have to do all the laundry themselves all the time. The fully automatic washing machine that all married women on TV find is a big help to their household duties for washing clothes in between office shifts and managing the house can show a husband doing the washing for once. Or how about the husband gets a snack ready for the children, and manages the general nutrition of the house. I'd like to see an ad where the woman has let herself physically go the same way that all their husbands seem to have (in these ads), There's nothing wrong with the media portraying the 'perfection' image because after all that's what the media is for - make things seem perfect when they're not. But this is going a little too far and it has got to change and I don't think things are likely to change until and unless those of us who are aware of this issue stand up for what's right.
The reason I feel racism isn't enough to cover this next subject is because I'm not talking about one race in this. I want to talk about Fairness. And I mean physically light coloured skin. Ok you may think whoever is writing this is dark that's y they're taking issue with this and disregard me - but that is your problem. Because tomorrow if you have a girl who is dark - which by the way can happen to anyone considering the gene for being darker ( producing more melanin that required) is a dominant one so even if you're whiter than snow you can still have children that are not. So what are you going to do about it then? Do you really want her growing up with the values that because she's dark she can't do what she wants in life? Eg 1: The girl who wants to be a star and doesn't think she can and then her dad gives her something that makes her 'beautiful from within' - a cream to make her fair and as soon as she becomes fair, people notice her and she becomes a star. Eg 2. This ones pretty old but some of you may still remember it. The girl who wants to be a sports commentator and spends all her time pretending to be one with a newspaper microphone. She gets rejected when she goes for her interview and one day she uses the fairness cream and she becomes fair and then even without an interview the camera just picks up on her image and she becomes one.
Is this really the image that we are giving to the Next generation? that you need to be fair to get noticed and if you're not fair then you will not be able to achieve anything in life?
These are things that we need to discuss as these are some of the things that need to change in this every growing Country of ours. Take a step in the right direction today. Be the Change that you want to see.
There are two kinds of ads that bother me most - 1) the Sexist Kind and 2) the Racist Kind - or maybe the second one isn't strictly racist but I'm not sure there is a word to describe it. Anyways you'll see what I mean when I explain it.
I have always been bothered by the second one. But I never saw the first as a threat till my first year at college where one of my professors actually explained how this viewpoint was in fact very very sexist and it must be changed before causing more damage. Of course in India we give this form of sexism a new name and we say it is our culture. I mean of course ads that portray women in a specific domestic role. Be it washing the clothes or cooking the meals or managing their husbands' cholesterol levels. Before I go any further let me also say that there are a few ads that did comply with me standards and I believe that was for fridges - it shows the husband waiting up for his wife and cooking her a nice meal while she gets delayed at he office, and for Pril washing soap where the husband does the dishes. Even Act 2 is very reasonable about this.
In today's world where men and women are equally taking on the responsibility for running the household - be it by providing or by managing, then why should the media and many ad agencies be allowed to portray such views on national television? The 'No Paseena' Campaign should be a strike against all women who have to do all the laundry themselves all the time. The fully automatic washing machine that all married women on TV find is a big help to their household duties for washing clothes in between office shifts and managing the house can show a husband doing the washing for once. Or how about the husband gets a snack ready for the children, and manages the general nutrition of the house. I'd like to see an ad where the woman has let herself physically go the same way that all their husbands seem to have (in these ads), There's nothing wrong with the media portraying the 'perfection' image because after all that's what the media is for - make things seem perfect when they're not. But this is going a little too far and it has got to change and I don't think things are likely to change until and unless those of us who are aware of this issue stand up for what's right.
The reason I feel racism isn't enough to cover this next subject is because I'm not talking about one race in this. I want to talk about Fairness. And I mean physically light coloured skin. Ok you may think whoever is writing this is dark that's y they're taking issue with this and disregard me - but that is your problem. Because tomorrow if you have a girl who is dark - which by the way can happen to anyone considering the gene for being darker ( producing more melanin that required) is a dominant one so even if you're whiter than snow you can still have children that are not. So what are you going to do about it then? Do you really want her growing up with the values that because she's dark she can't do what she wants in life? Eg 1: The girl who wants to be a star and doesn't think she can and then her dad gives her something that makes her 'beautiful from within' - a cream to make her fair and as soon as she becomes fair, people notice her and she becomes a star. Eg 2. This ones pretty old but some of you may still remember it. The girl who wants to be a sports commentator and spends all her time pretending to be one with a newspaper microphone. She gets rejected when she goes for her interview and one day she uses the fairness cream and she becomes fair and then even without an interview the camera just picks up on her image and she becomes one.
Is this really the image that we are giving to the Next generation? that you need to be fair to get noticed and if you're not fair then you will not be able to achieve anything in life?
These are things that we need to discuss as these are some of the things that need to change in this every growing Country of ours. Take a step in the right direction today. Be the Change that you want to see.
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