So far, I used to think of ads as a means by which you come to know of a product / service. I never gave it more thought than that. But if you look more closely, you can look at the ads in general that are shown in a country and get a sense of its prevailing culture. If you look at ads in India, especially the ads that are targeted at women - such as the oils, soaps, cooking ranges or other household electronics, you will notice that the ad shows a whole family and how the woman is able to take care of her in laws, husband and kid better because of this new product. Some ads show the husband and kids playing outside and coming back in with dirty clothes and the woman taking it all with a big smile because she has this new soap with some "proactive" ingredients that will clean everything effortlessly. Similar concepts show up for washing machines too. For oils it shows the woman taking care of the health of the older people in her family. Ads for other products use family too - for example, some product that is supposed to reduce acidity in the stomach shows a big family gathering and people eating a lot and then someone using this product to reduce acidity. I dont know if "family based advertising" has gone down after I left India. I never seem to get time to watch much of TV when I go back there now. But it definitely used to be based a lot on families. I guess the ads are sort of targeted at our psyche that wants the big happy family life.
The other big class of ads in India are targeted at younger women who are not yet married. For them, it is all about fairness creams and lotions. And that ads invariably show these girls using some or the other product and as a result getting married to a handsome man in a lavish wedding. And of course, that must be the best way to sell anything (similar concepts show up for almost all fairness creams, sometimes for soaps, very often for sarees, and of course, for jewellery), because every girl wants the lavish wedding and the handsome man. As soon as she gets married, I guess she is considered to fall into the other category where she should be taking care of the whole family.
In the US though, the whole family is rarely shown. Women's products are shown a lot, but it seems to only show "earlier" and "later" or just a woman with skimpy clothes looking very made up and surreal. The ads show women of all color and race, and I have not yet seen an ad show what effect the product had on her social life. Is this because "family" wont sell here? In fact, the only product for which I seem to notice "family" come into the picture is for medicines and restaurants. Some medicine ads show people able to enjoy a family outing because they are taking medication. Does it mean people here only become aware of families when they fall ill? Some restaurants show the whole family eating junk food together. What does get shown most often however is stuff like "Shop until you drop" or "Maxinista / Fashionista" or being "in season", as though having all the latest and best things is an achievement in itself. It seems based on the premise that women will keep buying stuff whether they need it or not. And it does not seem to serve any purpose, other than being fashionable. That makes me wonder if all American women are really like that - do they only care about buying more stuff and presenting themselves with "new looks" every day? No other goals in life?
