So the moral guardians of Indian virtues have acted again. This time, with quite a heavy hand. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has ordered television channels not to broadcast "overtly sexual" deodorant adverts that use female models in racy storylines. What else can you expect from the ministry of Ambika Soni, who rose to fame and notoreity during the Emergency era?
Soni's ministry has raised serious objections to advertisements of deodorants available under the brand names of Wild Stone, Addiction Deo, New Axe Googly, Zatak Axe, Set Wet, Denver Deo and Axe. It has also objected to the “ad punch lines” used with the deodorant brand names during their telecast. It has gone on to say, “The depiction and portrayal in these ads is overtly sexual in overtones. The ads brim inherently with subtle messages aimed at tickling the libidinous male instincts and overly portraying women as lustily hankering after men under influence of such deodorants.” The ads apparently offend “good taste and decency” and appear “indecent, vulgar and suggestive.”
Those are the standard phrases the I&B Ministry consistently uses to crack down on advertisements. Agreed these are points that we can debate endlessly about over the issue of women being projected as sexual objects. We can still cook the ministry's goose over this on innumerable grounds of high-handed moral policing, but there are some observations of the ministry that should offend the sensibilities of all. At least, those who have certain sensibilities.
The ministry has underlined that they appear to denigrate women by subtly sending a message that the products “arouse women's sexuality.” Now don't say WTF to this. The message that the ministry sends out, in other words, is that women do not have the right to sexual arousal. What it also indirectly asserts is that there should not be products in the market which server the purpose. It's a different matter altogether whether women indeed do get turned on by these deodorants.
Wait, there's more.
"The ads brim with messages aimed at tickling libidinous male instincts," the statement said, and went on to add that these showed women "lustily hankering after men under the influence of such deodorants."
Same point again. What's wrong about tickling the basic instincts of men? If there are men who are naive enough to believe that they can get any woman, even the married kinds (as many of the ads explicitly suggest), let them remain the dolts that they must be. And women "lustily hankering after men" is a bit too much to take. What does Soniji want us to believe? That women shouldn't?
Though it has not said in as many words, what must have actually got the ministry's goat was that most of these advertisements show married women lusting for men, who are not their husbands. This would have been too much to take. Why, after all, should chaste, India married women hanker for other men? How the blazes can raunchy housewives go out seducing young hunks? That's grossly immoral. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting knows.
Meanwhile, you can have a look at the ads before they get yanked off Youtube too.
