Now, in-your-face TV!

Does the Indian youth really believe in these values (or non-values) shown on ‘in-your-face TV’? The ad-guru Alyque Padamsee says: “There is a new trend in advertising with a campaign which flies in the face of tradition, is funky and controversial. It’s like a song with a care-a-damn feel which constantly appeals to young people who today, tomorrow and forever want attitude”. However, sociologists believe that this attitude, where one doesn’t value relationships, is an illusion, where one thinks the appearance is the essence, writes Aradhika Sekhon

THE new mantra that ad-makers and the so-called youth programmes are propagating these days is something called ‘in- your-face TV’ which seeks to project a new brand of youth attitude.

What this naya funda basically tries to communicate is that subtlety is out and the basics are in. Hereby, the smile is replaced by a leer, humour elicits a knowing smirk and only a violent shock will get a reaction. Supposedly rooted in the old belief that the young rebel against the elders and old-fashioned customs, the media chants this mantra as it peddles its goods.

The ad-film makers are instrumentals in ushering in this trend primarily because their aim is to grab the attention of the viewer for those vital 30 seconds when their product is being displayed. To a viewer, who is constantly bombarded with advertisement (while watching a 30 minute tele-serial, one catches 30-40 ads), there’s got to be something different in an ad which will make him watch it without reaching for the remote. What can be a more effective attention — grabber than a bit of shock therapy mixed with some smut and labelled ‘in your face’? Take a look at some of the ads being beamed at the viewer several times a day:

The campaign for a pen where the little girl naughtily says sab kuch dikhta hai is definitely suggestive.

Then there is the soap-ad where an irresistible man is being chased by a group of women who just can’t get enough of his body odour. He takes off his shirt to pacify them but this doesn’t satisfy the gaggle of women, who, led by Madhu Sapre, finally hijack the odoriferous male. The ad is set against the backdrop of Shankar Mahadevan’s Breathless.

An ad for a suiting has Helen Brodie feeling up a mannequin ..... who actually is a real man.

‘Want one boys?’, says a swimsuit clad beauty suggestively at a poolside as two boys come across some girls. With their mouths hanging open and a glazed look in their eyes, the boy says, "In my next life I want to be a can of (the cold drink.)"

And many more such ads with lines like yeh dil maange more and baki sab bakwaas. Apart from these, shows like MTV bakra, V Dares You and songs like Kya soorat hai build up unrealistic images of youth and women.

Does the Indian youth really believe in these values (or non-values)? The ad-guru Alyque Padamsee defines this as: "There is a new trend in advertising with a campaign which flies in the face of tradition, is funky and controversial. It’s like a song with a care-a-damn feel which constantly appeals to young people who today, tomorrow and forever want attitude". However, sociologists believe that this attitude, where one doesn’t value relations is, an illusion, where one thinks the appearance is the essence. In the Indian context, this "funky and controversial" attitude has been triggered off by Channel V and MTV which are themselves ideological hallucinations as they seek to propagate the myth that the visible is the veracious. In reality, a majority of the Indian youth still remain rooted in their Indianness. This is evident from the popularity of films like Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, Hum Aapke Hain Kaun and Pardes etc which became runaway hits because of the values they sought to propagate. These values were conservative and not of the ‘in-your-face’ or ‘who cares’ variety.

In addition to ads, movies like Hello Brother have the immensely popular Salman Khan willingly stripping at the drop of a hat. "He lets down his hair and he does it with confidence. His entire persona has defined a new trend," says Kunal Kohli, film commentator and director. Shows like MTV Bakra or V Dares You where Channel V dares two young men to strip down to their underwear right in the middle of Connaught Place or make two guys kiss each other in the middle of the Lajpat Nagar market or get a boy to have his navel, lips and eyebrows pierced typify this new trend. MTV Bakra has Veejay Cyrus Broacha taking on various roles ranging from a hairdresser threatening to cut off a client’s hair with a pair of shears to a roadside Romeo hassling a girl at a bus stop or as a waiter at a dhaba picking up a fight with a customer. The show is the Indian version of Candid Camera. The idea is for the VJ to don disguises and play practical jokes creating uncomfortable situations for the unwary, while the whole thing is captured on camera.

The problem here is the invasion of other’s space and privacy. Not only that of the immediate target but also of the viewer. "It’s a slight nudge at the establishment. It doesn’t aim at destroying it" say the organisers of these shows. However, who decides how much is enough? The trouble with irreverence and rebellion is that when these are defined by such frivolous and inane deeds, then the trivial become profound. It is also out of tune with a society which is still struggling to differentiate between what is personal and what is public. Indeed, what may be acceptable to the viewer of The Bold and the Beautiful may make him uncomfortable in the context of his own society.

These shows and ads justify their existence by propagating the idea that youth has always had the impulse to flout rules by doing outrageous things. In reality, however, these are merely acts of bravado that make the protagonists little heroes in the eyes of their peers. These are not things one does everyday but are once-in-a-lifetime acts. This proves that such an attitude doesn’t come naturally to the youth and is being thrust upon them. A bigger aspect of these values is that appreciation from the peer group can be easily achieved by such trivialities rather than through work or achievement.

A revolt against traditional values is basically a revolt against the establishment. This, however, is not the case with this breed of youth who do not shun the privileges accruing from the establishment — money, cars, clothes — and do not take a stand on any issue whatsoever.

The other aspect of ‘in -your-face TV’ is the new breed of women that the media is projecting. This breed is of a bold and brassy variety and which is not afraid to send out signals to or show interest in men. This is cashing in on a kind of sexist advertising which is designed to shock and does not reflect a deeper social trend.

This new woman is visible in the whisky ad which has Dino Morea stripping while model Shivangi Parikh thinks he is reaching out for her. He is, in fact, going for the whisky. Similarly, the beauty in the cold drink ad who thinks that Salman Khan wants her when he is in fact going after the drink. The objectification of women, an old trend, has taken on a completely new turn with the media propagating this image of women. Even if we accept that the new woman is a reality, her portrayal should be with more subtlety and sensitivity. Also, one must remember that advertising which almost always shows men and women in a sexual situation cannot be healthy in a country where changing attitudes in the media are not accompanied with similar change in society.

Another danger of this trend is that things have to get progressively more shocking or violent to get attention. There are groups that raise a voice against the crass vulgarity or sheer tastelessness being beamed, but very little is done after the initial hue and cry has died down. For e.g., the Media Advocacy Group, a viewers’ forum in Delhi, which complained to the Advertising Standards Council about Feasts’ ‘mate your stick’ campaign in June has yet to get any response from them.

Such voices are thus, not audible in the overwhelming din raised in favour of ‘freedom and creativity’. No one stops to wonder what freedom or choice does the average TV viewer, who has just one TV set, have if he does not want his family to be subjected to these tasteless and fake concepts. Granted that these target the youth, but how can a responsible media overlook the fact that the entire population of the country is not between 16 and 25 years of age?