MK 501 E INTERNATIONAL CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

REPORT ON: ETNOCONSUMERISM Emerging Maturialism Submitted to: Prof. Marc Porter Submitted by: Digvijay Sharma (20120660)

INDEX

Introduction Maturialism in American Advertisements Consumer Behaviour: An American Perspective Maturialism in Indian Advertisements Consumer Behaviour: An Indian Perspective Inference References

Introduction
Since the beginning of time sexuality has been considered to be the most primitive instinct of mankind. But, as the system of living developed and got entwined with commerce, sexuality began to be considered as one of the most important tool of advertising. The emergence of utilization of the callous human instincts in the form of sexuality began to surface as early in 1871(pearl tobacco advertisement) mainly by American advertisement media. We surely have come far away in matured advertisement techniques used to allure and gather the attention of potential customers but still there is an ongoing debate on the aspect of whether sex cells or not and in this report we will discuss and try to figure out the trends of utilizing maturalism in the American and Indian markets and the effect that it has in tapping the potential customers. Although there has been an immense research carried out in order to understand the effect that the usage of maturalism has on consumers but still there is no significant breakthrough that can guide us to a definite result. While using maturalism as a tool for endorsing the product some crucial things have to be kept mind. It has to be made sure that the sexuality used in the advertisement does not overpower the presence of the product to be endorsed and also should it make sense in the frame that it is used in so as to avoid the entire advertisement from looking absurd. Using maturalism in marketing has always been a successful method of attaining attention from the consumers, even though some of the concepts used in maturalistic advertising have backfired and became controversial, nevertheless they attained the desired attention. Considering to the trend in the past, advertisments have been using women to pose nude in the commercials. However, in recent years men are also being portrayed in a sexualized image to target the female consumer, though women continue to dominate their presence in mature advertisements. It is also worth noticing that the industries that use maturalism in their advertisements have to have a dash of glamour in their existence. Industries like fashion, wine and spirits, tobacco, perfume and others of the similar league are well known and experienced enough to use sexuality as a tool in their endorsements. Thus, we should know that mature content in advertisements cannot be applied to all the industries trying to create an awe amongst customers and most importantly it can not to be used to tap all the available audience, for example a very big amount of consumer strata i.e. children cannot be allured by using maturalism in any way.

Maturalism in American Advertisements:

American marketers have been using the concept of sexuality in advertisements for a long time now. Primarily for the reason that they broke the barricades and pioneered to market products related to sex like condoms lubricants etc. Also there has been an intense use of mature content in advertisements pertaining with alcohol, apparel and cosmetics industries. Talking about some advertisements that left their mark in the Maturalistic advertisement sector we have
1. Nike created an advertisement in 2004 which had a streaker running across a field

completely naked apart from a pair of Nike shoes. The ad was aired during one of the playoff games of super bowl and hence many Americans saw the commercial. Although the commercial did not leave a deep impact but it still stirred a small controversy fuelled by American Family Association
2. The first commercial to feature a completely nude man in its commercial was for Yves

Saint Laurent. This advertisement ended up creating a lot of heat to the extent that GQ (American version of the guy magazine) refused to publish this advertisement in their magazine. Therefore, the commercial remains to be unseen to the present day.
3. For the first time in the history of American television sexuality was introduced in

advertisement by Monday night football. The ad depicts a woman covered just in a towel approaching a football player and then she removes the towel and makes a comment that was sexual related. The ad ended up shocking everybody and the entire country saw it. Rogers, Nicole. ABC PLAYED IT PERFECTLY; DESPERATE STUNT BEFORE FOOTBALL GAME HAS CERTAINLY GOTTEN THE AUDIENCE TALKING. Wisconsin State Journal 18 Nov. 2004: C1.

4. Another very interesting commercial that is worth mentioning is a commercial by Omex.

It is a lens and camera manufacturing company. The advertisement comprises of two naked women relaxing on the beach and a man taking a picture of the view. The idea is to emphasize on the wide angle lens. The ad eventually was a huge success.

5. American Apparel, a very established brand of clothing has been known to use naked

women in mostly all of their ads. For example there is an ad with a topless woman exercising with weights in her hands and flaunting disco shorts by American Apparel. The major success of the company actually goes to the kind of maturalism used in their ad campaigns

Consumer Behavior on Maturalism: An American Perspective

The concept of using maturalism in advertisements started way back in 1970s in America. Although commensurate to the nature of the content it obviously came as a shock to all the consumers but now every American consumer has adapted to the change and responds enthusiastically to the adult content. There is more than one impact that mature content leaves on an American consumer. Considering the fact that there is a group of people who are against maturalism in the advertisements but still on a greater picture it sustains as a success. The shift in the marketing methodology was observed when American movies or Hollywood started capitalizing itself on the phenomenon that Sex cells. This brought a dramatic change in the mindset of Americans and gradually they began to get comfortable with it. Another interesting thing to be observed is the kind of industries that use maturalism in their communication. It will be found that all the companies that use adult content in their communication have a relatively younger potential market. Also many of them just target the present day youth who is already very vulnerable and attracted to the idea of sexuality in general. The worst case scenario for any ad using adult content is when it backfires, even then in a country like America where people have huge exposure and broad thinking, the controversy or disliking for the commercial turns out to be counterproductive and ends up in being a successful ad that attains the attention it demanded. Acknowledging the fact that an average American consumer is well informed and has a plethora of options to choose from, hence the idea of using maturalism in communication is losing its value because of the following reasons:

American marketers now have been using communication with sexuality for a long time now and hence the American consumer has got adapted to it. Therefore, the awe that such a communication is supposed to create does not happen anymore. The main purpose of using maturalism in the advertisement is to obtain a special attention. But because the concept of using maturalism has become ubiquitous

and hence the market is saturated with it. Every brand or a company is using it to gather attention. Hence the effect that maturalism creates on consumers is fading in America. It is becoming a normal tool of garnering attention and people have started to understand it.

Maturalism in Indian Advertisements

Until recently the entire Indian media was completely oblivious to the concept of Maturalism being used in brand communication. But in the past five years primarily due to the western influence on the Indian market and also due to accelerated globalization, the display of sexuality has started to be observed in Indian commercials. Let us take a look at some of the communication that has been able to introduce maturalism in Indian marketing market:
1. It all began with the most controversial ad of 1990s when two Indian

models (Milind Suman and Madhu Sapre) posed nude for a commercial shot for Tuff shoes. The models posed with just a pair of shoes and a python on their body. The advertisement instantly became a topic of controversy but still remains to be the first Indian advertisement with mature content.
2. During the time when Bisleri, a famous mineral water brand in India was

going through the transition from pure & safe to play it safe, it came up with an advertisement in which a couple was shown as having sex and drinking Bisleri water in between on a beach.
3. Another advertisement that fits in the mature advertisement genre is the

Amul Macho underwear ad. The ad shows a typical Indian woman cleaning her husbands underwear near the river fantasizing that her husband is still wearing that underwear. It turned out to be a very successful ad as the market share of the company went exponentially up to 250 crores immediately after this advertisement.
4. The advertisement by Set Wet Zattack deodorant also came as a surprise to

all the Indian consumers. It features an Indian woman getting extremely aroused for a man wearing Zattack deodorant. Her gestures made the entire advertisement to look obscene and sexually explicit. Although the

ad was on air for a long time still it finally managed to attain some controversy in the end.
5. A Switzerland based Underwear Company Calida also left a mark in the

mature advertisement industry in India. In 1998 Calida came up with a commercial in which a male model is trying to remove the underwear of a female model with his teeth.

Consumer Behavior on Maturalism: An Indian Perspective

Indian consumers for a long time were completely oblivious to the concept of Maturalism in marketing. There are many reasons that contribute to it. Firstly, because an ideal Indian consumer is highly conservative when it comes to sexually explicit content. The family and social system in India does not encourage the use of sexuality and maturalism in media. Not to forget that the depiction of anything related to the act of sex in Indian media was despised immediately without even giving it a second thought. But as explained earlier that with the increasing influence of western culture (which has accepted sexuality and nudity in the media in due course of time), increasing globalization and changing patterns in Bollywood (the Indian film industry), Indian consumers have started feeling non reluctant to mature content in advertising strategies. The major target audience for all the companies trying to attain attention through mature communication is the Indian youth. The present day Indian youth is better informed and well adjusted to the idea of maturalism than the older generation primarily because he/she has been brought up in the digitalized age and internet has played a big role in changing and shaping the bent of mind people have towards mature content in marketing. Also the image and functional basis of women is changing in India, as per the formal belief that women are supposed to be homemakers and nothing else, it is observed that the present day Indian woman is experiencing her much needed exposure and is making a shift from being a typical house woman to a working self sustaining independent woman. This change in the role of an Indian woman also encourages the proliferation of Mature marketing in India.

Another segment of Indian consumers which is the rural population and actually contributes to 70% of the potential Indian market is also changing due to the forced exposure they receive in terms of means of mass communication and also because of the increase in rural-urban communication. There is a huge benefit in introducing maturalism in Indian market because of the following reasons:

The Indian consumers are not accustomed to experience adult content in advertisements hence the main purpose of using sexually explicit content i.e.to gain undue attention will be fulfilled easily. In the recent times specially due to the exposure provided by internet, the Indian consumers have become broad minded to mature communication which does not guarantee that an Indian consumer will like it, but to some extent it ensure that an Indian consumer will not be offended by it. Hence it gives marketers who wish to use maturalism in their communication a chance to play with the newly created bent of mind.

INFERENCE
As it is evident enough that using Maturalism is a successful method of gaining mass attention. Although the debate whether it is ethical or not will always continue to remain because at the end of the day it is more about individual perception than anything else. In the case of American market, maturalism has see its glory days. But because it has been used to allure the American consumer for a long time now (since 1893), hence it has begun to lose its charm. On the other hand if we talk about the Indian market, as we have already seen that it is relatively a newer tactic as compared to than in American market and hence the concept of using maturalism has a huge scope in making its mark and seducing the Indian consumer. If at all we look at the bigger picture then we see that markets similar to India in their ethical structure are also catching up with the concept of maturalism and shock advertising. Talking about markets like China, Turkey, Pakistan etc. which have not been tapped on the basis of Maturalistic advertising are gradually opening up towards it. People in these markets are slowly learning to appreciate and respond to the dark side of marketing communication, which in itself opens up newer avenues and bigger targets for all the brands. Talking precisely for the cosmetic and fashion industry, this change in consumer behavior could work wonders for them especially in markets as huge as India and China. What is crucial for the marketers is being extremely cautious about their Maturalistic marketing campaigns in markets like these because the concept of adult advertising is still being introduced in them. Any act of extreme boldness or a slight mistake could close these markets from further intervention on Maturalistic communication grounds. Another important point to be kept in mind is that the new generation of consumers is capable of handling much more honest conversations, more daring innovations, more quirky flavors, more risqu experiences and hence they end up looking for adrenaline and shock and brands nowadays

deliver just that, but the brands should also make sure that they do not end up corrupting their
potential audience.

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