Zomato withdrew the ad after a huge backlash
The backlash over a Zomato ad for its alleged casteist content, and the subsequent action by the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, serves as a wake-up call for the Indian advertising industry. It urges them to engage with Indian socio-political realities and not be oblivious to caste.
On Tuesday, the food delivery platform was served notice by the National Commission for Scheduled Castes for its ad featuring the character "Kachra". This was a week after Zomato withdrew the ad following a huge backlash over its portrayal of Kachra, drawing parallels with a character of the same name from the movie Lagaan. The ad showed a person, the same actor who played the role in the movie, as a prop like a table or potted plant.
An ad meant to promote the message of recycling ended up causing outrage, with many calling it out as dehumanising and insulting to Dalits.
It's been a week since Zomato took down the ad, but the issue runs deeper. It is another reminder that advertising in India is often tone-deaf. Brands and businesses need to be more mindful of the country's social context.
When US tech giants are showing the willingness to understand caste, and when Indian cinema and OTT shows are attempting to bring in characters from marginalised communities to play inspiring and prominent roles, what is stopping the Indian advertising industry?
Zomato Ad - How Not To Be Creative
Professor Suryakant Waghmore, who teaches sociology at IIT-Bombay, said the advertising industry is not trained in the basics of Indian society. There is much to learn from the West, especially the way they handle race, he said, adding that the Zomato ad should serve as a case study of how not to be creative.
"We do see some changes in cinema and OTT platforms. I have served as a consultant to some OTT platforms, and they are increasingly wanting to portray the marginalised groups without prejudice, but much needs to change in the advertising sector."
He said the Zomato episode is a sign of a decaying culture that persists in the advertising industry. "What is embarrassing is that the makers of Lagaan had enough backlash for the way they had imagined the character of Kachra and the caste prejudices it embodied," he said. He also pointed out that the advertisement was strongly criticised by active Bahujan groups on social media, highlighting the limited awareness among the upper castes in recognizing such caste-based issues.
Many say Indian advertising is not equipped to engage with the country's socio-political realities.
Image guru Dilip Cherian said often advertising companies go beyond their brief to be "hypercreative". He suggested that "cease and desist" is a better approach here, "particularly when there is some unnatural exuberance to think you can change the country through advertising".
Mr Cherian added: "The sensitivity that is needed to address these issues cannot come through ads...30 seconds are never enough to have the nuance that is needed to deal with such issues."
Many ads in the past have come under scrutiny for their insensitive portrayal of Dalit characters and Dalit issues. For instance, an electronics maker was criticised a few years ago for showing suicide and talking about academic performance, right after the death by suicide of research scholar Rohith Vemula.
Paul Diwakar, a prominent Dalit activist, said there is very little about Dalit culture or aspirations in advertising, which is where exclusion begins. There should be a conscious effort to be more inclusive, both in the thinking and the portrayal, he said. "What the Zomato ad did is internalised in many of us. There are always instances of micro-aggression based on certain profiling of members of the Scheduled Caste community - a look of surprise at seeing them use a car or wear good clothes, looking a certain way or even asking the non-vegetarians to eat separately. Only making a conscious effort can check that."
Indian advertising needs diversity, critical understanding of Caste
Sumeet Mhaskar who teaches at the Jindal School of Government and Public Policy, said caste is central to the functioning and sustenance of capitalism in India.
"Of 8,387 board members across corporates, 92.6 % belong to the forward castes (44.6 % Brahmins, 44 % Vaishyas and 3.5 % Kshatriyas), 3.8 % OBCs and 3.5 % Dalits and Adivasis. Given the absolute control of the upper castes over the economy, there is hardly any chance for caste discrimination to be taken seriously. It does not affect their business and so things will go on as usual. Neither the government nor the judiciary has ever intervened and or acted against such problems. Therefore, we cannot expect anything positive from the corporate sector," Mr Mhaskar said.
Prof Waghmore pointed out that caste was not a priority for the corporates, even for those that indulge in the rhetoric of diversity and inclusion. He suggested that a critical understanding of caste had to be built into the educational infrastructure of corporate bodies. "A few schools of leadership have taken some steps to include caste in their curriculum, but we still have a long way to go...," he said.
Mr Mhaskar pointed out that corporate India thinks of caste diversity in terms of inefficiency, and said it was important to get out of that mindset. "Companies need to make a conscious effort to include people who belong to socially marginalised groups and also make the office environment diversity friendly so that people from marginalised castes and groups can freely talk about the issues of discrimination in their offices, " he said.
He said ads cannot normalise casteist practices. "Humour is a powerful instrument. And dehumanising a group - in this case, Dalits - has a massive impact on their self-esteem. Zomato never accepted what they did was casteist. Only when they do that can we count that as an apology. ...Only by talking about caste discrimination and how it operates on an everyday basis, the brand can learn about what is unacceptable," he said.
"The government's role is central, and they need to step in and make it compulsory for private companies to sensitise their employees about caste. If we leave it to the companies to do something on caste voluntarily, they are not going to do anything about it. Because it really doesn't affect their business," Mr Mhaskar asserted.