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Thanks to Digicel
By anand - Posted on 07 April 2007
Could someone explain why Indian men are so scarce in advertisements? In a country where we’re hardly a minority the conspicuous absence is glaring and shocking. Is it that we have no purchasing power and companies can therefore comfortably ignore us with impunity?
This is one of the sorest points with the Indo-Trinidadian community and is often used or misused to buttress perceptions of and discussions on discrimination, alienation and marginalization. I am sick and fed up of hearing people complain about how interracial or mixed couples are always portrayed by reference to a non-Indian man. Women of all races (and yes, quite a lot of good looking Indian ones too boot) are frequently shown as partners or spouses of African, Mixed and White men but it is as if it is criminal offence to show them in a relationship with an Indian man. Small wonder it is used as ammunition and evidence by those who believe in sinister conspiracy theories about this being part of the attempt to assimilate or ‘douglarise’ us.
Indian men are relegated to the mandatory rum and roti advertisements or flour and oil. And of course, the Clico ad about the rural rice farmer ‘who knows where to go for good financial advice.’ The pot-belly, lethargic stereotype from the countryside features a lot but its bad advertising to show young good looking Indian guys in ads. We don’t go to gyms or play any sports and hence don’t look good enough to be associated with any product.
I was thrilled to see Dinesh Ramdhin and Ramnaresh Sarwan featuring in a Digicel advertisement with Chris Gayle on the cover of Air Caribbean’s magaizine. In fact, Digicel’s advertisements have been a breath of fresh air! Digicel seems to have discovered we exist and have broken with tradition by using Indian men in its ads. (Mind you, we are yet to feature in any of the ads with sexy girls whispering sweet nothings into the ears of their boyfriends-that might have been pushing it too far!) No company has given us such prominence in ads before – thank you, Digicel.
Compare Digicel to BMobile. Imagine the world cup advert with our prince, Brian Lara calling friends to play cricket with a youth on the beach does not contain a single Indian in it! I wonder if BMobile would have ever dared to run such an ad with only Indians in it? If it did, I wonder how the non-Indian community would have felt.
Add this to the on-going BMobile soap opera with Margaret trying to use her hunky neighbour’s phone and all the other adverts and you will see that we Indian men are simply not the ‘smartchoice’ when it comes to BMobile! (And no, Spalk does not represent us, he is mixed). To make matter worse, the one Indian artiste BMobile sponsors (Raymond Ramnarine), has done his best to look like Shurwayne Winchester, cane rows and all, because he is in the midst of a grave identity crisis or thinks he would get further with his crossover music if he dilutes his Indianess. Sadly, he’s probably right.
When an Indian guy does feature in an ad, his role is peripheral and subsidiary. Even when it comes to little children, Indian boys are treated in a similar manner-never the centre of attention with the pretty girl.
I challenge readers to conduct their own informal survey. Even with kids, the discrimination is the same – Indian girls yes, Indian boys no or, with a minor subsidiary role. Scotia bank’s advertisement of its sponsorship of West Indies Kiddies cricket barely manages a token reference glimpse of an Indian boy. Could Scotibank have ever constructed this ad with a young Indian boy hitting a six and smashing the glass in the bank only to be comforted by an Indian bank manager? I doubt it.
Only this week, the press published pictures of Nataki Dilchan, a Clerk from the House of Representatives and Joseph Dipnarine, whose daughter was murdered. It reminded many that non-Indian women do in fact choose us as their life-partners. No ethnic group has a monopoly on racially mixed couples. Why not have some balance and reflect our diverse racial groups?
For those without the capacity to walk around in our shoes and see how nasty it feels to be treated as though we have the plague by the advertising industry, I have composed this poem for you to sing:
If yuh mixed, yuh fixed
If yuh Afro, yuh good to go
If yuh Indian, yuh just not Caribbean
