Out of Time

By Samar Halarnkar

* A thirsty African bushman digs a hole, digs out a root and tries to wring water from it. He squeezes out a drop and just when it’s within reach, his friend distracts him. The drop falls to the floor and they end up chasing each other around a straw hut.

* It’s the two bushmen again, this time digging frantically for water with their hands. They see a water tap, yank it out and start digging with it instead.

‘Lemon, lemon, lemon,’ goes the punchline of a series of advertisements now playing on television screens nationwide. 

The loincloth-clad bushmen were flown in from Africa, and the ad for Parle-Agro’s LMN lemon drink was shot in Thailand. A good example of globalisation. “These short adverts have a different grammar of humour,” says Sajan Raj Kurup, chief creative officer of Creativeland Asia in CampaignIndia, an advertising industry publication. “They are strikingly bold and edgy. And definitely a departure from the regular humour we are used to. Whether you love them or not, I’m sure no one can ignore them.”

The Coca-Cola Company is running another prominent campaign for a competing drink: Sprite. Made by multinational ad agency Ogilvy and Mather (O&M), this, too, involves Africans, this time in grass skirts. They grab two Gen Y Indians. One of the Indians unsuccessfully tries to win them over with some frantic dancing. The other simply offers them Sprite.

In interviews, O&M’s group creative director Ajay Gehlaut defends his ads as ‘good humour’ and the use of Africans as ‘regular people’. Other agencies, too, use humour and the we-treat-them-like-us argument.

The issue isn’t the use of African tribals per se. The issue is the use of African tribals as a metaphor for backwardness. It reflects an ignorance that reinforces the bigotry many Indians betray in their dealings with Africans. I do not say Gehlaut and his people are bigots; just that the stereotypes they portray are, at best, terribly inappropriate in a globalised world. At worst, these ads perpetuate and strengthen the widespread, outright racism that Africans face in India.

Would they create humorous situations involving ‘regular people’ from India’s scheduled castes and tribes? Would they use Africans in other garbs — say, doctors or engineers? Would copywriters make an advertisement like this for Western markets? I doubt it.

This is not to say advertising in the West has not used racism, subtle or otherwise. Stereotypes are a human failing. But in an increasingly multicultural world, it is important to acknowledge and correct mistakes. About four years ago, German automaker Volkswagen released an advertisement for Polo, a car just released in India. It showed a terrorist blowing himself up in a Polo, killing only himself because the blast could not penetrate the car. ‘Small. But tough.’ It was funny. It was also a stereotype. Volkswagen yanked the ad and banned its release worldwide.

Advertising works at a subliminal level. It plays on joys, fears and other human feelings. It reinforces these feelings to prompt an action, usually a purchase, of a product or an idea. In 1998, the US witnessed the success of a racist ad issued to support the candidacy of George H.W. Bush. Using the picture and story of Willie Horton, a murderer sentenced to life — he raped and robbed during a weekend release programme — the ad made Democrat nominee Michael Dukakis seem powerless, as black convicts raped women. Dukakis had nothing to do with the prison-system lapse, but the ad played into racist fears. The Republican Party has a history of racially offensive campaign ads, and so it’s no surprise that African-Americans tend not to trust the party.

Even if you argue that the Sprite and LMN ads are not mean, they reinforce a mocking manner that many Indians use with Africans, who swiftly get to know what ‘kalu’ (‘blackie’) means. News of the racism that Africans face in India — from housing and restaurant discrimination to monkey hoots on the streets — spreads fast through the wired, global village.

“LMN, Sprite ads creators, no creative thinkers, outright bigots,” is the headline of a bitter post by a Ugandan student in Bhopal on the home page of www.thereigntimes.com, a site popular with Africans. He talks of growing up with Ugandans of Indian origin at home and then being shocked — despite prior warning — at the racism he faces in India: “For the first time in my life, I offended people, not with actions, reactions or anything closely such, but by virtue of the colour of my skin.” He makes the point that I do: that these ads “provoke racial stereotypes”, that they are just plain wrong in this day and age.

The negative effect of such ads and attitudes could prove especially damaging to India Inc as it prepares a big push into Africa, the world’s next emerging market. The purchase of telecom conglomerate Zain Africa by Bharti Airtel is a significant opportunity to regain some of the ground lost to China in the relentless tussle between the two countries for new markets, sources of raw material and influence. With a growth forecast of nearly 5 per cent, Africa is where Indian business is headed. “I believe the next decade is going to belong to Africa,” says Airtel Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal, who sees the continent as India was 15 to 20 years ago. Let’s hope in 20 years Africans don’t end up mocking us as we do them.