Consumption as Lifestyle: The Use of Western Lifestyle as a Status Symbol in Multinational Corporations' Advertising in India

Authors

Alissa Goddard, SIT Study Abroad

Home Institution

Hamilton College

Publication Date

Fall 2009

Program Name

India: National Identity and the Arts

Abstract

This paper examines the use of Western lifestyle as depicted in advertising by multinational companies through the use of English in advertising; sexually evocative imagery; and background images in advertisements that reflect Western lifestyles. These messages perpetuated by multinational companies of the elite status of Western lifestyle are further enhanced due to the pervasive influences of the mediums in which these lifestyles are communicated to Indian consumers (e.g. primarily television and magazines). However, this paper also examines how the products that the Indian consumer purchases to emulate this Western lifestyle are actually not the same products sold in the Western world. This is either because the average Indian consumer cannot afford the products that are sold in the Western world or because the Indian consumers want Western products with Indian style. This means that the products produced by multinational companies in India and sold as representing the Western lifestyle are actually Indian products associated with Western brands.

Disciplines

Communication Technology and New Media | Sociology of Culture

Recommended Citation

Goddard, Alissa, "Consumption as Lifestyle: The Use of Western Lifestyle as a Status Symbol in Multinational Corporations' Advertising in India" (2009). Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection. 811.
https://digitalcollections.sit.edu/isp_collection/811