ABSTRACT
The current research contributes to studies of advertising as it is the first study to
apply semiotic perspective to the comparison of magazine advertisements from India
and the Arab world. The literature of advertising studies shows that advertising in
India and the Arab world has been neglected in academic research as no studies have
dealt with comparing any type of advertisements from these two diverse parts of the
world.
The current study attempts to fill a gap in the academic research of advertising
utilizing semiotics as a tool to analyze the data. The main objective of the study is to
identify the cross-cultural differences in the features of advertisements collected from
general interest magazines read by men and women across these diverse cultural
spaces. The magazines are collected randomly from issues published in the period
2000 to 2007. The Indian magazines include India Today, The Outline, Cosmopolitan
and Elle. They are published in English and circulated all over India. The Pan-Arab
magazines are published in Arabic and distributed in all the Arab countries. These
magazines involve Al-Nahda, Al-Yaqaza, Hia, Sayidaty, Laha and Zahrat Al-Kkaleej.
The selection of magazines depends mainly on their availability, popularity and
readership in India and the Arab world.
The study .is divided into six chapters. Chapter I presents the aim and scope of the
study and its importance. It also provides a brief introduction to the debate of
localization versus standardization of global advertisements across different cultures.
It introduces· very briefly the main ideas of three schools of thought regarding the
advertising strategies that should be followed at the global level. It also presents a
brief introduction to semiotics and the main contribution of Saussure, Peirce, and
Roland Barthes. It discuses the application of semiotics to analyze the deep meaning
of messages in advertisements. The chapter also deals the different relationship
between advertising and religion in India and the Arab world.
Chapter II introduces the methodology followed in collecting the data, the selection of
magazines, advertisements, period, and procedures of analysis. It also reviews
important comparative studies of advertising which include the United States and
some culturally similar and dissimilar cultures. It introduces comparative studies of
advertising from India and the Arab world with advertisements from the United
States. Moreover, the chapter introduces three important studies of advertising which
adopted semiotics as a research method to analyse the data. At the same time, this
chapter introduces briefly how the current study differs from the previous studies of
advertising.
Chapter III focuses on comparing the strategies of global advertisers when marketing
the same products in India and the Arab world. It makes an attempt to explore the
impact of culture and religion in the use of visual and linguistic signs in global
advertisements and how the cross-cultural differences affect the idea of using
standardized advertisements across different cultures utilizing the same sign system.
This chapter includes twenty nine versions of global advertisements taken from the
Indian and the Pan-Arab magazines. There are many other advertisements which
reflect the same features. However, to avoid repeating the same ideas, only this
sample of advertisements are selected to illustrate the differences in the strategies of
global advertisers in the two cultural contexts. These advertisements are divided into
four groups according to their features. The semiotic analysis in the first three groups
focuses on exploring the advertising strategies of global advertisers in the Indian and
the Pan-Arab magazines. In the first group of advertisements, the analysis highlights
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the different depictions of the same female model and how it is used as two visual
texts reflecting different sexual representations. The female body is analyzed as a
linguistic text by looking at the different paradigmatic choices in the two cultural
contexts. The whole female body is looked at as a syntagm consisting of distinctive
paradigmatic units which help global advertisers to create different visual texts to suit
the different mindsets of Indian and Arab consumers. The analysis focuses on
comparing the different selection of these paradigmatic units (parts of the female
body) in the two versions of the advertising text. The global advertisers select more
paradigmatic units of the female body to target the Indian consumers. In other words,
the models are ,shown partially nude whereas they are covered in the Pan-Arab
magazines. This might indicate that the paradigmatic units of the female body are
interpreted differently in India and the Arab world. They are looked at as meaning
carriers in the Arab culture as they are part of what is called in Arabic awrah (the
parts of the body that must be covered in public according to the teachings of Islam)
While these parts are measured with religious parameters in the Arab culture, they
might be seen as a part of the global sign system in advertisements in India.
The semiotic analysis of the second group reflects a different strategy for the global
advertisers. It shows a complete erasure of the "female body" in the Arabic version of
the advertising text. The analysis shows that this strategy is used when the appearance
of the female models represents a direct sexual message in the English version or
when the advertised products are not associated with women. The analysis of
advertisements in this group also focuses on the different selection and combination
of linguistic
~igns
in the caption of advertisements. Linguistic expressions carrying
erotic representations in the Indian context are found to be erased or modified in the
Arabic versions.
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The semiotic analysis of the advertisements in the third group focuses on cases under
which global advertisers design standardized or unified advertisements in India and
the Arab world. It indicates that global advertisers adopt the same linguistic and visual
signs in global advertisements in three cases. The first case appears when no models
accompany the advertised products. The second case appears when only male models
are shown with the products. The third case of standardization appears when female
models are depicted in such a way that does not convey a direct sexual message by
intentionally exposing parts ofthe body.
The fourth group of advertisements is out of the scope of the current study. For, it
includes only a few examples of global advertisements in the Pan-Arab magazines
which violate the strategies of global advertisers in the majority of global
advertisements in the Pan-Arab magazines. As a general norm, the parts of the female
body which come under awrah are usually avoided in the Pan-Arab magazines as they
contradict with the Islamic teachings. However, the researcher notices that there are a
few advertisements that expose more parts of the female's awrah. These
advertisements are included in the study as they reflect an important phenomenon that
might be culturally significant. This phenomenon might reflect social and cultural
changes in the Arab world as a part of globalization phenomenon. It might reflect new
trends in the strategies of global advertisers in the Arab world which depend on using
more eye-catching sexual signs to attract the attention of consumers. However, such
judgement cannot be generalized by reading three or four advertisements. The
phenomenon must be investigated in a large number of advertisements appearing in a
longer period of time to see whether the sexual representation in global
advertisements is increasing in the Arab world. As advertisements are an important
window through which we look at cultural and social changes in societies, we can
IV
study the level of cultural changes in the Arab world through reading the signs
appearing in local and global advertisements. Therefore, such phenomenon should be
researched elaborately in different types of advertisements appearing in different
channels of advertising.
Chapter IV investigates the appearance/absence of culturally sensitive products such
as undergarments, condoms, wine and cigarettes. It focuses on exploring the
differences in the meanings of these products as cultural signs in advertisements and
how meanings attached to these products prevent their appearance or affect the way
they are advertised in the two cultures. It looks at the cultural significance of their
absence or appearance in one cultural context rather than the other. Male
undergarments, condoms and alcohol are not found in the Pan-Arab magazines. Few
female undergarments advertisements are found but without models. However, many
signs promoting cigarettes are found. One the other hand, condoms and male/female
undergarments are very common in the Indian magazines. These advertisements are a
little too explicit in the Indian magazines. Semi-nude models are used with
undergarments. Moreover, they are shown in intimate positions in condom
advertisements. The direct sexual representation in these advertisements reflects more
of westernizations than Indianness. The analysis indicates that condoms, alcohol, and
undergarments are associated with negative meanings in the Arab world due to
religious and cultural factors which make their appearance in advertising offensive.
They are seen as a threat to Islamic and Arab cultural values. On the contrary, the
appearance of these products as cultural signs does not seem to be offensive in India.
That is, they are not looked at as signs that go against Indian religious and cultural
values. Their westernized appearance in advertisements has a cultural significance as
it might suggest the impact of western cultural values on Indian society.
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Chapter V investigates the appearance of religious sIgns in the structure of the
advertising texts to promote the advertised products. It explores differences in the
cultural value of religion as an appeal in advertising meant for eliciting an emotional
response. Though India and the Arab world are dominated by religious beliefs,
religious signs are not generally seen in Indian advertisements while they are found
with many products and services in the Pan-Arab magazines. Therefore, only
advertisements taken from the Pan-Arab magazines are analyzed to show how
religious signs are utilized in the structure of advertisements and to show the value of
religion as an important advertising strategy in Arab culture.
Chapter VI concludes with a general summary of the study, its implications,
limitations and suggestions for further research.
The findings of the study show a cultural gap between global and local advertisements
in the Indian and the Pan-Arab magazines in the use of visual and linguistic signs.
This gap is found to be very wide when reading condom and undergarment
advertisements and the metaphorical representation of whisky in the Indian
magazines. Designing standardized advertisements for Indian and Arab consumers
seems to be very difficult without excluding direct sexual representation. Signs in
advertisements might be interpreted differently due to the differences in the cultural
backgrounds of consumers. A visual or a linguistic sign that carries a positive
meaning in India might be associated with negative connotations in Arab culture. This
indicates that the arguments of the standardization school which call for utilising the
same semiotic features in advertisements across different cultures is very difficult to
be adopted across India and the Arab world. Global advertisers are still far away from
following the same strategies of advertising in these important parts of the world due
to cultural and religious reasons.
VI
It is hoped that the current study will contribute to cross-cultural research of
advertising and to the debate of localization versus globalization of messages in
global and local advertisements.
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