I love advertisements - its short, funny, and you get to see what is out there in the market. Additionally advertisements also point to the biases that exist in society... so most often I find advertisements in India somewhat retro - most often women are shown as being in the kitchen, there is no recognition of a working mother, it is always the mom that washes the clothes of the children and it is always the mom that cooks the delicious food for the husband and the kids and beauty is still measured by the fairness of your skin...

yeah I know all the above is actually what happens but I feel that advertisements like movies have the potential to influence society... so more often than not I have expressed my angst at some of the degrading advertisements...

So it was interesting for me to study the advertisements here in the US to see how progressive they are and whether they seek to break the stereotypes.... Well the report card is out and I am sorry to say it is not that different from what we have back home...

Moms are still the ones that wash the clothes, prepare the meals and take the kids to the playgrounds.... ofcourse fairness is not a criteria here for the fear of being called a racist.... there are ofcourse more ads showing working women ... but most of them are for reproductive health care products (thus recognising a sort of sexual liberation).... and then there are advertisements that show women as bimbos as well....

I guess perception everywhere is the same.....