Session on Gender and Advertisement with Prof. Vijayan

Prof. P K Vijayan from the Department of English, Hindu College, Delhi University recently joined the students and faculty members at IIAD to discuss how gender influences the advertisement industry. Prof. Vijayan started the dialogue by posing questions to the audience on their understanding of media and gender. As he progressed with the session, he drew a parallel between how the society in operates in general and the representation of both the genders in the given ecosystem. He dwelled upon the manner in which the narrative of an advertisement is created with a restrictive view point, that is essentially the male perspective. He cited some live examples of radio and print ads that use gender related social concerns in an attempt to initiate a change in the general public’s behaviour. He raised some important questions on the physical and representational aspect of media and drew the students attention to the effectiveness of paralinguistic communication. It has been observed that this form of communication fares better than linguistics as it involves acts of the subconscious which are difficult to align with reason.

This session helped students relate to the world of advertising and how it functions on a deeper level. The students of communication design were exposed to many examples of ads and learned to differentiate one from another. They also learned how stereotypes have played a significant role in the representation of gender in the world of advertisement at a national as well as an international level.

About Prof. P K Vijayan

Prof. P K Vijayan is from the Department of English at Hindu College, Delhi University. He has written extensively on masculinity and nationalism, and has been actively involved in addressing the policy change in higher education initiated by the Delhi University. He has co-authored several pieces on various issues like cinema, nationalism, gender and sexuality.