CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

Application Exercise - II
Developing communication for a new brand in skin cream category
Submitted to - Prof. S Ramesh Kumar

Group 17 Gunjan Kumar Prashant Gutch Kartik Yeleswaram Prashant Singh 1111344 1111345 1111348 1111362

Table of Contents

1. Category and Brand Information ........................................................................................... 2
1.1 Category summary ........................................................................................................................ 2

1.2 Key Brands summary..................................................................................................................... 3

2. Category Analysis & Linkages to concepts ............................................................................. 4 3. Issues Identification ............................................................................................................... 6 4. Selection of Articles ............................................................................................................... 8 5. Addressing the issues using article ...................................................................................... 12 6. Recommendations for new brand communication ............................................................. 16 7. Process Employed ............................................................................................................... 17 8. References ........................................................................................................................... 18 9. Contribution of Group Members ........................................................................................ 20

1. Category and Brand Information
1.1 Category summary
The Indian FMCG sector is the fourth largest sector in the economy with an estimated size of US$ 1314 billion in 2010. The sector is expected to grow at 10-11% per annum over the next 4-5 years. Its principal constituents are household care, personal care and food & beverages. The personal care market in India is estimated at US$4 billion in 2010 with an expected growth rate of 15-16% for next 4-5 years. The personal care industry consists of skin care, hair care, cosmetics, bath & shower products and fragrances. The skin care market in India is estimated at US$ 1.8 billion in 2010 with an expected growth rate of 18-19% for next 4-5 years. The skin care market can be segregated as follows:
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Body Care - Firming/Anti-Cellulite and General Purpose Facial Care - Acne Treatments, Face Masks, Facial Cleansers, Facial Moisturizers, Lip Care, Nourishers/Anti-Agers, Toners Hand Care

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Each segment is further segregated into premium and mass products. Facial care has a share of approx. 85% of the total skin care market. Within facial care facial moisturizers and cleansers contributes maximum to the volume of sales. The premium skin care products have a market share of approx. 22% of the total skin care market. The skin care market is at a primary stage in India. Also the penetration level for rural markets is very low. However, within last 5-6 years, the use of skin care products has increased significantly in India. Trends: 1. Higher (than industry) expected growth of premium products 2. Higher (than industry) expected growth of anti-ageing products 3. Increasing demand for male grooming products 4. Increasing popularity of multiple-benefit products 5. Increasing demand for customized products (to suit each different skin type) 6. Emergence of specialty beauty clinics, wellness chains and lifestyle stores 7. Proliferation of multiple brands

1.2 Key Brands summary
1.2.1 Hindustan Unilever Limited

Hindustan Unilever Limited is India’s faster growing FMCG company with wide range of products in the personal care segment. Major skin care products include Fair & Lovely, Lakme, Ponds and Vaseline. Vaseline is the leader in the segment with products like Vaseline cold cream, jelly, Vaseline for men, etc. Fair & Lovely has a considerable market share in the men’s fairness cream especially after it was revitalized. Lakme has focused offerings in the segment viz. Fruit based moisturizers, fairness cream and other skin creams differentiated based on skin type. Ponds on the other hand is well known for its cold cream and is also growing in the anti-ageing segment with its ‘Ponds Miracle’
1.2.2 CavinKare

Initially named Chik India ltd., Cavinkare has grown over time in this segment and is the closest competitor to the market leader HUL. The company has widened its portfolio of products through smart marketing and clear product positioning. Major products offered by CavinKare include Fairever, Fairever Fruit, etc.
1.2.3 Emami Ltd.

A 1000+ crore company, Emami is amongst the leading players in the segment. The unique selling point of its products is the ayurvedic formulation used in their preparation. Major brands in this segment include Boroplus, Fair & Handsome, Malai Kesar cold cream, etc.
1.2.4 Procter & Gamble

P&G India is one of the largest & fastest growing consumer goods company in India serving over 650 million consumers. It has its presence almost all the sectors and has the famous Olay brand in the skin care category which is the leader in the anti-ageing segment with 37% market share.
1.2.5 Nivea

With over 125 years of experience in skin care, Nivea is one of the most trusted companies. A brand known for its innovative products, Nivea is a revered brand owing to its high quality product offerings. It has a large variety of products viz. sunscreen, moisturizers, face cream, etc.
1.2.6 Himalaya

Himalaya Herbal healthcare is one of the fastest growing companies in the personal care segment. Its unique selling point is the use of natural ingredients and herbal extracts in its products. It has a wide range of products in the skin care segment under the parent Himalaya brand. It is expected to grow rapidly in the future as people shift to natural products.
1.2.7 Garnier

Garnier is another fast growing brand which focuses on healthy products. It has several products in the skin care category and is well known for the wide range of men’s products that it has. Garnier has helped change the outlook of men towards skin care and usage of products.

2. Category Analysis & Linkages to concepts
2.1 Vaseline
We analysed two TVCs of Vaseline, one used a model in role play whereas the other used celebrity as a spokesperson. The first ad1 focuses more on cognitive component of attitude by clearly spelling out the brand benefits (Sunscreen, Vitamin B3 etc. to make the colour of skin and face same). It has utilitarian (functional benefits) and ego-defensive (confidence to wear tennis dress) motivation factor. The second ad2 conveys the same benefits as the first one but it uses a celebrity spokesperson to increase the credibility.

2.2 Nivea
The TVC3 that we analysed for Nivea, started with the peripheral route (show of affection) and later switched to the central route by talking about the product benefits (technology that repairs the dry skin). It uses celebrity in the role of an actor to increase the attention to the brand and possibly enhance the brand recall (sensual appeal).

2.3 Olay
Olay always uses celebrity in their ad communication as a spokesperson/endorser. We analysed two of Olay’s product, one is “Natural white” and the other one “Total effects”. Natural white ad takes just central route as the spokesperson clearly talks about the product benefit (removal of dark spots and improved fairness). Total effect ad uses a middle aged celebrity for brand’s anti-aging product to increase the credibility of the claim made by the brand. We see a clear balance of Hyde effect which makes the ad more convincing. Since ant-aging category is at a nascent stage, the brand is trying to create the ritual of using anti-aging products right from the first sign of aging through the use of celebrity as spokesperson.

2.4 Ponds
We analysed TVCs of three products from Ponds. First ad displays affection by different age groups, "cute" appeal, targets affective component (soft googly woogly woosh skin). “White Beauty” ad is a storyline involving three celebrities. This ad was widely criticized by the social groups in India because of colour bias (man leaving dusky women for a fairer women and returns to her after she becomes fair). “Age Miracle” ad uses a romantic setting involving a middle aged couple showing the husband in awe of his wife beauty even at her age. The ad also talks about getting rid of the ageing effects in seven days. It targets the middle aged women who wish to rekindle the romance in their marriage. There is a clear indication of ego-defensive motivation factor and ideal-self-image.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7X_UfwKLf3s – Vaseline – Healthy White TVC http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AP6NGB0bx6s – Vaseline – Celebrity ad 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qRilj1vqzU – Nivea – Celebrity ad

2.5 Lakme
Lakme doesn’t use celebrity in any of their ads but uses variety of young attractive models. It achieves parity with other brands by conveying the benefits (POP) that other skin cream brands offer but also achieves differentiation through offering unique benefits (POD) in each of their products such as non-stickiness, customized skin cream for different skin type and benefits of fruit oils.

2.6 Ayur
Ayur is an herbal brand of skin creams. It uses the cultural cues of using herbal products for skin care in its ads. It creates the awareness and triggers the need of young girl for modern skin cream but the concept of beauty as natural without any side effects.

2.7 Himani Boroplus
Himani Boroplus is an economy brand which shows a popular celebrity in its ad which talks about the functional benefit of the product (keeping skin moist in summer).

2.8 Emami Fair & Handsome
Emami Fair&Handsome is targeted toward the men segment which portrays the social stigma of men using women fairness skin cream. A popular celebrity acting as a spokesperson tries to break this stigma by endorsing the product which conveys the product benefit suitable for rough and tuff men’s skin. Lynx effect is seen in the ad where after using the product all women are seen to be attracted toward the male lead. Based on the above analysis and the price-quantity availability we made two positioning maps.

Price vs. No. of Benefits

Price vs. Quantity

3. Issues Identification
3.1 Issue - 1
An ‘negative symbolism’ is attached with the category of skin creams especially with products viz. fairness creams, anti-ageing creams, etc. which leads to certain segment of consumers (especially male consumers) rejecting the product or using it secretively since it is considered socially unacceptable. Can this be overcome? Explanation When looking at the Emami ‘Fair & Handsome’ ad4 it can be observed that on being revealed that the guy uses a fairness cream, he feels ashamed and other groups make fun of him. This is evident across the category of skin creams since using the cream means accepting that either you are old or not fair or your skin is not good which leads to decrease in self-esteem owing to this ‘negative symbolism’ associated with the product. The prior analysis revealed that increase in self-esteem is the basic motivational factor behind the purchase of the cream. A decrease in it leads to the consumer rejecting the product. This is also due to the attitude of skin cream being for women and applying it being considered as womanly. The issue highlights this basic mismatch. In addition, it also talks about symbolism is when the consumer focuses on meanings beyond the functional aspects. The need to embrace the negative symbolism associated with accepting that one is aged or one lacks in beauty is what leads to this discrepancy. There is a need to understand the basic motivational function behind the purchase and what values are affected. Marketers need to understand the attitude towards the product and focus on strengthening the motivational function. The issue also talks about the reference group effect which is prominent in the category but is utilized in none of the advertisements

3.2 Issue – 2
Considering the fact that most brands in the skin care category use attractive models/celebrities in their marketing communication, is simple attractiveness sufficient to convey a marketer’s intended brand message? Explanation While analysing different skin care brands’ advertisements as part of category analysis, we observed that the ads for most prominent brands involve a model/celebrity who is depicted as possessing similar attributes of attractiveness (fair skin, wide smile etc.) across brands, irrespective of the brand attributes/benefits that are to be conveyed in the communication. This constant and monotonous stimulation can result in sensory adaption in the target audience which increases their absolute threshold of sensation, thus making it difficult for any particular brand’s ad to make an impression in the audience’s mind. Another problem that can result is the confusion created in the audience’s mind due to incongruence of celebrity/model attributes with brand attributes; this is observed in the Olay ad5 which portrays actress Kajol as having fair-skinned beauty, while audiences always see her as possessing dusky complexion in her movies and other appearances.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqtWUezP8VA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-CB56MB8kA

3.3 Issue – 3
With recent criticism from social groups about the racist nature of advertisement communication adopted by companies, Is there another way to promote and advertise the skin cream product and their functional benefit without losing the existing customer base? Explanation When looking at different ad communication of skin cream, we came across one ad where the brand showed celebrities in story telling form where the guy leaves a dusky complexion girl for a fair girl. This ad when aired on the TVC drew lot of criticism about the racist nature of the ad. Similarly one ad showed an old parent wishing that he had a son rather than a dark complexion girl. This issue talks about the consumer’s motivation based on their cultural need state. In India, women’s fairness association with finding a good groom has become a cultural aspect. Moreover fairness is considered to be more attractive leading to increased self-confidence and improving one’s status. That’s why skin lightening creams capture the majority of market share in Skin care category. Hence brands need to make use this cultural need and promote the products by focusing more on the fairness benefits.This issue tries to explore other means of communication which strike a balance between the sentiments of the Indian consumers and fulfilling the cultural need of becoming fair at the same time.

3.4 Issue – 4
Stereotyping has been successfully exploited by marketers in the advertisements for female grooming products. Will such stereotyping help in male grooming products? Explanation The interpretation of perceptions is a personal phenomenon just like selection & organization of perceptions. Interpretation is based on what individuals expect to see in light of their previous experiences, the number of plausible explanations they can envision, and their motives &interests at the time of perception. Most often the stimuli are ambiguous. When faced with such ambiguous stimuli individuals will try to fill the gap using information from their memory which they have acquired over time which on most occasions is not rational. Stereotypes refer to the bias in people’s mind. People add these biases to what they see or hear and form distorted impressions. The traditional gender stereotypes like women supposed to be beautiful, fair, and graceful have been the target for marketers & advertisers while designing communications and advertisements for female grooming products. Despite the ‘here and there’ abuses of this approach on the lines of ethics and racism the approach has been very successful. The advertisements play with the negative selfconcept of female consumers & later suggest solutions which show transition from this negative selfconcept to a more positive self-concept. The traditional image of a man is strong, tough, rugged & self-confident. The grooming products for men challenge this traditional image. So how will the male consumers react when the advertisements showcase the potential benefits as improved complexion, reduced dark spots & softer skin which are generally perceived not-so-manly & against the long-standing cultural stereotypes?

4. Selection of Articles
4.1 Article 1
Title Negative symbolic consumption and consumers’ drive for self-esteem – Emma N. banister & Margaret K Hogg Summary The paper talks about the concept of consumer’s use of various strategies in an effort to enhance the value of self-esteem. It also examines the importance of understanding the negative symbolic consumption when marketing high involvement products. The need to enhance one’s self esteem is regarded as a primary motivational factor of consumer purchase behaviour and decision making. This leads consumer to frequently accept or reject a product based on the symbolic (as against the functional) attributes. This particular paper talks about the concepts of symbolic consumption, self-concept, self-esteem, image congruency, and selfdiscrepancy. The negative inferences associated with certain brands of products and its association with product-user imagery is looked at to identify the consumer purchase behaviour. Symbolic consumption is derived primarily from an individual’s focus on meanings beyond the tangible and physical characteristics. Especially for products with high reference group effects, consumers will always want products that make them part of the reference group by helping them overcome the negative symbolism associated. The consumer also wants to enhance or protect the self-esteem and have self-consistency. The image congruency theory says that the consumer will select products that are consistent with their image. The article also shows the self- regulatory system and a model that shows how consumers reduce the discrepancy between the actual and desired states and how is that incorporated in the purchase behaviour. Another framework shows the negative inferences associated with products via stereotypes and how this imagery combined with self-concept affects the purchase behaviour. The issues highlighted include consumers’ perception and use of products with negative symbolic meaning and the effect on consumer’s decision making process by the need to enhance their selfesteem and avoid self-abasement. In conclusion, it implies that there is a need to understand the negative symbols associated with a product, the consumer’s usage patterns regarding such products and the association of the negative symbols with their own self in order to better communicate the offering. Although the article talks about rejecting the products, we have considered the basic framework and how can the negative symbolism be overcome in order to help communicate the offering in a better way.

4.2 Article 2
Title The Beauty Match-Up Hypothesis: Congruence between types of beauty and product images in advertising Summary This paper argues that while there is enough research evidence to support effectiveness of employing attractive rather than unattractive spokespersons and models in advertising and promotion, from a marketing perspective there is more to beauty than a simple good-bad judgement of attractiveness. In support of this, the paper offers the “Beauty Match-Up” hypothesis, which has two main components: 1) That perceivers distinguish multiple types of physical attractiveness; and 2) That these certain types are seen as more or less suitable (i.e. better match-ups) for certain products when paired in advertising. The paper first introduces the concept of “Cultural Gatekeepers”, individuals such as fashion and beauty editors who play a critical role in defining standards and attributes associated with beauty. While the perceptions of gatekeepers may not be perfectly aligned with those of end-consumers, they have a great indirect influence on the concept of beauty in the minds of the general public as they are responsible for selecting the models (from thousands of aspirants) that appear in fashion magazines and advertisements. On this basis, the research methodology involved showing a set of photographs of models employed by major agencies to a group of prominent editors. The first step involved the editors sorting the models’ photos based on similarity of looks. The sorting task data was analysed by means of multi-dimensional scaling into six dimensions of beauty. The next step involved differential association of these dimensions with a set of perfumes and women’s magazines representing diverse imagery. The results of the analysis support both facets of the Beauty Match-Up hypothesis. Firstly, physical attractiveness appears not to be a single dimension but a multi-dimensional concept, with respondents being able to distinguish between beauty types with a high degree of consensus. Secondly, matching beauty-type of models with intended product imagery/attributes can better convey the brand message. Michael R. Solomon, Richard D. Ashmore and Laura C. Longo

4.3 Article 3
Title The quest for beauty: Asia’s fascination with pale skin Summary This article talks about the marketing phenomenon of skin lightening products in the Asian skincare market. The authors looks at the advertising of the skin whitening products in Asian countries like India, China, Singapore and Thailand and investigates the phenomenon and consider marketing strategies that participating competitors have adopted. In India recently some advertisements were banned and taken off the air owning to the protest from several groups because of the racial content in them. The article looks at the communication method adopted by the companies in a way not to get into racist criticism and at the same time promote their skin whitening cream. In India, where estimated percentage of women using skin lightening cream are around 60-65%, the article talks about the sociology of pale skin. The belief that fairer skin will enhance one’s status, increase one’s success at work and lead to a “good marriage” is very strong among Asian women. In India, a woman is told she can have “power” over her life, she can be independent and in charge. Also in India, a woman with a fair complexion will be more likely to marry well. Hence the demand of skin whitening creams in these countries are very high. This desire for white or pale skin has had interesting repercussions, both in terms of the marketing of skincare products, and also in the potential for damage, and both physically and psychologically. One hand doctors point out the danger of skin cancer caused by removal of melanin due to use of skin creams, on the other hand sociologists refer to the marketing of skin lighteners as “racism”. Now that it’s well known and accepted that, Indian women and now to a certain extent Indian men too want fairer skin; the real challenge for marketers is to promote and advertise their products without being named racial. The article talks about how Fair & Lovely ad was named racist and removed from air, but then the marketers chose to focus on the packaging of the product where the package of Fair & Lovely, shows an unhappy dark skinned woman becoming a light skinned woman, with the concomitant message that she will get a good job and a husband. Thus authors suggest that it’s important to design a commercial which doesn’t hit the sentiments of the Indian users and suggest them to avoid the overt display of social stigma attached with fairness. At the same time they suggest that a different approach should be taken to promote the benefits of the product such as at the point of purchase or by packaging in such a way that the product conveys the intended message of fairness and its benefits in Indian context. Deirdre Bird, Helen Caldwell and Mark DeFanti

4.4 Article 4
Title The Spray more, get more: masculinity, television advertising and the Lynx Effect

Summary

Deirdre Bird, Helen Caldwell and Mark DeFanti

There has been a tremendous rise in the sale of male grooming products. Therefore it becomes critical how the advertising targets this new breed of consumers. This paper tries to examine the representations of men, masculinity and the male role that such advertisements depict. Specifically, this article explores the representations of masculinity that are being constructed, circulated and interrogated in a range of popular and commercially successful shower gel, deodorant and antiperspirant commercials. Hegemonic masculinity is said to be the ideal image of the male against which all men are judged, tested and qualified. This article talks about plural ‘masculinities’ rather than the singular masculinity’ because this term allows for an examination of the myriad and multiple ways in which maleness can manifest itself both on and off-screen. Also we are told that anti-femininity lies at the heart of contemporary and historical conceptions of manhood, so that masculinity is defined more by what one is not rather than who one is. In other words being a man means ‘not being like a woman’, irrespective of the age, ethnicity, class, race or sexual orientation of the male in question. Masculinities, like femininities, are created by the cultural environment rather than by biology or nature, and as such, it is important that the representation of men and masculinities be open to the sorts of questioning that has for so long applied to women and their femininities. Even though the advertisements refuse to uphold the hegemonic ideal of the strong, capable and powerful working male, what they do show are dominant gender codes and exploited a number of sex-role stereotypes in order to communicate meaning at a glance. The article suggests that television ‘commercials are designed to take maximum advantages of gender specific fantasies, myths, and fears’. Also these advertisements present ‘ideology rather than social history’ to the viewing public. Contemporary advertising foregrounds the male protagonist as a man unencumbered by domestic and family responsibilities. Finally the paper examines the representation of masculinities that are depicted in contemporary male grooming advertisements, paying particular attention to the presentation of the male body and its surrounding environment. The young men in advertisements are not being presented as unattainable gym-honed figures to admire or as hyper-masculine characters to marvel at, but rather, as the everyday everyman who can speak to, for and about the post-pubescent male viewer. In short, it is ordinary looks, available physiques and attainable hairstyles that are the order of the day in these short media texts.

5. Addressing the issues using article
5.1 Addressing the Issue 1 – Negative Symbolism
The article quoted states that companies should focus on communicating their offering in such a way which leads to increase in self-esteem or avoiding self-abasement. Image-congruency theory suggests that individuals will select those products that are in sync with particular elements of their won self-concept. The model described says that in case of products with negative symbolism, people will pursue self-esteem by avoiding self-abasement. So, the focus of the communication must be towards implying through the ad as to how can consumer build his selfesteem. The reference group effect being strong in the category (aspirational groups, comparative groups), social acceptance is a must. The basic motivational factor behind the usage of the creams is to increase beauty and thereby increase self-esteem. But the attitude towards using such creams is that the creams are not for men and men don’t need fair screen. This mismatch leads is pronounced due to the reference group effects which renders the users of such creams socially unacceptable. The communication of such products must incorporate a way to cater to the motivational aspect behind the use of such creams thereby changing the attitude towards the creams. The model given in the paper shows how there the consumer wishes to avoid associating himself with the ‘avoidance reference group’ which leads to rejecting of products associated with such groups. There is a need to communicate how the consumer can avoid associating himself with such group. This will then lead to consumer focusing on the positive imagery of the product which will lead him to associating the product with ‘approach reference groups’ and thereby leading to the purchase. The focus must be on showing how the skin issues are common and can be solved by using the product. By showing that using such products leads to avoidance of problems that can decrease self-esteem, the marketers can better cater to the motivational factor behind the purchase of such products. If the usage of such products leads to the consumer setting an example that is followed by others, then not only does it lead to increase in self-esteem but it also shows social acceptance thus strengthening the reference group effect. The approach must match the ‘actual state’ with the ‘desired end state’. Forming associations that enhance the self-esteem and also having a congruity in the product-user imagery can help reduce the negative symbolism associated that leads to rejection.
The framework given in the article

5.2 Addressing issue 2 – Is attractiveness enough for communication?
The first issue relates to the use of attractive models/celebrities by most prominent skin care brands in their marketing communication. While it is an established fact that use of attractive models in advertisements is more effective than their less attractive counterparts, the problem in the skin care category is that all ads portray the same standard of beauty, irrespective of brand attributes/benefits or attributes of the model/celebrity used, causing sensory adaptation and dilution of the effect of the ads on the minds of the consumer. This brings us to the question of how one can define attractiveness/beauty and are there different forms of beauty which can brought out in marketing communication. These ideas are addressed by the paper on “Beauty Match-Up” hypothesis by Michael R. Solomon, Richard D. Ashmore and Laura C. Longo. The article differentiates beauty along six dimensions (expressed as Classical, Sensual/Exotic, Cute, Girl Next Door, Sex-Kitten and Trendy beauty standards). It also proves that consumers can distinguish between these beauty types through experiment. The article also establishes that matching the right beauty-type with brand attributes can result in a more effective brand message. Thus, for example, an ad for a skin-care brand which focuses on brand benefits of softness and gentleness would be able to convey its message better through portrayal of the model in the ad as “Cute” or “Girl Next Door” rather than “Exotic”. Thus, the article provides a means of dealing with the sensory adaption problem expressed in issue 1 by creating a stronger impression in consumers’ minds through beauty dimension-brand benefit coherence. It also supports the fact that incongruence between model/celebrity image and brand imagery can cause dissonance in the consumer, which in turn will have negative consequences on the brand.

5.3 Addressing issue 3 – Alternative ways to promote fairness creams
The third issue raises the concern and negativity associated with some of the ad communications used for the skin lightening creams. The issue also talks about cultural aspect of being fair. Brands have been tapping this cultural need of becoming fair in their promotions and ad communications. However lately, in order to break the product clutter, some brands have gone a step ahead in their ad communication (culture insensitivity) which has backfired and has been widely criticized by the social groups in India. This brings us to the question of how a balance should be met between cultural sensitivity and cultural needs in order to be accepted by the consumers without hurting their cultural sentiments. Article three talks about how the fairness of women has been given high importance in Indian culture. The article also takes example of some of the ads which were named racist and removed off the air. Then article tells how, even after the ads were removed, the brand used its packaging to depict an unhappy dark complexion girl transforming into happy fair girl within few weeks of using the product. Thus we find the solution of question raised by issue three from article three. The article suggested the marketers to avoid ad communication with overt display of social stigma attached with fairness which are culturally sensitive at times and suggested them to focus more on the decision made at the point of purchase. For example using packaging as a convincing and assuring tool for conveying the fairness benefits due to using the product. Other techniques could be a demo of the skin cream, at the point of purchase, demonstrating the unique attributes of the product like quick absorbent, non-stickiness or water resistant skin cream.

5.4 Addressing issue 4 – Stereotyping in male grooming products
The article says that there are multiple forms of masculinity. It advocates plural ‘masculinities’ and says that there are myriad and multiple ways in which maleness can manifest itself both on and off-screen and the criteria of masculinity should always be open to questioning and exploration. Plural ‘masculinities’ undermines the idea of singular masculinity’ or hegemonic masculinity. Even though the paper talks about diverse range of male personalities and performances, existing literature on the sociology of the male tends to suggest that different models of masculinity form a hierarchy of acceptable, unacceptable, preferred and marginalised models of contemporary manhood. Very large numbers of men are complicit in sustaining this hierarchic model because they are said to unite in their dominance over women. Masculinities, like femininities, are created by the cultural environment rather than by biology or nature. Our understanding of manhood, machismo and the male sex-role has recently been ‘discovered, rediscovered, theorized, dislocated, unwrapped, unmasked, understood, embodied, fashioned, moulded, changed and put in perspective’. The fact that the man in question tends to be overwhelmingly youthful, white, clean-shaven, lightly muscled and heterosexual does little to present the myriad versions of masculine identity on offer in contemporary society. Moreover, it has been suggested that such men are merely playing with ‘commonsense’ conceptions of masculinity as a way of maintaining their dominance over women; in short, these seemingly everyman men are becoming ‘less hegemonic precisely in order to stay hegemonic’. The issue that we posed was ‘will stereotype work wonders in men’s category just like it did in women’s category?’ The article suggests that stereotyping men to the ideal of hegemonic male is not very important as men have started associating masculinity with lot of other things. So, even though the advertisements refuse to uphold the hegemonic ideal of the strong, capable and powerful working male, what they do show is the success and the mating prowess (girls getting attracted towards a fairer man) of the young male protagonist. In this way these men may very well mock cultural conventions of dominant masculinity, but not at the expense of other forms of masculinity traits, which allow men to compete with other men, prove their masculinity and thus position themselves within the hegemonic hierarchy.

6. Recommendations for new brand communication

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Products launched in this category have a direct negative symbolic effect on the self-esteem of the consumer which can lead to rejection of the product. To overcome this, the communication should focus on enhancing the basic motivation behind the purchase of the product i.e. enhancing self-esteem. If a brand is launched in fairness category then to convey the fairness benefits it should rely more on point of purchase promotions rather than over-display of the fairness theme in TV or print ads so that a balance is created between social sensitivity & social need. Brands in the skin care category should use celebrity/ model that have an appropriate match up in the beauty; image portrayed in the communication as well as the brand benefits so as to have the desired consumer purchase behaviour. If the brand is launched in anti-ageing category, it should focus on creating a ritual such as applying the cream since a given age so that the ageing can be avoided. This ritual combined with the reference group effect can help shape up the consumer decision making process. Targeting traditional stereotypes has been a successful approach in skin care category. But marketers should be open to various new and contemporary interpretations of consumer stereotypes. On our analysis, we found out that although the reference group has a significant effect on the purchase behaviour of the consumers, none of the advertisements have taken advantage of this. By including them, a brand can overcome some of the stigma associated with product usage in this category.

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7. Process Employed
 We first analysed the marketing communication of prominent brands in the skin cream category. This helped us observe the attitude components, personality traits, motivation function, cultural associations, stereotypes & reference group effects. Using these observations we identified the anomalies in the communication of various brands which led us to the identification of major issues. The focus was on finding issues that are relevant as well as practical in current and future times. Post this we tried finding out the underlying concepts that shape the issues and used these as a basis for finding the articles relevant to the issues and the category as a whole. We then focused on the specific concepts from the articles that address the root cause of the issues. We combined our learning from the articles, concepts learned during the course together with the factors that affect the consumers in the category to come up with specific recommendations.

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8. References

1. Michael R Solomon, Richard D. Ashmore & Laura C. Longo, 1992, The Beauty Matchup hypothesis: congruence between types of beauties and product images in advertising, Journal of Advertising 2. Deirdre Bird, Helen Caldwell & Mark DeFanti, 2010, The quest for beauty: Asia’s fascination with pale skin 3. Rebecca Feasey, 2009, Spray more, get more: Masculinity, television advertising & the Lynx effect, Journal of Gender Studies 4. Emma N. Banister & Margaret K. Hogg, 2004, Negative Symbolic consumption and consumer’s drive for self-esteem: The case of fashion industry, European Journal of Marketing 5. http://www.slideshare.net/shekharpiscesian/skincare-industry-in-india 6. http://italiaindia.com/images/uploads/pdf/cosmetics-personal-care%20-2008.pdf 7. http://www.slideshare.net/shekharpiscesian/skincare-industry-in-india 8. http://www.euromonitor.com/skin-care-in-india/report 9. http://www.iseindia.com/ResearchPDF/FMCG_Update1.pdf 10. http://www.india-fmcg.com/2010/08/a-look-at-indian-fmcg-sector/ 11. http://www.stockmarketsreview.com/news/indian_fmcg_4q_fy2010_outlook_20100410_4115/ 12. http://www.slideshare.net/soorajdms/consumer-behaviour-on-fairness-creams

Youtube links for Advertisements: 1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7X_UfwKLf3s 2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AP6NGB0bx6s 3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgXGPNPLopo 4. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksM0Ds1wUZA 5. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKzp41EOQPs 6. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWdfmxa23YE 7. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-CB56MB8kA 8. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWggXCdtGhY 9. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ii8dR35JkaM 10. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hd-wh_Een-U 11. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMEtVFmcQz8&feature=endscreen&NR=1 12. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2VHfMrmOSc 13. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxkK-Rj8S2k 14. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijVBc0XevLI 15. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4_f1mYQ19Q&feature=endscreen&NR=1 16. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81y7rJf7Ol0 17. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8NFH7bHUYM 18. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HuMFXpGo0M

9. Contribution of Group Members
Prashant Gutch (1111345) My contribution included working on the category analysis and finding issues along with the group members. I also helped in finding out the relevant articles and was responsible for the summary & write up of issue 1 and the relevant article. I was also involved providing inputs in discussions held during the project duration. Prashant Singh (1111362) I contributed by brainstorming on the category analysis by looking into advertisements. Then came up with some issues and articles and discussed them within the group. Also, gave insight on the issues and articles brought up by other members. Finally, I summarized the category information, one issue and relevant article. Gunjan Kumar (1111344) My contribution was to analyse different brands and look for issues. Then bring the issues to the group and discuss on them. After finalizing the issues, I started searching for articles and discussed the relevancy of the articles with the group. Summarized category analysis then wrote on one issue and the relevant article. Kartik Yeleswaram (1111348) My contribution included analysing the marketing communication for various brands and linking them with relevant consumer behaviour concepts, in consultation with the group. After the group had together finalized the issues and relevant articles, I summarized one article and linked it with the corresponding issue.