For a change, here’s a trend that began in the streets and worked its way up — literally. Stand on a busy thoroughfare, and count the number of women drivers you see. Then look up, towards the billboards. Or flip through a magazine. And count the ads that show women firmly in the driver’s seat. So are women actually getting their due in car ads? Not in a revolutionary way, but now they aren’t just pouting props stretched on a car hood either. And they aren’t damsels-in-distress, guided through traffic jams and hairpin curves by knights in shining limos either. The new breed of car ads shows smart, independent, me-first women. Like the woman in the television commercial of Mahindra’s Bolero. A guy comes to pick her up and as he opens the passenger door for her, she shakes her head and takes the wheel. And this isn’t even a dinky ‘women’s’ car. ‘‘Women aren’t being used as sexual objects in car ads now,’’ says Radharani Mitra, executive creative director of Bates India Ltd, an advertising agency. In contrast, a few years ago, a Matiz ad showed two strangers go for a test drive together. By the end of the drive, the woman is smitten by the man, and they buy only one car. That ‘‘wasn’t very admirable,’’ says Mitra. ‘‘But now women play an important role in deciding the car to be bought by the family. And they also contribute to instalments.’’ That’s probably the reason why women now occupy more space than ever before in car ads. ‘‘More and more women are now working, and driving to work,’’ points out G N Mohan, creative director of Saatchi & Saatchi India, which handles the Hyundai account. And even if they don’t buy a car themselves, they certainly influence the decision, says Piyush Pandey, creative director of Ogilvy & Mather. In deference to the changing urban ethos, an Alto Celebration ad shows a couple with a parked car, with the women by the driver’s door and the man at the passenger’s side. A Tata Indica ad shows a woman in a business suit, reclining on a chair. The copy reads: ‘You upgraded from the PC to the laptop. Now upgrade from the 1300cc car’, and goes on to provide specs about the engine, acceleration, brakes and aerodynamics. Details which, any ad guy will tell you, would have been a sure turn-off for female consumers a few years ago. But perhaps that’s the reason why most car ads targeting women highlight a comfy drive, plush interiors and easy manoeuvrability. Agrees Pandey: ‘‘Most ads still feature women as indulging in driving. They still have to show women as serious drivers.’’ The contradiction is real, says Mohan. ‘‘The man reads the brochure, understands what the torque is and gauges the vehicle’s fuel efficiency. That’s why most ads just tell women to drive this car, and not to understand the mechanics. It’s not that they will not understand it. We think women will not be interested,’’ he explains. So, the Santro ad adopts an emotional tone, urging a man to gift a car to his wife or daughter. The last, hinging on marriage, in fact, came in for some flak as pro-dowry. ‘‘But that’s not the idea. It’s based on the film Father of the Bride. It’s about the feelings every modern father goes through on his daughter’s marriage,’’ says Mohan. For all that, India continues to be a chauvinistic society, believes Pandey. ‘‘But we are beginning to look at women as car consumers, and the scenario will change for the better,’’ he says. Not everyone shares his optimism. ‘‘Even the Cielo ‘liar’ ad (which featured Kavita Kapoor giggling about how her husband takes her out for a drive in their auto-gear car because he wants to hold her hand) is from a man’s perspective, though the woman did all the talking,’’ says C B Raj, creative director of FCB-Ulka, which handles the Tata car accounts. ‘‘But women will continue to play an important role, since the bottomline is that guys buy cars to impress women.’’ For a change, carmakers seem keen on that too.
