1.

Introduction
Advertisements are probably the most pervasive medium of popular culture that
dominates the 21st century consumer society. They are strategically developed to
act as a ligand between a brand and a spectator and convert him/her into a
consumer. Strategically placed in newspapers, magazines, banners, billboards,
television and internet they form an integral part of peoples daily routine and
through the process of repetition (an individual is exposed to hundreds of ads
everyday) they constitute the product/service as an inherent need and an absolute
necessity in the consumers life. Advertisements integrate carefully crafted methods
of sociological and psychological appeal that creates a virtual environment in which
the consumers can relate themselves to the characters and the products being sold.
They form an integral part of the culture industry that produces, controls and
disciplines consumers (Adorno, Horkheimer 15).
The Ministry of Tourism, Government of India commissioned Ogilvy and Mathers in
2002 to design advertisement campaigns to promote tourism in India. The
Incredible India campaigns introduced India, practically non-existent in the virtual
spaces of popular media so far, as a tourist commodity to the world. The first set of
promotional images used ambient advertising and altered images deliberately
superimposing the logo Incredible India over exotic representations of the country.
The images focus on themes that are largely assumed semiotic motifs of India (Fig
1-5). An exclamation mark (!) replaced i of India and reiterated the potency of
these Incredible constituents of India. A native woman carrying a pot of water
on her head across the unending expanse of Thar Desert (Fig 1); the light of the
setting sun on the imposing Himalayas (Fig 2); the stripes of the tiger (Fig 3); the
inverted minarets of the Taj Mahal (Fig 4); a young woman standing in the

vrikshasana (tree-posture) of Yoga they formed the ! and represented the sociohistorical, geographical, wildlife and mystic experiences offered and invited the
audience for an experience that is truly incredible. The incredibility of the
experience was reiterated with statements like, Too close and youre the one whos
endangered, Unless youre enjoying the safety of the most preferred 4x4: the Indian
Elephant (Fig- 3).
The ads target various target audience types. The imposing forts, intriguing
palaces and fascinating royalties target the spectator who is looking for an Indiana
Jones kind of adventure (Fig 1). The Himalayas target a different audience
interested in mountaineering, rock climbing, rafting, skiing, honeymooning (Fig2). The wildlife offers a glimpse of the endangered (the tiger) and the exotic (the
elephant ride) (Fig- 3). The Taj Mahal attracts the romantic type to experience the
Ode to eternal love and most photographed monument on the planet (Fig- 4).
The mysticism of yoga attracts the modern spiritual type (Fig- 5).
A series of ads followed on the themes of Eastern therapy, yoga, wildlife, adventure
sports, festivals, diversity and colors and their success in representing India as a
brand of exotic, wild, mystic, spiritual and beautiful commodity is apparent by the
sudden boost in the number of tourists visiting the country. The images succeeded
in creating a fantasy of India in the minds of the spectators, a fantasy of a land as
diverse in it geography as its cultural heritage largely dominated by retouched
photos of The Taj Mahal.
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the Incredible India promotional campaigns
in the light of Raymond Williams definition of Culture, Language and Literature and
to interpret the language of the advertisements as constitutive of an Incredible

culture for the outsiders. The paper discusses at length the Taj Mahal-in-thebackdrop and the Find what you seek campaigns for their representation and
construction of India as an ideal destination.
2. Theoretical Issues
2.1 Culture
Raymond Williams defines culture as a social constitutive process that carries
conflicting meanings of an achieved state and an achieved state of progress. As an
achieved state it represents an ideal way of life that marks its departure from earlier
primitive cultures. As an achieved state of progress it represents a consistent
movement towards more advanced cultural forms.
We use the word culture in these two senses: to mean a whole way of
life--the common meanings; to mean the arts and learning--the special
processes of discovery and creative effort. Some writers reserve the
word for one or other of these senses; I insist on both, and on the
significance of their conjunction.
- Raymond Williams, Culture is Ordinary

2.1.1 Motifs of Culture Achieved, Progressive and Diverse

The Incredible India ads use a variety of motifs from Indias heritage to develop a
cultural portfolio. The campaigns make extensive use of Ayurvedic medicine,
therapy, meditation and Yoga; the blue city of Jodhpur with its citizens in red
turbans; the decorated elephants of the Jaipur Elephant Festival; the elephants
decked in gold in Kerala; the line-up of brightly dressed Rajasthani women these
images represent the multiple dimensions and diversities of the country. The images
portray a static arrangement the culture is put on a display and the arrangement

is not purely contemporary. The motifs belong to an ancient culture; they are the
heritage of the age that is widely considered to be the epitome of Indian civilization.
Ayurveda, Yoga, meditation are the symbols of the therapeutic and medicinal
advancements of the civilization, a symbol of scientific and spiritual development
that the Indian civilization had achieved. The elephants were religious symbols as
well as the symbols of status for the royalty. They were decorated and paraded as a
show of a kingdoms prosperity. And although there are no royalties left in India the
ritual has still survived as a memento of that age of prosperity. The lack of
movement presents a preserved portrait of ancient times. The advertisements
recreate, in their frame, a static idea of history, insinuating that modern India bears
with it its centuries old history. They represent the ancient achieved state 1 of
perfection of Indian culture.
The thrills of the white water rafting rapids of Rishikesh and paragliding in
Himalayan ranges portray forward movement, growth and progress. The thrills of
rafting and paragliding are modern thrills and the images, along with others, show
that India is not just about the spirituality and the history. It has the highest
mountains and fastest rapids and they too are offered for consumption. The
juxtaposition of spirituality and adrenaline, very often with the text in the image,
e.g. Dont panic, there is always Rebirth (Appendix), catalogues the ancient and
the contemporary.
The advertisements not only represent culture a preserved historical and an
evolving contemporary culture as a commodity.

They also create a consumer

culture pointing out the flaws of the stress and the rat race of the capitalist
society, and offering an alternative in the meditation, adventure sports and even a
camel race.

2.1.2 Colors
The Incredible India campaigns make extensive use of the color palette. The adverts
use combinations of vivid colors to attract attention, announce the colorful
ambience of the destination and radiate the warmth of its people. The colors are
chosen not only for their aesthetic purposes but they are carefully picked to trigger
psychological responses. Psychological and marketing research has shown that
colors not only have an elevating effect, they can also influence a consumer to
make a purchasing decision. Colors have a placebo effect on consumers and stand
for specific emotions blue for trust and dependability; red for excitement and
yellow for optimism and warmth (insert citation). These three colors are extensively
used in the Incredible India ads. The Taj Mahal ads (Appendix D), especially, are
dominated by the use of these colors. Blue dominates the frame with bright red and
yellow streaks. The Taj Mahal has a prominent position in the background while the
foreground changes, making way for relevant cultural symbols women praying,
children playing, camels crossing the river or boats sailing.
By the dominant use of blue the ad transforms the romantic connotation of Taj
Mahal into one of an ancient and trusted host while the contemporary figures in red
and yellow invite the spectator to share the exhilaration and the warmth of the land.
2.1.3 Slogans
2.2 Language
2.2.1 The Logo Incredible !ndia
2.2.2 Semiotic construction of Indian Identity as a Tourism Hub
2.2.3

(bring motif to language: reorganize Culture)

Notes
1.

Raymond Williams in the chapter Culture in Marxism and Literature analyses the discourse
around Culture bears an intrinsic conflict between the two implied concepts of culture (i) culture as an
achieved state and (ii) culture as an achieved state of development. Culture as a corollary of
Enlightenment civilization was a cultivation of external virtues exemplified, as Williams points out, in the
metropolitan civilization of England and France (Williams 14). As a process of progress culture meant a
dynamic process of constant evolution through higher stages of development. The second concept takes
the first concept in its stride as just another stage of progress. The 17 th century metropolitan culture of
England and France was the product of the ruling classes of the society the aristocrats, it was not a state
of perfection and the culture that came next was a product of the democratic sensibilities of the Romantic
Age. The Concept of Culture progressed towards an inner spiritual development.
2. Raymond Williams in his essay Advertising: The Magic System refers to advertisements as the official
art of the modern capitalist society in a sense that they are displayed everywhere, from magazines and
newspapers to billboards and a significant amount of labor is involved in their production (170).
Advertisements dominate the modern capitalist cityscape and form a media of popular culture regularly
consumed actively or passively by the audience.

Works Cited
Adorno, Theodor W., Max Horkheimer. The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass
Deception. The Consumer Society Reader. New York: The New Press, 2000. 3-19.
Print.
Williams, Raymond. Advertising: The Magic System. Media Studies: A Reader. New York: NYU
Press, 2000. 170-189. Print.

Appendix A

Fig 1- Thar Deserts

Fig 2- Himalayas

Fig 3- Tiger

Fig 4- The Taj Mahal

Fig 5- Yoga

Appendix B

Fig 1- Eastern Therapy

Fig 2- Yoga

Fig 3- Yoga

Fig 4- Eastern Therapy

Fig 5- Yoga