Thinking through Emerging Markets: Brand Logics and Cultural Forms of Political Society in India Author(s): Arvind Rajagopal

Source: Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 36, No. 9 (Mar. 3-9, 2001), pp. 773+775-782 Published by: Economic and Political Weekly Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4410350 . Accessed: 26/09/2011 02:36
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Thinking
Brand of

through
Logics
Political and

Emerging Markets
Cultural Forms in Indial Society

Whilepolitical mobilisation involves the championingof narratives to unite groups and individuals in particular ways, markets too use modes of address and rhetoric that may complicate these larger narratives. In their attempts to reach the rural hinterland, businesses seek not merely to establish a brand, but also its significance for consumers. They need then to ask questions like - What kind of political performativesmight consumer goods make possible What cultural identities are reinforced in the process of market extension? It is to meet this increasing competition that businesses have also resorted to 'Hindu' symbols as a way to reach new consumers.
ARVIND RAJAGOPAL

I think it is time we stopped shying awayfromwordssuch as 'sell'. We mustrealisetherehas been a major If in revolution communication. we maintainthata good ad campaigncan't sell a badproduct, conversely peoplewill never a good product if they don't purchase knowabout (Hindu it." Pramod rightleader Mahajan, quotedin The Timesof India, September17, 1993) "Iamtired Ram- I wanta newname." of A 15-year-old schoolgirl in Pipariya, MadhyaPradesh,in June 1994, on the Hinduright'sRam temple campaign. "You cannot make a political souffle rise twice from the same recipe."Hindu Jaswant rightleader Singhquotedin India Today[Awasthiand Aiyar: 1991]. Politicsin Indiahasin recenttimesbeen characterised theexplicitnessandforce by of a logicof marketing. thisis a recent That development is suggested by Pramod in Mahajan, thequoteabove,who ties the of to importance the approach the 'revolution'in communication, whichinstantly translates market trends into political the mediation forces, without intervening of eithercollectiveparticipation critical or publicdiscussion. Mahajanpoints to a new conjuncture where these categories telescope into each other, and market logics could interbraidwith politics; at the same time, his advocacy of it suggests the extent to which his own party gained from the articulation and propagationof political demandsby occupying the infra-politicalrealmof consuwhere thesedemands wereharder smption, to contest.

What the equationmade by Mahajan of together different signalsis thestitching fields,of culture, economyandpolitics,an to eventrequiring be locatedin its specific historical context.Onewayof understandof ing this is in termsof the institution a visual regimerightacrosssocial divides, due to the electronicmedia. Along with thereis then a the expansionof markets, new level of connectivity, a newsocial and legibility as well. This is not to say that politics, economyand culturemerge-and flow intoeachother; it rather, is theblockages and constraints to a transparent movement between these spheres that of highlighttheparticularity the situation. Thispaper aninquiry themutually is into constitutive work of the languages of marketsand politics, into the blocks and one opacitiesthatlimittheirtranslatability the into the other,illuminating culturally specificformsof politicsevolvinginIndia. Ifpolitical mobilisation involvesthechampioning of narrativesthat would unite individuals groupsin particular and ways, markets themselvesuse modesof address andrhetorical structures maycomplithat catethoselarger and narratives, vice versa. It mightoftenappear globalisation that or marketliberalisation termsin India (twin as in manyothercountries)offers up the truthof contemporary social change,but an examinationof the ways in which marketsactually become meaningfulto consumers illuminates contingent the and the irreducibly culturalcharacter this of process. As consumer goods markets into businesses hinterland, expand therural not brands struggle onlytoestablish against

and pseudo-branded unbranded goods,but also to establishwhata brand andwhat is, it will signify. What kinds of political consumer performatives goodsmake might possible, and what culturalidentitiesare shifted or reinforcedin the extensionof markets? answers The worked to these out questions are of course provisionaland must continuallybe remade. Withincreasing to competition establish new goods in a growing market,businesses may resortto Hindusymbolsas a new consumers.Butthis way of reaching maybe only a superficial sign of a deeper set of processesat work,whereby political in authorityis being reconstituted more authoritarian whiletheeconomicand ways culturalspheres are apparently working througha model of consent, creatingan middleclass andat apparently expanding thesametime,a wideracceptance Hindu of in dominance, somesense.By considering the practicesthroughwhich brandsare instituted and extended in the market the place itself,I seek to understand significance of brandaffiliation,and examine the kinds of conclusions that might be drawn about the political sphere from suchevidence. that I then, amsuggesting politics Clearly, doesnotsimplyreflect economy, the rather, it tends to delineate the limits of the economy,insofaras social actiongoes. In this respect,politics standsin relationto the economynot in conventional Marxist termsas akin to superstructure base. and eachhasa specificformof materiRather, ality,in Balibar'sterms,arisingfromtheir mode of production mode of subjecand

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Each tells the story of tion respectively. theother, politicsthatof theeconomy,and theeconomy of politics.Theeconomy that has effects in the political spherejust as in turn,the kindsof subjectpositions,the of narratives politicalaction,the relationshipof classes - one to the otherand to that are found in the political authority sphereturn out to influence and impel eventsin the economy.Thuswe may say that economyworksthrough rhetothe the ricof the image(as instancedin advertising),whiletheimageitself worksthrough therhetoric theeconomy[Balibar of 1995: 160]. in Recent Hindu nationalism Indiaarose within nexusof market the reforms the and of expansion communications, seekingto reshapethe forms of public affiliation a even through logic of commodification withits suprewhileterrorising minorities macist actions. Along with a mode of where was with address citizenship equated therightto consumption, therewas a disof aggregation citizenshipitself, according to the abilityand willingnessto consume in designatedways. There was a betweeneconomic fortuitous convergence and Hindu nationalissnin liberalisation India. State legitimacy has deteriorated withits failureto accomplishits developand mental targets, withgrowingcritiques underwritof thetechnocratic assumptions Bothliberalisation Hindu and ingitspower. nationalism respondedto this crisis by seekingto limit demandson the state by the of dispenrejecting promises anearlier sation, of secular national growth, and a whereconredefining morelimitedarena sentwas sought.The Hinduright'sintent a to render narrow,authoritarian view of Hindu has as identity politicallydominant beenaccompanied a recordof violence by andcampaigns terror of againstMuslims, andnowChristians secular and institutions. Butit is fairto say thatpopularsupport for the Ramtemplecampaign,criticalin did its riseto prominence, not necessarily translate popular into endorsement Hindu of nationalist and politicsingeneral, Hindutva strength was overestimated. With the decline of the Congress, what emerged was an era of more competitivepolitics, and more fluid alignments in electoral We constituencies. maysay thattherecent of Hindu nationalism been has prominence madepossibleby testingout new modes of power,thatmay outlastHindunationcan alismitself.Itsrelevance thusbecarried over even when the kind of dominance envisagedfor it was no longer feasible.

the Hindunationalism's represented rise about of consensus, unravelling aprevailing betweenrealmsof economy, aninsulation cultureand politics, suggestinginsteada to homology between exhortations confor sumeandto vote, betweenaspirations and of cultural identification requirements In affiliation. theprocess,theBJP electoral soughtto bypassthe moreslow andarduous process of extending its traditional the base, and of workingthrough contradictions between its own political positionsandthoseof thedifferent socialgroups At it embraced. the sametime,a ceaseless as emphasison mobilisation the mode of bolstered violenceagainst by participation, 'outsiders'marksthe limits of its forms In of politics. thisway,thecrisisof political consent was sought to be addressedby in exorcisingdiscontents thepersonof the other.At thesametimethezoneof consent one, with therebyachievedis a shrinking thefacade Hindu of unitysplitapart through lower caste assertion,aided by the very intermarket-based forms of articulating to ests thathelpedbringHindutva prominence. The crisis of consentdoes not get but resolved,therefore, is institutionalised, withanincreasingly authoritarian political sphere,and a seeminglyconsensualculturalspherewherethe formof consensus is increasingly violent and repressive. scenario thepublic is Againstthisdomestic imagesoughtby theBJP,however,which to is thatof a politicalpartysympathetic and economicintegration, attentive global to the interestsof foreign investorsand financialinstitutions. Howthendo we characterise cultural the formsof politics, and the politicalimplicationsof market changes,in the wakeof whatPartha has Chatterjee calledthelatest of theglobalisation capital? of [Chatphase terjee 1998: 57-69]. The questiongains saliencein the contextof recentdebates, withArjun for arguing, instance, Appadurai thatpost-national are formsof solidarities emergingthatreflectthe moreglobalised of character society,thathaveyet to tranimscend the limits on the imagination nation-state. We posed by the territorial seek a more genuinely internationalist that language hasyet to emerge,he writes, the to articulate politicalpossibilitiesand as in aspirations yetonlyimplicit oursocial 1996: 158-77]. practices[Appadurai has Questioningthis view, Chatterjee suggestedthat in a post-colonialcountry like India,the importance negotiating of national and subnationalcontradictions increases rather than diminishes with

1998].He argues globalisation [Chatterjee thatthesecontradictions centrearound the of community as a locus of resiliency affiliationandaction,as a meansof resistance to the homogenising impetus of capital,-a site of historic memoryand a resource alternative for futures.2 kinds The of politicalrightsasserted herearedistinct fromthechieflyindividual character the of rights sought and contested in western society. Classicalliberaltheoryis unable to recognise communities as political it of actors,however,rendering incapable comingto termswiththekindsof developmentswitnessed thecontemporary,world in [Sandel1984]. Fromelectoralbehaviour, where voting tends to occur along comwhere lines,tourban environments, munity act neighbourhoods as kingroupsto practise mutual aid, to the well-known exBankinBangladesh, ampleof theGrameen wherecommunities serveas collateral for loans, numerousexamples can be cited that highlightthis lacuna. It is one thingto arguefor the virtuesof as communities politicalactorswhenthey are marginalor minority communities, as claiminga modicumof stateprotection a compensation for the aberrationsof colonialhistoryin India(herethevarieties of compensatory in discrimination enacted therealms caste,religionandgender can of be indexed).In the case of Hindunationalismhowever,thecommunity question in claimsto represent majority, thus the and has the potential to subvert the state's neutralarbitration altogether. Hindunationalism madean indigenised politicallanguageavailableto a majority population largely excluded from the reagendaof an elitist developmentalist gime. While drawingon a particularistic the of conception community, BJPandits allies at the same time appealed to a majoritarian conceptionof politics.3We thus face an impassein thinkingof communitiesas actorsin a situationwhereat this historicalconjuncture, Hindunationalismis boththeglobalisingface of Indian politics, and the bearerof a violent and brutal formof religiouschauvinism within the confines of the nation-state. Political Economy of Hindu Nationalism As the preciseform of nationhood becomes contentious with the growth in and politicisation, theincreasing challenges facedbythedevelopmentalist welfare state, marketsbecome prominent promising as

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meansto addressand solve questionsof politics, since in their ideal form they exemplifyconsensual exchange. Theycan thus come to be seen, in this context, as a means of breakingout of a political or at deadlock, of arriving a moreadequate consensus. Butthere a problem performing is in this The analytical operation. kindof pluralism that can be envisioned in marketspresumes individualfreedoms, which can clearly coexist with each other under a given rule of law. In politics, however, what is at stake is the futureof the collectiveas a whole,andwhile thereis room for negotiationand debate, it typically excludes discussion on the characterof politicalsystemin place.A given political kind systemespousesa particular of ethics or morality, state capitalist,marketcapitalist,or socialist,as opposedto markets, whichareamoral, undefinedin terms and of the largerprojectthey lend themselves to. This then is one kind of blockage in the flow of circuitsbetween fields. The on politicalfield tendsto pose restrictions the kinds of questionsthat might result from marketflows. Questionsof private or individualinterestneed to be couched in termsof or give way to questionsof collective interest.Similarly,the cultural network field, as a denselyparticularised of signification, wouldtransmit thosekinds of expression couldbeperceived within that its historicallygiven medium of underTheseareclearlyas muchissues standing. of languageas of substance,so that the termsin whicha given issue is articulated or shift,becomedifferently accented, take on an alteredmeaning in their passage acrosscircuits communication. of Thusfor of instance,the circulation an aggressive Hindunationalistideology could be unin derstood the cultural field as a demand forupper in casteHinduassertiveness, the politicalfield as a moveto consolidatethe Hinduvote, upperand lower caste both, andin the economicfield as a critiqueof the secularist Nehruvian ideology of the Congress. in Globalisation initiated Indiawith was debates aboutthepathof development the had taken since independence. country the 'Nehruvianism', termretrospectively used to characterise CongressParty's the governance, quickly post-independence condensedinto a taken-for-granted term thatbecamea politicalweaponused accordingto the wielder.The termpurports todescribe Congress the Party's earlyvision of a planned substieconomy,withimport

tution industrialisation and its goal of autarkic For development. all of the fiveyearplansmade,andall the publicsector was built,Nehruvianism very enterprises farfrombeinga hegemonicforceor a fait accompli, if by this we mean state-led socialist development. fact, it was alIn and waysawished-for athwarted project,a than potential goalrather anachievedcondition,gainingin these criticismsa retroactiveunityit perhaps neverpossessedin The privatesector was in fact practice.4 charged with husbandingthe country's toward and progress development, allowed in toprofit itsparticipating thisdevelopfor ment. If this was a sure recipe for cultivatinginefficiency,it was as muchbusiness complacency it was statelaxityin as this. permitting When it seemed that liberalisation offered a means of quick expansionin a it rapidlygrowingmarket, was welcomed businesses.Whenit beganto be clear by thatforeigncompetition wouldenteras a necessary concomitantof any internal the liberalisation, mood rapidlybecame moreambivalent, protests and ensued from several sections, demandinga so-called level playingfield (e g, demands madeby the 'Bombay Club' formed by the top industrialhouses). Visions of swadeshi, for the viz,demands indigenising economy, weresuddenly visionsthathad resurrected, in beenprominent theirabsence theheyday in of the Rajiv Gandhi-led liberalisation. Liberalisation positioned itself as a conversation about the economy, qua economy,whereasin fact it soughtat the sametimeto address failures politics the of andto bypassits impediments. Arguments advancingliberalisation appealedto criteria of productivity marketsuccess and for as a way of compensating the deterioration and ofpolitical legitimacy thewaning of prevailing Nehruvian of understandings the collective good. The progressionof Hindu nationalismitself illustrated this, to swellingas popular responses particular whenthe campaigns grew, andretreating feedback moreambivalent.5 voters was As becamedetached fromtraditional loyalties and new votersfloodedinto the electoral arenawith a loweringof the voting age (from 21 to 18, in 1989), politicalcamdeliberate in paigns becameincreasingly of theirtargeting whatL K Advanicalled 'the non-committed vote'.6 It was in this context that culturalidentitybecame salient and began to be explicitly incorporatedin the appealsthat politicalparties made to the electorate.

Three discrete but related sets of events converge to constitute the present conjuncture, then [Rajan 1999].7 Firstly, there is the onset of globalisation in India, indexed by the greater presence of multinationals in the Indian market through mergers, acquisitions and startups,and the availability, since 1993, of a host of satellite television channels from the west, for the first time unmediated by government censorship. The commanding heights from which the Indian state governed economy and society have now reduced considerably with a new, independent set of forces present, forces that threaten to dwarf erstwhile authority altogether. Secondly, since the mid-1980s, political developments in India have reshaped the visual space, so that image forms draw increasingly on indigenous traditions, specifically a brahminical Hindu culture, albeit modernised and adapted to sponsorship on television. Drawing on advertising and consumer culture to mobilise at the grass roots level, the Hindu right fought its way to the centre of the political stage, managing to appear simultaneously as the last resort of (Hindu) patriots, the party of liberalisation and the hope of big business. If the greaterHinduisationof the polity and the affinity of such politics with an ascendant market ideology point to the use of advertising-related strategies, markets themselves have come to regard the use of Hindu imagery as more acceptable, and have begun to explore the intimate meanings of religious traditionthat are a far cry from their hitherto mainly westernised conceptualisations of the cultural bases of markets. If the BJP and its allies make claims for a kind of Hindu modernity, through media and markets, those institutions appear to absorb and gradually diffuse this wisdom, albeit in somewhat diluted form. The larger political conditions thatenable and arereinforced by such expression thus need to be marked. Related to these two events is a third,namely, the establishment of television broadcasting in the early eighties, and the resulting creation of a common platform that for the first time stretched across barriersof language and literacy. The broadcast of commercially sponsored Hinduepics serialised on state-owned national television, to enormous popularaudiences, signalled the possibility of a kind of mass participation that had never before been witnessed in post-independence times; this was a potential thatthe BJP was the firstto utilise in any effective way [Rajagopal1996;Basu 1993].8

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Commercial electronicmediathus stands betweenthe realms of politics and the and the economy, signalling enabling entry of the masses onto the stage of politics, while seeking to appropriate channel or thesepopular energiesin termsof thelogic of marketing. Thus if the media provide a kindof stage wherethe population can imagineand identify itself as a people the united, workof the economyandthat of politicsis to dividethis population into marketniches and electoral constituencies, the betterto guardthem from competing brandsand political parties, and as thereby acting forcesofdisidentification atthesametime.Clearly, lookingtopolitics or of the economyalone does not illuminateeither ortheother one a realm; tacking betweenthese realmsis required. Now, the changein the political envifroma welfarestate-dominant to ronment a neo-liberal market-dominant regimehas been accompaniedby a change in the marketingenvironment,from a manufacturer's market thepost-second in world warera,toamoreconsumer-driven market sincethe 1980s.Whereas worldwide,this shiftwasaccompanied stagnation the in by of in growth markets, the Indiansituation therewas a considerable marketgrowth during the same period. Thus in fact domesticbusinessesfared well, lacking the level of competition their foreign faced abroad.It was in the counterparts wake of the.optimismgeneratedby this of to period growththatan alternative the came to be seen waningCongressParty as possible,and thatthe BJP, perceiving this opportunity, refashioneditself as a successorto the rulingparty.9 In possible this process,not only politics, but businesses too sought more individualised modes of address, shifting from the genericnotion of the mass consumer, to a more disaggregated view of the individual consumer.

nationaland regionalbusinesses.This is especiallythe case with fast movingconsumer goods (FMCGs),relativelyinexpensive items wherethe effortsto entice consumersare most visible. With the opening up of a protected domestic and increase market, theresulting in thepresence largeforeigncompanies, of however,indigenousbrandscame under and businesses attack, Indian beganto pay the price for havingutilisedthe developmentalist growth phase to luxuriateas rentiers a enjoying license-permit rather raj thanto cultivatetheircapacitiesas interAn nationallycompetitiveentrepreneurs. enormousamountof effort came to be directed gainingentryto this 'emerging at withbusinessesseekingto estabmarket', lish themselvesearly when media costs wererelatively low, andmarkets relatively so underdeveloped, that strong loyalties could be built.10 Advertisers beenaddressingmarket had a that represented balanceof political the and culturalforces as it prevailedat the time.Iftheyconceived urban, the upwardly mobile middle class, the most desirable to segmentof the market, be 'peoplelike us' (or PLUs), this reflectednot only a prevailing politicalbalanceof forces,but a tacit acceptanceof this balance,or an inability to think beyond it. With the expansion of markets, advertisersand marketers faced a difficult problem, namely,how to conceiveof the new consumers,whom they had never addressed before,and with whomthey were culturIt allyunfamiliar. wasonethingto perform marketresearchstudies,and to construct profiles of their targetconsumers'anxieties andaspirations. whatif consumBut ers did not behaveas they were supposed seemedto to, andif theirpsychographics make them refractory the most skilful to rhetoric? Available, advertising politically salientformsof appealprovidean attractive option,I suggest,lendingthe access routesto a globalised economyanirreducMarket's Mode of Address The paribly specific culturalcharacter. It may be said that the barriersto the ticularistic formsof identitythatpolitical of interaction global, nationaland local rhetoric utilisesareseen to have a proven forces are lowest in consumer goods marketvalue, furthermore. opening The and field by the markets, thatit is herethattheirmutual up of the cultural-political influencecan be most clearlyseen. After decline of a strongcentriststate, and the a lengthyperiodof the protectionof the advancesmadeby new coalitionsfollowdomesticmarket,when indigenousbusi- ing this decline,render use of cultural the nessesby andlargecontented themselves appeals such as of religion and caste with servicing existing customers, the an effective strategy,I suggest, and the expansionof the market has been the prevailingpolitical context endows the focus of a greatdeal of effortandattracts strategy with a distinctly contemporary between fiercecompetition, multinationals, meaning.11 Economicand PoliticalWeekly March3, 2001

Advertisers working in a protected domesticmarkethad theirjob cut out for old-timersspokeof it as a them;industry gentleman'sclub, with little pressureon themto compete.Copy was mostlywritten in Englishandtranslated, appeals and that were frequentlyadaptedfrom international campaigns had little cultural specificity,for the most part.The market they addressedcan be divided, broadly, into two. For upmarket audiences,advertiserssoughtto aestheticisethe appealof goods, using a blend of borrowedand with the indigenousimagery.Campaigns Air IndiaMaharaja in figure,andcartoons Indianised themesfor theAmulcompany, a proud symbol of nationalcooperative dairy industry,are some examples,both to customers. downFor catering well-to-do market and rural customers, appealing to the goods' utility was believed to be sufficient,or at any rate, a sign of what marketers willingtospend thissegwere on ment. Nehruvian was,then,marked The era by the absence of a popularaestheticin for advertising the workingand the rural classes.12The power of Hindunationalism's appealwas in manyways,I suggest, a symptomof this absence. Followingthe openingup of the visual field and with the increasein economic competition, this split structureof the consumermarkethas begun to change, withcampaigns for beingcrafted thelower segmentof the marketas well. Broadly, two stylesof address be seen in recent can fornationally advertising promoted goods, withineach of althoughthereis variation them.13 firststyle is characterised The by and abstracted self-conscioususes of inwherein meanings the of digenousculture, the practicesand themesused become a fetishisedreferent whoseparticular meanare extraneous the ad's narrative. to ings Herethereis anaestheticised consumption of a repertoire things markedas 'culof to ture',unconnected dailylife;we cansee this as a high culturalappropriation of In indigenous symbols.14 the secondcategory, the use of indigenoussymbolismis invokedas partof a moresituated cultural language, and marks the entry of such Culsymbolisminto nationalcirculation. ture here is more like a set of practices in use, rather than a set of fetishised objects used for their iconic value.15 Simplyby virtueof theirpositioningon a nationalstage, however, often with the of intermixing Englishand/orHindiwith a regional language for instance, such advertising speaks to and evokes an

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screen-literate culturally and Political Overtones of a increasingly self-consciousaudience. Changing Market Thisstillcorresponds to a relatively only The question of the establishmentof tiny section of the market,occupied by Witha mediumlike tele- brandsoften takes the form, in business national brands. is of how ruralmarvision, however,a virtualmarketplace publications, inquiring established that transcends any given kets are being extended. Rural markets market some level of werelargelyseen to be occupiedby local, generating segment, brandawareness acrossan entirepopula- small-scaleproducers, selling bulkgoods commodities. Whatis the tion. For each nationalbrandthatattains and unbranded market share,thereinvari- significanceof this shift towardsbrandanysignificant ably arises a host of regional imitators, ing? First and foremost,it is a means to often changingfrom one district to the 'addingvalue' to the product, perhapsin and'customer next, offeringconsumersversionsof the termsof quality, packaging good in questionwith varyingdegreesof satisfaction,'but above all in terms of success.These 'pseudo-brands' like a price.Itis alsoa particular of recoding are way around brand, the the therelationship betweenpersonandthing, penumbra indicating existenceof consumerswho have either betweena thing'sutilityandits aesthetic betweenthe individual failed to identify the brandcorrectly,a properties, apprein of commonphenomenon 'emergingmar- ciationof theaesthetic qualities day-tokets',orelse, despitebeingbrand-literate, day objectsand the endowmentof these have chosen the. imitation for its more forms of recognitionwith an explicitly affordablevalue. In addition, there are social significance. The expansion of goods thatareonly weaklybranded, pos-- marketsproceeds througha rhetoricof self-definition improvement, and sessing a name,but with no value added personal to it in termsof publicityand brandper- and of therebyachievingsocial membersonality.Againstboth of these standsthe ship, imputingthatentryand acceptance in worldof unbranded infinitely goods, areopento all. Whereas factthe sphere larger composednot only of bulk commodities, of consumptionis an infinitely graded but also of finished goods that are too hierarchical realm,so thata given repermodestto merit their anointment with a toireof consumption one practices permits often fu- formof inequality, codedin locallyrecogbrand,existing in the itinerant, and of markets street- nisable ways, to be tradedfor another, gitiveworld travelling or comer sales, of textiles and ready-made morenationally internationally legible clothes, aluminiumware, plasticware, form. It should be noted that while the to of glassware,jewellery, and so on. These translation regionalpractices a more aresignsof thenever-finished publicarenapermitsnew modesof idenphenomena workof branding. the marketplace, In the tity formation, extensiveinternaldifthe real advertisersand the free riders, the ferentiationin any individualrepertoire brandedand the counterfeitor pseudo- rendersconsumption an patterns unlikely brandedgoods fight it out, alongside basis for collective action other than on unbranded itself. commodities, like so many themes of consumption will My discussionof the market focus paralleluniversesstrugglingto establish whichhasbeen theirhegemony,each of them placing a on thefabricwashmarket, valueon consumption different practices, the site of the most intense competition real and metaphorical. and 'Expandingmar- betweenmultinationals, regional local kets' thenrefersfirst andforemostto this companies.16 spreadof audio-visual The struggleto extend the provenanceof the media, literacy and increasedpublicity brand over the arena of consumption, aboutcleanlinessand personalcare have of consumers the significance transformed soapsandsynthetic the deterpersuading of consuming branded goods, where gents market Indiaintoa battlefield in for brands sought to be defined in very multinationalsand domestic players.17 are to Despitethe relativelylow percapitaconspecific ways. Againstthe exhortation a genericconsumeron the partof those sumptionin Indiaof soap and detergent, we selling commodities, can observethe the aggregatemarketis growingonly at need to develop more particularistic the rateof population growth,andmarket modesof address, betterto securethe shareis achievedmainlyat theexpenseof the addressees'attention, the attemptto the competition.The choice in laundry and tendsto be one that gradually extend these particularistic soaps and detergents modesof address across the market as consumers identifywithclosely, andso is a whole. relatively hard to dislodge; consumers

typically maintainthat the productthey to which happen use is the best, no matter one it is. Thus the comparative benefits of different laundry wash productsare The clearly entirelyintangible.18 phenomenonof branding thusbe seen more can clearlyas a battleovermodesof signifying consumption. Market in development fabricwashhas involved the attemptto convertusers of edible oil-basedlaundry soaps,who have historicallycomprisedthe largestpartof the market,to users of phosphate-based syntheticdetergents.The laundrysoaps segmenthave beenreservedfor the small scale,or 'unorganised' sector,whichturns out about90 per cent of the production, while the medium and large-scale, or organised sector, which cannot operate withouta licence, producesthe remainder.19The small-scale sector gains the benefitof morelenientindustrial laws and bankfinancing,as well as market restrictions thatpreventlargercompaniesfrom themthrough directcompetieliminating tion. What the organisedsector seeks to do insteadis to convertlaundry soapusers to users of detergentpowdersand bars, presentingthe latteras superior products thatanyenlightened consumer woulduse. Over time, laundrysoaps have reduced from occupying over 90 per cent of the marketto holdingbarelyone-third of it, growing at a rate much smallerthan thatof the detergentsmarket,with most of the growth in laundrywash going to detergents.20 Brand Wars There is a pyramidof offeringsin the organisedsector of the laundrymarket, consistingof premium non-soap detergent NSDs, low priced (NSD) bars,mid-priced NSDs, andlaundry soaps.Laundry soaps tend to be dominatedby regionalbrands that have anythingbut a well-developed the profileof theirtargetconsumers; biggest brands,includingDoctorsoap in the north,BB soap in Mumbai,and Urvashi in Tamil Nadu, are unknownelsewhere. The premiumproductsare understood to offer more evolved emotional benefits, andreflect more a developed psychographic of portrait their audience.Following the in established thewest,womenare pattern for targetedas the chief decision-makers domesticconsumergoods.21Brandmanagers presentthemselves as segmenting themarket between womenconsumers who are mere homemakers those who go and

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beyondjust takingcare of their family. restedon little morethana catchyjingle, competition.The last of these strategies Womenwho buy premium are andofferedno psychological of low value,unlike wasthedevelopment a separate cost detergents Whatwas bewildering to operation under the rubric of Stepan thoughtto be more evolved than those its competition. and large companieslike Lever was that de- Chemicals, smallcompany a takenoverby NSDs,forinstance, buying low-priced in of Patelwas Lever, avoiditstypically to consumers theunorganised laundry soap spitethecrudity his methods, hugeoverheads. are to Wheel detergentpowder began to be market understood be much more able to repeathis success in one product in with their world being con- categoryafter another,first in detergent marketed intensivecampaigns, with but traditional, finedto theirhusbands families. 'The powders, and substantial volumes from limited results. Because new users of stealing more moveconsumers thetriangle', Surf, and then in the detergentbars cat- detergentswere assumedto requireeduup you one brand Nirma cation,theadvertising concluded,'the more egory,fromLever'sRin.Thereafter manager campaigns designed a you get valuefor yourbusiness.The idea proceededto threatenLever as well in forWheeladopted pedagogical approach, is not volumesbut value.'22He was re- premium toiletsoaps(e g, Lux),andpopular with a salesmanadvisinga housewifeon Maslow's model of bathingsoaps(e g, Lifebuoy),all withone the product's merits. After indifferent ferringto Abraham human motivation, which presumes a brandname, Nirma,and relativelymini- resultswith the ad, the campaignbecame of outlay.Lever'sexecutives moreexperimental, hierarchy needs; those at the bottom maladvertising usinga melodramatic, of moreheavily chiefly meet their subsistenceneeds, in spokeof this with all the horror watch- Hindifilmstyle,anddrawing this understanding, whereasthose at the ing an enemygeneralinexorably advance on market research. narratives The became have realised their inner potential his armyto theircapitalcity, in this case, richer, more full of incident, involving top [Maslow 1954: 35-46]. This is mapped some of the company'score brands,un- deeper family dynamics and emotional of ontothepyramid consumer drama thusmoreassuredof engaging and demograph- affected by all their counter-attacks. with viewers in terms of the narrative ics, with consumersable and willing to to contentandenactment. to spendmoremoney understood be the Corresponding New Strategies the novelty of the productfor the target mostself-realised. This is a self-fulfilling schemeas faras marketers concerned: Whatwas at work was a differentphi- market(a detergent are rather thana laundry are low incomeconsumers believedto be losophy of market expansion. Nirma, soap) a deeper penetration the social of lessevolved,andpremium brand consum- followeda methodof developingmarkets structure required weave it in with was to ers more so. The challenge before busi- strikinglydifferent from that of multi- existingfamily relationships. burden The nesses is of courseto make manifestthe nationals,allowinga productto circulate of responsibility on the woman:her fell marketsfor a periodof failure to whiten her man's clothes was advantages of such evolution to low in the hinterland incomeconsumers. two or moreyearsandallowingit to build endangering chancesof success, and his the consumer Interestingly, first notable sign of its base,observing responsesto thustheirsurvival.Based on focus group this in discussions,the number lemonsshown of brand wars,in the wake of the establish- it, and incorporating information to ment national televisionandconsequent the decisionwhether finallypromoteit wasincreased, thatscoresof lemonsfell of so to Meanwhile the marginsfor wholesalers like rainintothedetergent. attempts expandthe consumermarket, or not. Generous in the early 'eighties, came not from a and retailersensured that the company wheel in the graphicbecamea morefastor but for device. Both national multinational company from wouldnotsuffer lackofa fieldforcesuch spinningthree-dimensional in a small-scale entrepreneur Ahmedabad, as thatemployedby the largecompanies. of these wereexteriorto the apparent plot on Karsanbhai as Patel, and the low- Multinationals, the contrary, perform of the ad,functioning religiousfetishes Gujarat, costdetergent he Hindustan markettrialsover a shortperiodof time, that signified purityand strengthrespecempire created. Theirusesaidmuchabout Lever's Lever,a subsidiaryof the Anglo-Dutch and then proceedwith a majorpublicity tively.25 has the blitz, attempting createa coercive de- perception thismarket to of as Unilever, dominated conglomerate segment, being for that market manyyears.Untilthe mandfor theirproducts wouldoblige responsive to quasi-subliminal religious detergent and and to to early 'eighties,detergentswere believed distributors retailers contentthem- imagery, Lever'sowneagerness win and the to haveonlya premium market, Lever selveswiththesmallmargins company consumers.The use of such symbolism held the leadingbrand,Surf, pricedcon- allow them. Their large overheads,and clarified company'sownperception the of siderably higherthanotherbrands.Patel theirneedto satisfyinvestorsandachieve the otherwiseopaquemotivationsof this that new demonstrated the limitsof high marginsforbidsthemfromadopting relatively setof consumers. thesame At essentially the domesticmarketwere not simply re- the morebottom-up suchas that timeit confirmed opacitybyrelegating this approach but consumermotives to the mysterybin of source-based, werearesultof thelimits demonstrated Nirma.24 by of marketers' He After ignoringNirma for some years, superstition, reproduced company' and the s imagination. challenged with rela- Levereventually in of a the identification detergents this adopted three-pronged ownuncertainty addressing market. in its of to share. Througha combination strategies,the tively affluentconsumersby openingup strategy itsbattle erode market an for a market not previously believedto exist, It developed ad campaign Surfwith sales of Wheel finally began to rise sufwith his productNirma.The reasonsfor a 'value for money' story, arguingcon- ficientlyto challengeNirma'sgrowth,but his success includedperceivingthe new sumers shouldpaymorebecauseit cleaned Lever'sexecutives asserted importance the possibilitiesof low-cost outreachto con- better;it usedan established laundry soap of lemons and wheels in this process.26 low What the foregoing suggests is the sumers, maintaining overheads, keep- brandname in its portfolio,Sunlight,to a ingthepricealmost equalto thatof laundry market detergent powder,andfinally,it uncertain battle between attempts to what was called Operation aestheticiseconsumption moreprice and soap, and ensuringadequatedistribution implemented to of withhighwholesaler retailer and margins.23 STING,Strategy Inhibitthe Growth *and utility based strategiesof extending Largecompaniestryto shift the Beyondits price, the brandappealitself Nirma,aimed as well at futurelow cost markets. 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groundof competition,from pricingand valueas perceived customers (whether by in the tradeor at the consumerlevel) to a differentlevel of psychologicalvalue, wheretheirweapons publicity make of will their victory more likely. However, this on of dependence themechanisms publicandbrandimageryrendersbusinesses ity vulnerableto competitionmaking more functionalappealsto consumers. Witha hostof new products comingin, for customers turn theretailer advice may to that on whatto use, on the presumption he receives feedbackfrom a variety of Businessesare competingwith shoppers. eachotherto exploitthis trust,andcreate top of the mind awareness,essentially with forms 'trade retailers various of bribing loads',or schemesto ensurethatretailers in havean interest pushingtheirproducts. 'Kyaschemehai'?is thequestionretailers who visits them ask of every salesperson - i e, whatis the promotional schemethat me wouldpersuade to favouryourgoods oversomeone else's?Eightrupees forevery literof coconutoil, they mightbe told,or, 5 percent on every case of bathingsoap. At the same time, businesseswith sufficient resourcesseek to generatedemand and has through advertising, once demand been createdas even retailersagreed, a brandis impossibleto dislodge. By credemand, atinga massiveandunswerving the powerthata companygains over the chain is enormous: restof the production of theycan holduppaymentsto suppliers rawmaterials, receivegoodson credit, and and they can reduce retail margins to whileensuring that, negligible proportions are to retaincustomers, retailers forcedto stock their products.27 With the opening up of a protected domesticmarket, only do largefirms not to attempt takecontroloverorextendtheir hold over the growing consumer base. Smallfirmsandentrepreneurs to cater seek to low-income segments of the market ignored or found unprofitableby large companies. This creates a problem of for whichneed discipline largecompanies, to ensure that forms of appeal are not that threatenor underinstitutionalised mine theirown long-terminterests.28 In thissense,thechangein market conditions the accompanying shift from Nehruvian to developmentalism the era of liberalisa for ationhascreated problem businesses reflectingin the political sphereproper. The relation different of market segments one to the other,andthe conditionof the market a whole,reflectsa givenbalance as

of politicalforces. The unsettlingof this powerthatthetrade exertdownstream can balancecreatesa problemof knowledge from the brandmanufacturer, helpingto thatcannotbe solvedwithreference the cut throughthe clutterof a messy retail to market and itself, since it is fromthe political environment an inefficientsales perhave hithertodrawn sonnel.Thishelpsto gain 'topof themind' field that marketers theircues, e g, abouthow to respondto sharein the market, use it to increase and affiliations across class segments. The 'value, not volumes,'in the wordsof the is market especiallyinteresting Lever'sexecutive,thatis, to increasethe detergents in this regard,in havingan astutemarket percentagein profits ratherthan merely leader, HindustanLever, that seeks to serve largergroupsof people. With new addressand if possible to preemptcom- communicationsextending beyond the petition in any segment of the market, physicallimitsof any given marketplace, especially after its humblingby Nirma. however, this logic is always liable to HLL tendsto set the examplefor market .subversion, new volumesarefoundby as cultivationthat other businessesseek to competitors, diminishing what can be emulate,and thusthe foregoingcase has accumulated from the old sources of lessons thatextendbeyondthe detergents value.Similarly,if Hindutva as appears a solutionto the crisis of political market,I would argue. possible Ifpreviously, couldworkwith authority, and religious symbols and marketers fixed,homogeneous relatively conceptions fetishesare seen to extend the narket's of a middle class marketby targeting grasp over a populationonly partially premiumprice segments, consumerbe- literate in the logic of branding,these such complacency meansof aggregation themselves haviournow prohibits are open for a variety of reasons. Low income to challenge. segmentsare exposed to a rangeof new not such appeals, onlyforgenericproducts Conclusion as Nirma,but as well for productstradiWhenwe askwhatarethecultural forms tionally advertised for higher income groups.Now, consumersmay cut across of politicalsociety, and assertthat these in of withinpoliticalsociety, pricebarriers the purchase products, are not restricted no makingconsumer segmentation longer but belong to circuitsacross society, we asusefula wayof understanding.the market aresayingthattheseareinfluential across as it usedto be. Thatis, withtheexpansion society. Thatis the point we are making and the aboutHindutva, thatit travelled the is on of the market of communications, marketis moredifficultto map.Accom- back of expandingmarkets,as it were, modationsmay be made to the smaller insertingitself into spaces partypolitics and had not developed systematically,thus purchasing powerof lowerclassurban of ruralmarketsby playing 'the volume bringingitself closer to people, and adgame', offeringa rangeof productsizes vancingits cause. It continuesto do this the 'withoutcheapening communications in the growthof markets,since it offers This is a new phenomenon, a powerfulrepository symbolsmarketof strategy'.29 one that expands the middle class erscandrawuponin theirquestto address while not challenging its consumerswhose culturethey have only aspirationally income stratification.30 obverse of a verypoorgraspof. By virtueof the lack The the aspirationsof consumers, of concertedpolitical opposition to the inflating becomes religious themes the Hindu right propahowever,is thattheirbehaviour less predictable,and harderto control. gated, the circulationof Hindutvatook on Commenting a demographic aspectof on a political significance regardlessof this problem,viz, that70 per cent of the precisely what people thoughtof it. Indian is 35 The very forces that helped promote population under yearsof age, one vice-president marketing of to expressed Hindutvaat first led subsequently its how 'frightened'he was by a consumer dilution.We may recall that in fact, no base thatlackedthe historical knowledge sooner did Hindutvago public than it thatwouldensurebrand Thisis, happened its bluffwascalled,withthe that loyalty.31 of truly, a regime in transition. implementation the MandalCommisWiththe expansion the market, of to large sion recommendations awardreservacompanies seek to create and reinforce tions in governmentjobs and college brands as their preferred means of admissionsto OBCs, in 1989. The conmaximisingcontrolover communication sequent politicalsplitin thecastecoalition with consumers.Cultivating brandvalue that composedits ranksput paid to any is a way of reducingif not bypassingthe dreamsof sole dominancethe BJP may Economicand PoliticalWeekly March3, 2001

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havehad;thereafter, coalitionalrule only wouldbe possible,at least in the foreseeablefuture. The ideology and the appeal haveoutlastedthis of Hindutva's rhetoric moment,however, as a reminder that politicsis somethingmore than the sum of its parts. Thisexcess, over andbeyond of. the aggregation interests,is precisely thepolitical,i e, thatcollective vision or narrative whose refashioning contesand tationconstitutesthe arena of politics. the Similarly, excess of meaning,beyond thestated copyof anygivenadvertisement andbeyondany use a producthas for its contains distinctness a given the of buyer, brand,or what is crucial in retaining consumer loyalty,in deliveringthe value that businesses seekandensuring their that the goodsretain capacityto makea profit. In an era of a 'revolution'in communication, the interaction between these is than spheres moreintimate before.There is an irreducible differencebetweenthese therearepoliticalissues however; spheres, proper that cannot be displaced onto but markets, requireaddressingin themselves. At the same time, the means of these questionsbecome more answering contestedand subject to challenge, as decisions require through political working a process consensus of formation rendered morecomplexandprecarious the new by meansof communication. l

Notes
1 This is a slightly altered version of an essay thatappeared Social TextNo 60, Fall 1999. in 2 Duringthe periodof colonial rule, nationalist politicsdefineda culturalpreservethat would be exempt from the disciplinarypractices of the colonial state, in order to preserve the potentialfor anti-colonial mobilisation. This realmof politics entails forms of mobilisation often inconsistent with the principles of in association civil society.Theculturalmodels conceived for this realm, to mediate between the population and the nation state of the future remainconsequential for postcolonial politics. See ParthaChatterjee,"A Response to Taylor's 'Modes of Civil Society'," Public Culture3, 1, Fall 1990, 119-132, rpt in The Nation and Its Fragments, Chapter 11. See also Partha Chatterjee, The Nation and Its Fragments: Colonial and Post-colonial Histories. Princeton University Press, Princeton,NJ, 1994. 3 Thus the Ram temple campaign based its demandfor the Babri masjid in Ayodhya not only on the claim of being originalowner, for which no definitive proof existed, but also on thegroundthata'Muslimminorityshouldbow to the majorityculture. 4 I owe this importantpoint to a conversation with Lee Schlesinger, in Ann Arbor, MI, March12, 1997.

5 The organisational force of the grass roots cadreof the Hinducadrewas of course crucial in giving shape to the Hindu right campaign, it should be noted. See Rajagopal, 1999, forthcoming. 6 Interviewwith L K Advani, Economic Times, August 8, 1994. There were about40 million new voters between the age of 18 and 21 who were eligible to vote in the November 1989 general elections, for instance. See Richard Sisson, 'India in 1989: A Year of Elections in a Culture of Change', Asian Survey, Vol XXX, No 1, January 1990, 120. 7 In this essay I seek to develop an argument first formulated in my 'Thinking about the new Indian middle class: gender, advertising and politics in an age of globalisation' in Rajeswari Sunder Rajan ed Signposts: Ma(r)kingthe Present,Kali for WomenPress, New Delhi, 1999. and 8 In 'Communalism theConsuming Subject', Economicand Political Weekly,February10, 1996, I have discussed the centrality of the media in the rise of the Hindu right. See also TapanBasu et al, KhakiShorts,SaffronFlags: A Critique ofthe HinduRight,Orient Longman, New Delhi, 1993. 9 In the process, it was overlooked that in fact the partyhadalwaysbeena dependentpolitical formationincapableof leading a government on its own, both in terms of the smallness of its coreconstituencyandin termsof its political inability to transcend the limitations this imposed on the party's room for maneuver. Foran argument examinesthe historically that limitedcharacter the Bharatiya of JanaSangh, subsequentlythe BharatiyaJanataParty,(see BruceGraham, HinduNationalismand Indian Politics: The Origins and Developmentof the BharatiyaJana Sangh, CambridgeUniversity Press, Cambridge,1990). Graham'sexamination, which concludes before 1980, is useful in explaining why the Hindu right did not achieve the extent of influence it sought to. Itshouldbe notedhoweverthatthisexplanation nonethelessdoes not illuminatewhy the party did achieve such prominenceit did duringthe 1980s and subsequently. What is missing, I suggest, is a properlypolitical explanationof the power of a given ideology to extend its influence beyond a given 'core constituency'. 10 Thus in the US for instance, brands like Kellogg's, Pepsi and Marlborostill gain from large advertisingspend they received during the 1950s and 1960s. Brands enable manufacturersto communicate directly with consumersregardlessof the actionsof the middleman. For some useful business literatureon ed, brands,see, e g, PaulStobart, BrandPower, New YorkUniversityPress, New York, 1994, passim. 11 Thus while Hindu imagery has been present in some measure in Indian advertising for decades, its use since the late 'eighties is difficult to separatefrom the loud and aggressive claims for public dominance by Hindu nationalists; the intention of advertisers is obviously immaterialto the resonances such texts may provoke. I do not discuss caste in this paper, because although it has achieved independentpolitical expression,as a form of culturalexpression,lower caste identityis still as easily liable to be folded into Hindu

nationalist themes as lower caste parties are to strike political alliances with the Hindu right in the elctoral arena; with Hindu right imagery still retaining a protean and widely presentforce.See, in thiscontext,my 'Thinking about the new Indianmiddle class' in Sunder Rajan ed, 1999. 12 This paralleleda strategyof developmentthat to gave priority economicissuesandunderstood cultural issues to be secondary or epiphenoan menal, in whatat the time appeared entirely reasonablecategorisationof tasks before the government.Whatthis signalled however was theabsenceof a cultural policy, andthereliance of a mostly English-languagetrainedtechnoin cracy to bypass culturalparticularisms their task of nationaldevelopment.The assumption thatculturewas simply residualwas obviously a deeply problematicone, however, and has returnedto roost. 13 Goods with a strictly regional market may have their advertisingcopy composed in the regionallanguage,unlikemostgoods promoted nationally,andthusareopen to moreparticular forms of appeal. I am only consideringgoods with a national market here. 14 Forinstance,in the ad for KamaSutra.premium condoms, the name is presumablychosen for its evocation of an indigenous sexuality. This howevercannotbe depictedpertheconventions of nationalist iconography, which presumes chaste ratherthansexually active women. The ad depicts a strangeencounterthat simulates eroticism without touching, with a narrative coded as ethnicallyunmarked, with upper viz, caste characters a spare,westernisedsetting, in devoidof any localorregionalsigns.A variation within this category includes ads where particularpracticesareshown, e g, brahmins chanting the Vedas, or a classical Indiandancer in performance,to index the age and therefore implicitly the excellence of the culture, and then ties the product in with these qualities, eitherby plainjuxtaposition,or moreoften by humorousand ironic contrast(Philips for the first, Pepsi the second). 15 Herewe can list adsforAsianPaints,Cadbury's Perk, Maggi sauce and Ganga soap, for instance, as examples. For more discussion, see my 'Thinking AbouttheNew IndianMiddle Class' in Sunder Rajan ed, 1999. 16 This discussion is based on interviews with executives withmarket research organisations, during interviews conducted in Mumbai between January and March of 1997. The names of the executives have been withheld at their request. 17 The annualper capitaconsumptionof bathing soap in India is 0.3 kg (1990 figures), while for other LDCs it is 1 kg. For washing soap the correspondingfigures are 1.6 kg and 4.5 kg. (See I Satya Sundaram,'BrightFuturefor Soaps and Detergents', Facts for You, New Delhi, March 1990, pp 39-41). 18 In fact, due to the unusually high particulate content of Indian dirt, three to four times higherthanelsewhere,dirtcannotbe dislodged from clothes beyond a point, and after 20 washesorso, the 'loss of reflectance'in clothes, a measure used to indicate their cleanliness, is unchangedno matterwhat soap or detergent is used. Interview,marketresearchconsultant 1 Mumbai,February 14,1997. (namewithheld.),

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19 On the dangersto consumersarising from the to itself ratherthan to Nirma. In addition to it was used for the sachet as well. In the liberties taken with industrystandardsby the the strategies mentioned, both companies upmarketretail stores, a multi-level aesthetic tinkeredwith the formulationof theirproduct environmentis designed for the product,and Wagle, 'Consumer organisedsector, see N GC whilefightingpricewars,increasing amount the the consumer is allowed to 'see, feel, touch Rights and Responsibilities', Soaps, Deterof inertfillerandreducing activeingredients the and select' it. Priyanka Singh and Nanda gents and Toiletries Review Annual and in the detergent.Nirmafor its partalso played Handbook94, p 195. Also see "No toilet soap Majumdar, 'Going flexible on packaging', measuresup to lowest BIS [Bureauof Indian the Hindu card, and in a more overt fashion, Brand Equity, Economic Times, August 10, 1994, p 1. Standards] qualitylevels," PressTrustof India hiring the actress Deepika Chikhlia to act as herself in one ad campign, ordering Nirma 31 Harish Manwani, Divisional Vice President, dispatch, Business and Political Observer, from a storekeeper, to his visible surprise. Bagchi, "Rs6 soaps April3, 1993;andIndrani Marketing,HindustanLever, cited in Marion cleanse just as well as Rs 30 ones: CERC Chikhliaplayedthegoddess Sitain thepopular Arathoon, 'When Heritage is Not Enough', and Brand Equity, Economic Times, April 5-11, [ConsumerEducation and Research Centre, tele-epic,the Ramayan, wenton to become a member of parliamentfor the BJP. Economic Times,February22, 1995, p 1. The age profile of the Indian Ahmedabad]," 27 Thisallowsthegoalof negativeworking 1996. capital, populationis clearly not new. WhatManwani 20 The Indian soap and detergent industry's which means that without actually investing leaves unspoken is that this threat is a recent one. estimatedannualturnoveris about 100 billion any money, the cycle of production and accumulationcan begin, since with the clout rupees. This figure is an estimate combining of thecompany'sbrands, theycanget suppliers organisedand unorganisedsector production. to invest money simply in order to survive. (See Samata Dhawade and Kishor Kadam, 'Untappedvast ruralmarket(sic) - soap and 28 One index of the challenge faced by marketers Appadurai,Arjun (1996): Modernity at Large: in comprehending new scenariois the shift the Cultural Dimensions of Globalisation, detergent industry sitting on a gold mine,' to 'quali', i e, qualitativeresearch,which has Business Standard, September 20, 1996. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, been considerablein the last 4-5 years. If the 21 See my "Thinking aboutthe new Indianmiddle 1996, pp 158-77. class" in Sunder Rajan, op cit. 'quali-quanti'ratio used to be 10 to 90, it is Awasthi, Dilip and S A Aiyar (1991): 'Hindu 22 Interview withmarket research executive(name now 20 to 80 or 25 to 75 and in ORG-MARG Divided Family', India Today,November 30. it is 30 to 70. Thereis extensive use of attitude Balibar, Etienne (1995): 'The Infinite Conwithheld). 23 A high percentageof soda ash helped to make studies, habits and practice studies, often tradiction', Yale French Studies 88, p 160. Nirma a strong washing powder, at the cost Whatwas taboo Basu, Tapan et al (1993): KhakiShorts, Saffron sponsoredby multinationals. however of inducing a burning sensation in earliermay not be so today,eg pre-marital sex, Flags: A Critiqueof the Hindu Right, Orient the hands of those doing the washing. This divorce, and love marriage. People are Longman, New Delhi. becamea major themeof Lever'sadcampaigns, suspendingdisbelief in areaswherepreviously Chatterjee,Partha(1998): 'Beyond the Nation? to depart from the norm would have been Or Within'? Social Text 56, Vol 16, No 3, presentingits own products as gentle to the hands. shocking.SrinivasRaman,GM,ORG-MARG, pp 57-60. 24 In an industrywhere HindustanLever is the Maslow, Abraham(1954, 1970): Motivationand 29,1997. personalinterview,Mumbai,January leader (around70 per cent share in volume), 29 Navin Chopra, RK Swamy Advertising Co, Personality, Harperand Row, New York and New Delhi. Personalinterview,April21,1994. the upwardmarchof Nirma's shareis striking. Evanston, pp 35-46. Nirma's share in the 0.5 million tonne low- 30 The developmentof the 'flex pack', whichwas Rajagopal, Arvind (1996): 'Communalism and introduced in the late eighties, was crucial cost detergentsmarkethas, however, recently the Consuming Subject', Economic and Political Weekly, February 10-17. reduced to around38 per cent in 1996 from here, providing attractive illustrations on reflective plastic sheets. Velvette shampoo Rajan, Rajeswari Sunder (1999): Signposts: over 44 per cent in 1994, per independent estimates. The loss in share for Nirma is not Ma[r]kingthe Present, Kalifor WomenPress,. 'pioneered' the technique involved here, of New Delhi. the gain of its traditionalcompetitor, HLL, selling sachets costing one or two rupees, ratherthan a whole bottle. Thus if a picture Sandel,Michaet(1984):Liberalism andIts Critics, however. The slight decline in Nirma's share of the actressMadhuriDixit was on the bottle, New York University Press, New York. appears to be mainly on account of mushrooming regional brandslike Hippolin, JVG, Shuddh,etc, in the low cost detergentsmarket. Toilet soap volumes of Nirma,however, have increased to 63,000 tonne in 1996-97 from 53,000 tonnea year back. On the back of this, the company has almost doubled its market EPWwelcomes originalresearch papers in the social sciences. Articlesmust sharein popularsoapssegment from7 percent be not more than 8,000 words. They should not have been simultaneously last year. The domestic toilet soaps industry, according to the Indian Soap and Toiletries submittedfor publicationin anotherjournal or newspaper. If the paper has Makers' Association, has been growing at 5 appeared earlierin an abridgedversion, we would appreciate a copy of this per cent over the last few years, with the enclosed with the submittedpaper. Please note that correct paginationand productpenetrationsaturatingat 95 per cent. referencingand a copy complete in all respects willfacilitateearly processing Mumbai,NamrataSingh, "Nirmapicks up 14 of the article. Financial percentsharein toiletsoapsmarket", should be sent as hardcopy accompaniedby a floppyversion. July Contributions Express, 31, 1997.See alsoVinodMathew, "Nirma turnoverup 85 per cent", Business While it is possible for us to receive material by email, to avoid possible Line, Chennai, June 11, 1997, p 1. distortionsand other problems,we preferto receive materialby mail.Graphs, 25 The additionof the lemon is at a 'claim level', charts and maps, even if availablein the soft form,must be sent as clear hard and the productdoes not actually contain any lemon ingredients,although the addition of copy. EPWalso invites short contributions the 'Commentary' to section on topical perfumehelps to conceal this fact. This was confirmedrecentlyin the press. IndiaJournal social, economic and politicaldevelopments. These are ideally 2,000-3,000 (Los Angeles), January1, 1999, p B4, I thank words and must be exclusive to EPW. In all cases please include the conKaren Leonardfor the reference. tributors' name/s and mailingaddress. Shortcontributions may be sent as-file a 26 I am summarising complex battlethatbegan attachmentsto epw@vsnl.com to facilitatetimelyprocessing and publication. in the mid-eighties and is still continuing, confidentthatit is now Articleswillbe acknowledgedimmediately receipt.Quotingthe reference on althoughLeverappears able to address the challenge, and that new number in inquirieswill help. growth in the detergentsmarket will accrue

References

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Economicand PoliticalWeekly March3, 2001