"Crisis is the best time for the growth of capitalism".

capitalist class find in turbulent times, a

glorious opportunity to pursue their interests. they know very well how to take advantage of the
ongoing trends and manipulate the demographics and popular mindset. this bourgeoisie
sentiments are often garbed in a rhetoric that is sometimes on the face but many a times so subtle
that you miss the exact point they make you root for their rhetoric and simultaneously their
products. but in recent times, this rhetoric is centering around two major axis- Army and
Ayurveda. Almost all products of modern times are using one of these rhetoric to make a case for
their product, and this concern is not just economic, this rhetoric takes its roots from the
prevalent political conditions of our time and its subsequent appreciation and legitimization in
the popular culture. when something attains enough importance to be the rallying point of a
community, culture or nation as a whole, it also becomes a commodity. in a capitalist world,
sentiments can be fetishized to serve the purpose of the bourgeoisie class. if you take a cursory
gaze on the Television commercials of recent times, everything from motorbikes, cement,
cooking oil, building tiles are being sold in the name and using the face of army. sometimes the
desperateness to use the imagery is so strong that these product makers try to forge connections
where none exist. motorbikes use the masculine imagery to equate army with virility, and thus
the keywords of chivalry, strength, honor etc become the keyword of the bike as well. but for a
product like cooking oil or cement the analogical rhetoric doesn't work and so a related imagery
of a selfless, sacrificing image of army personnel is emphasized and then a plea is made in a
subtle manner to reciprocate that selfless service by love and respect, the material manifestation
of which is the product advertised. actually army and ayurveda have emerged as the center points
which produce myriad discourses and at the same time they legitimize and validates these
discourses. not only nationalism or service, army has become a legitimizing agency for a lot of
things in our popular culture and these ads are reinforcing just that. similarly, the newfound
obsession with ayurveda is not as much an appreciation of the rich legacy of Indian past but a
rhetoric for the growing crop of population who have a myopic sense of self and other identity,
that is, who see certain people as "others" and the material world of these people are seen with
grave suspicion. assimilation is sacrificed for a nostalgic assertion of a mythical and
anachronistic golden past. Ayurveda has become the parameter to judge the epitome of not only
the purity of product but also the purity of sentiments of the producers. certain brands have
become so vocal in this new found meaning that they are equating their products with national
sentiments and a call for buying their products has become a call of duty for the patriotic and
zealous citizens. these "swadeshi" brands are placing themselves against the MNC's, foreign
manufacturers and even Indian companies with seemingly western influenced products, all being
the part of the extended "others" this rhetoric has two fold impact on the advertisement strategy
of brands- firstly, little known ayurveda based firms have started asserting their position very
firmly in the advertising world, and this rhetoric has played a vital role in their upward surge.
secondly, and curiously enough, those brand who were in the firing line of these ayurvedic
brands, these extended others have tried to remodel their products on this new rhetoric. So, a lot
of brands have now started asserting themselves as a part of the "ayurveda brigade". by bringing
in ayurvedic variants of their products they are trying to recoup the space lost to them due to
paradigm shifts in marketing and thus ayurveda has become a space for negotiation for
competitive brands, and their success will depend on one, how successfully the rhetoric is
employed, and secondly, are these brands able to shrug off their image of "others" or are able to
reinforce an image of "swadeshi" which will validate their use of rhetoric of "ayurveda". it's not
only the employment of rhetoric what is important but the validity of your agency to use that
rhetoric, which depends on both perceived image of the brand by the consumers as well as
constructed image of the brand for the consumers.

and this image is further enhanced by your brand ambassadors, often represented by the
celebrities, who through their huge following have the potential to sway the audience on their
side. But there is another point in this process, these ambassadors are not playing a character, not
taking a character's garb but are using their persona and public image to make a case in their
favor. out of the many brands there are some particular personalities who figure prominently in
these endorsements. An Indian actor, widely known for taking up patriotic roles and who is
visibly vocal about army, nationalism and current government is one of the most visible
celebrate who appears in most of these advertisements. Similarly a veteran actor, who has
achieved a legendary status in the industry and still commands considerable following, and
known for his involvement in government endeavors, is another prominent figure to endorse
such brands. But a new emerging gaint of ayurveda based FMCG products, is using the face of
its current founder, a spiritual guru known for revolutionizing yoga in India.