Prasunika Priyadarshini, Radhika Venkatarayan

1. Codes of
Masculinity,
Humour & Safety
Presenters: Prasunika Priyadarshini
& Radhika Venkatarayan

2. 1.
AT THE BEGINNING
Our Client’s Ask
2

3. Our Client, a leading
challenger brand in the tyres
category
Looking to develop a
compelling new
communication strategy to
take on a well-entrenched
heritage brand
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4. 4
Client Context
Asses and gauge how users process and consume advertising
• CATEGORY LEVEL Ascertain story telling devices which
drive engagement as well as purchase consideration
• CONSUMER LEVEL  Understand category codes via
semiotic decoding of past communications, within the
category and outside
Research Objective
Research Process
STEP 1 Inside out approach
(Tell Approach)
In-depth interview and
analysis of past
communication
STEP 2 Outside in
approach
(Ask approach)
Arrive at the themes that
resonate and the values that
connect

5. 2.
DECODING HUMOUR
Knock Knock
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6. Lets begin with a joke..
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7. Indian Humour: Cultural, Conversational &
Caricature-ish
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• Brands have resorted to humour in a bid to
make clutter-breaking ads. More relevant
than ever in the age of virality and listicles
• Typical themes include: It happens only in
India situations, conversations and language
- the puns, and cultural stereotypes
• Codes have now evolved to  the meme-
fication of our humour, fueled by content
creators, comedy clubs and the state of the
Republic
• A shift from personal self-awareness to a
more conscious & outward looking humour
This in turn has caused
the offence industry to
go on an overdrive
• We can laugh at ourselves, our jokes
can be risqué and filled with
innuendoes, be edgy, be
inappropriate, our grandfathers will
pass off casually racist
“observations” as “jokes”
But…
• Don’t joke about our Gods & our
Holy Cows – both of the actual and
metaphorical variety

8. The category that the client operates in, uses little
humour... Thus there was an opportunity to use it to
create something clutter breaking
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Superiority
Theory Humour
Relief Theory of
Humour
Incongruity
Theory of
Humour
Benign Violation
Theory
Laughter is
used to
dissipate the
tensions one
experiences
during
emotional
moments
Laughing at
the misfortune
of others,
oftentimes
very physical
in nature and
slapstick
Humour
generated by
getting two
things that
normally don’t
go together, to
mix for laughs
When a
situation is a
violation and
also benign,
that is when
humour
occurs, goes
against norms

9. 9
SBI Life Insurance
Ad
• RAISON D’ETRE: Allows the use of humour to dissipate
tension, even dark themes like death, injury and social
issues get tackled through this
• REPRESENTATION CODES: Slice-of-life, everyday
scenes, amplified tension/ problem set-up, before-
after scenarios, characters representing the majority in
look, manner and appearance, inhabit our every day
spaces – homes, work, streets, testy relationships,
focus on a “mistake” made
• NARRATIVES: Classic storytelling devices – start,
middle and end, which showcase transition (or
transformation)
• ROLE OF BRAND & HUMOR: Brand is introduced in a
humorous vein as solution to get past the mistake,
serves as catharsis for the problem and acts as a
coping mechanism (overcome inhibitions)
SBI NRI Services ad
Limca
Best suited for our client – not overtly funny, thus
adhering to category codes, yet gives enough edge for
memorability
Relief Theory of Humour: Keep Calm & Laugh it Away
Kapil Sharma TVS
ad

10. 10
Nerolac Surakhsa
Plus
• RAISON D’ETRE: Allows humour to soften derision and
shade thrown at others, making it socially acceptable
to laugh at someone who has got it wrong
• REPRESENTATION CODES: Overstate and magnify
things out of proportion (exaggeration) to highlight
the “misfortune”, slapstick and physical elements
brought in, usually there is an audience involved to
heighten social embarrassment, dialogues that are
cutting and insults are used
NARRATIVES: Stories where ‘comparison’ is shown
followed by denigration of self esteem, Protagonist is
put in a situation of doom from which there is very
little escape
• ROLE OF BRAND & HUMOR: Here the non-adoption of
the brand is linked to misfortune, and the humour is
used as a cautionary tale of sorts
Shame and humour often used in advertising, did not
seem the right fit for the client given the serious concern
around safety
Superiority Theory of Humour: There, There, but this is
hilarious
Bajaj Dominar
Odonil Freshener
MakemyTrip

11. 11
Spice Jet - Men
• RAISON D’ETRE: Allows for humour by metaphor-
ization of it – one thing as something else it is vastly
different from. Helps take on themes that are
problematic even
• REPRESENTATION CODES: Humour arises from
unexpected situations hence surprise is a key
ingredient. Logical fallacies are highlighted (e.g. adults
dressed up as kids) which have the potential to be
used as a mnemonic for the brand (e.g. pug intrinsic
to Vodafone), physical contrasts (fat woman, thin
man), mismatch between time and space (woman
cooking in the middle of a stadium), mixing of worlds
(sophistication with the accessible), gender bender.
• NARRATIVES: Unconventional and engaging stories,
that are bizarre and against social mores, but still have
protagonist eventually making the right/ safe choices.
Conversation, language is critical here
• ROLE OF BRAND & HUMOR: Brand is introduced as a
trusted friend, the one you can joke around with
Flipkart Kids
Hathway Internet These are engaging route for brands to reinforce their
message – and are often clutter breaking. However, there
is usually not one hero in these stories
Incongruity Theory of Humour : It’s a Mad Mad World
Apollo Tyres

12. 12
Fortune Rice Bran
Oil
• RAISON D’ETRE: Allows to use violence as a creative
device to bring into focus the problem
• REPRESENTATION CODES: Suggestion of violence
through effects, noise and reaction, use meme, social
commentary to give the issue greater gravitas
• NARRATIVES: Marry small problems to a larger social
issue – around health, safety, relationships etc. Usually
works better with a third person commentary
• ROLE OF BRAND & HUMOR: The brand does not
assume a direct heroic position, but helps to navigate
the world with its share of problems
Kinley
Hit Mosquito
Suited for the Client and the Category they were operating
in
Benign Violation Theory of Humour : Funny because it
is True
CEAT Tyres

13. 3.
DECODING MASCULINITY
Uth Gaya Mera Raja Beta?
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14. Boys2Men
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15. Indian Masculinity: From the long-suffering, to
the alpha to the Woke Bro
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Illustration: Akshita Monga/Arré
• Brands and popular culture have
portrayed masculinity through fairly
conventional filters of the long-
suffering bread-winner, to the
benevolent patriarchal provider
• The domains have been fairly clearly
set for men and women – with a few
brands having made smaller attempts
to challenge this – moving masculinity
from less alpha to the “share the load-
er”, emotional, expressive persona
• Now, in the wake of #metoo and
#notallmen times, masculinity has
become a complicated subject, with
woke allies emerging in all narratives
and personas

16. Communication usually focus on these different types of
masculinity
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The Eternal
Charmer
The social
bee, at the
centre of
action, but
allows others
to shine too
The Boy Next
Door
An everyman
personality –
responsible
and reliable
always, who
does right
The
Controlling,
High Achiever
The alpha,
thrives among
others of his
ilk,
unconventional
but gender
roles
maintained
The Lone
Wolf, risk-
taker
The
journeyist,
chases
spectacular
outcomes, self
is the key
The Armchair
Activist
Well informed
individual who
tends to question
the status quo
and is seldom
happy

17. 17
The Lone-Wolf: The Round Pegs in the Square Holes
Nescafe Cartoonist
• RAISON D’ETRE: The journeyist, chases spectacular
outcomes, self is the key and is truly a free-spirit
• REPRESENTATION CODES: Unconventional, creative and
different (entrepreneurs skills), pursues situations
where outcomes are uncertain, cerebral, moody,
something that requires to be overcome – a physical or
a mental barrier
• NARRATIVES: Story ending on a note of hope,
optimism, highlighting and celebrating the triumph of
the human spirit
• ROLE OF BRAND & MASCULINITY: The brand that is an
enabler and provides you the courage to make tough
choices, that are unconventional
Aditya Birla Sun Life
JK Tyres

18. 18
• RAISON D’ETRE: An everyman personality –
responsible and reliable
• REPRESENTATION CODES: Characters who are
younger, rooted, conformists, not showy or resort
to grand gestures, humorous and emotional,
expressive, bridge inter-generational gaps
• NARRATIVES: Slice-of-life stories that focus on
small, everyday wins, personas that look, speak and
think like all of us
• ROLE OF BRAND & MASCULINITY: The brand is seen
as a caring and a trusted friend
The Boy-Next-Door: Nice guys do finish First
Nokia Diwali gifting
Ad
Kapil Sharma TVS
ad
Kohinoor Basmati
Rice

19. 19
Armchair Activist: Yahan Ka System Hi Hai Kharaab
Tata Tea ad
• RAISON D’ETRE: Well-informed individual who tends to
question the status quo and is seldom happy with the
outcome
• REPRESENTATION CODES: Active and doer personality,
curiosity, larger social issue as a thread/ undercurrent,
focus on values of justice/ correction
• NARRATIVES: Situate the individual/ personal problem in a
larger social issue
• ROLE OF BRAND & MASCULINITY: The brand co-opts the
larger cause, the protagonist fixes the problem at hand
CEAT Tyres

20. 4.
HOW IT ALL CAME
TOGETHER?
The Steps the Client Took
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21. Thus, we were able to recommend to the
client… the following building blocks for
creating a narrative
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PROMISE: A brand that is your ally, against everything
that is wrong with the world, we did this by layering
with the angle of safety
PERSONA & NARRATIVE: Wry observation, armchair
activism, persecution complex, cruel cruel world,
because you can’t control the world, scatological
humour that “unmasks” others
PACKAGING: with humour, gentle poking fun at the
others, keeping oneself at the centre, tongue-in-cheek,
but without offending

22. “
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“The tyre is the only connection between our vehicle and the
road….at the end of the day when you are on the road it is
the tyre with whom you communicate…hence its important
that it gives best control while riding…..”

23. The best way to predict the
future is to invent it!
Thank You!
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