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A multimodal discourse analysis of glocalization and cultural identity in three

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Discourse & Communication

A multimodal discourse 1­–26

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DOI: 10.1177/1750481315623892
and cultural identity in three dcm.sagepub.com

Indian TV commercials

Amarendra Kumar Dash

RGUKT, IIIT Nuzvid Campus, India

Priyadarshi Patnaik
Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, India

Damodar Suar
Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, India

Abstract
Improvising selected tools from Kress and Van Leeuwen’s inter-semiosis framework, this study
explores how, between global and local, TV commercials in India often reframe a cultural third
space producing new discursive forms and identities. Three commercials from the food and
beverage category are selected on the basis of the country of origin of the endorsing company
and the patterns of glocalization. Multimodal discourse analysis reveals that the commercials
construct the glocal identity in several ways. In the Knorr Soups commercial, the melody of
the title song is contemporary pop, whereas the delivery style and crooning are distinctively
Western. The language is predominantly Hindi with deft use of selected English words. The Funda
Mint commercial casts a rebel voice-support executive who rejects the pseudo-glocal identity
and asserts his true identity. In the Cadbury Bournvita Folk commercial, the two boys represent
the global and the local in the realm of creativity. The study advances the knowledge of product
positioning and brand identity involving the intersemiosis of discursive elements from different
cultural spaces within the contemporary Indian consumerist culture.

Corresponding author:
Amarendra Kumar Dash, Department of English, RGUKT, IIIT Nuzvid Campus, Dist – Krishna, Nuzvid,
Andhra Pradesh 521202, India.
Email: dash_amarendra@yahoo.co.in

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2 Discourse & Communication 

Keywords
Cultural identity, food and beverage, glocalization, Indian TV commercials, multimodal discourse
analysis

Introduction
As the post-global Indian society becomes increasingly consumerist, the meanings of
products or services as well as the identity of their users are being formed by the pro-
cesses of production, marketing, and personal use of consumer goods. With significant
support from the media, these processes have accelerated the transformation of existing
consumer identities for the smoother acceptance of the specific values and life styles
linked to the market space. TV advertising is a powerful market promotion tool. A privi-
leged form of discourse, it is an off-shoot of the mechanics of production – careful plan-
ning, designing, and selection of words and visuals. With its pervasive influence on the
acquisition, possession, and disposition of commodities, advertising in India today, as in
any consumer society, is an important mediator of human identity.
In consumer economies, the global and the local reinforce and shape each other as the
global tend to be interpreted and integrated locally, and vice versa (Eriksen, 2001: 300).
Global brands often achieve iconic status by being repositioned and consumed in emerg-
ing markets to grant local consumers an emotional membership in the prestigious Western
community (Batra, 1997). In the repositioning process, branding discourses often make
the best use of global and local cultural appeals and related usage. Consequently, as indi-
viduals and groups draw upon diverse global and local cultural spaces to redefine their
identity (Bauman, 2001: 304), they overcome the burdens of marginalized social identi-
ties. Thus, at individual as well as societal levels, global-local interactions widen the
options for building, organizing, and performing consumption-related identities.
Global-local interactions, either at the commercial (Foglio and Stanevicius, 2007) or
cultural level (Robertson, 1992), are known as ‘glocalization’. Glocalization enables global
corporations to tailor their global products to the local market and local corporations to
match their local products to niche global markets (Foglio and Stanevicius, 2007). A global
corporation may provide marketing, funding, and infrastructure to develop a product, but
the finished form of that product is dictated by local consumption prerogatives. Therefore,
glocalization is a negotiated process whereby local customer preferences are clubbed into
market offerings via bottom-up mutual efforts (Pollifroni, 2006). In TV advertising, con-
sumer-driven discourses propagate powerful and persuasive language of yearning for new
global brands and bring about changes in the existing local modes of consumption. The
analysis of such discursive phenomena creates insight into the creative processes manifest
in TV advertising and their contribution to emerging cultural patterns.

Theoretical framework
A discourse is a dialogue/conversation in a specific area of intellectual enquiry/propaga-
tion. It is a socio-cultural phenomenon codified into language and other modes of repre-
sentation. In the interactional framework of market-driven ideologies and local practices,

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Dash et al. 3

multiple and changing identities are constituted through the agencies of advertising and
discourses of consumption. Consumer identity, or the narratives of the consuming self,
partakes in the institutional ideology of marketing and the dominant discourses propa-
gated by advertising. In the glocal market space, the consumer identity is co-constituted
by apparently contradictory values of sameness and difference (Ransome, 2005), col-
lectivism and individuation, and adequation (sufficiently similar) and distinction
(Bucholtz and Hall, 2005). The glocal identity is reflected in the consumer’s desire to
conform to local consumption sentiments as well as to deviate from the same in order to
achieve some unique self-image by adhering to the global.
Robertson’s (1995) theory of ‘glocalization’ sums up this process of difference-within-
sameness in the globalized world culture. Accordingly, globalization is conceived as
a dialectical process promoting ‘the universalization of the particular and the particu-
larization of the universal’ (Robertson, 1995: 25). Globalization is marked by the critical
reconstruction and reinvention of local cultures in relation to other cultural entities.
‘Glocalization’ can be used to ‘analyse the ways in which social actors construct mean-
ings, identities, and institutional forms within the sociological context of globalization
…’ (Giulianotti and Robertson, 2006: 171).
Food consumption is a culture-specific as well as an evolving social practice. Because
of increased affluence and national planning, food is no longer viewed merely as an item
of basic sustenance. Food, on the other hand, has emerged as a mode of symbolic grati-
fication through which people reinterpret themselves and relate themselves to other peo-
ple in society. In the glocal market place of India represented by the ever-expanding
middle class, food discourses are propagated so as to trigger unique consuming experi-
ences reconciling the psychological principles of adequation and distinction. In the anal-
ysis section of this study, we shall deconstruct how such desires are consciously woven
into the discursive mores of advertising.

Background literature
The market place is a powerful force that has reshaped the cultural identity in India.
Market-led agencies release a group of images that an individual or community can find
comfortably familiar. Marketing forces such as advertising contest the definition of
Indianness to attract the maximum number of followers (Butcher, 2003). Down to food
advertising, corporations like McDonald’s adhere to a mix of global strategy and local
adaptation in their marketing communication. McDonald’s, a global enterprise with
global products, localizes its products in some markets and becomes glocal. With adapta-
tion to the local Indian religious sentiments and pattern of consumption, McDonald’s
repositions the hamburger (the product as well as the communication) with fish, cheese,
vegetables, and so on. On the other hand, a local Indian chain like Narula’s thrives on
global standards of cleanliness and ambience (Prahalad and Lieberthal, 1998). In recent
years, the glocalization strategy of McDonald’s has involved a nostalgic reinvention of
traditions such as the Carva Chouth (a North Indian ritual where the wife fasts for the
well-being of the husband) in the fast food advertisments.
The chapter of glocalization is still incomplete in India. Besides, identity is a dynamic
and evolving process which undergoes revision in the changing cultural contexts. This

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4 Discourse & Communication 

solicits fresh enquiry in the context of Indian culture, which is undergoing significant
transitions in the wake of globalization, economic development, liberal media, and the
rising importance of India as a nation. It is to be highlighted that ‘text’ in the context of
a TVC is dynamic and multimodal. Multimodality refers to modes of representation
beyond verbal language, such as image, music, and gesture which have become omni-
present because of the multisemiotic complexity of the representations in the electronic
media. In the age of globalization of trade and commerce and electronic communication,
‘global flows of capital dissolve not only cultural and political boundaries but also semi-
otic boundaries’ (Kress and Van Leeuwen, 1996: 34). This warrants a review of a range
of multimodal discourse analysis (MDA) techniques in order to tap a suitable method
of unraveling the consumption appeals salient in the TVCs and how they challenge the
existing identity of the audiences and propose alternative identity concepts or modes of
living.
Halliday (1994) developed a metafunctional theory of language demonstrating mean-
ing formations in terms of three distinct metafunctions: ideational, interpersonal, and
textual. Ideational meaning refers to the representation experiences and construction of
logical relations in the world. Interpersonal meaning refers to the enactment of social
relations. Textual meaning refers to the organization of the meaning as logical texts and
units. Halliday’s tri-functional notion of meaning focused on texts as embodiments of
social processes rather than formal grammatical sentences and thereby emphasized the
socially meaningful role of texts.
Later researchers drew dividends from the Hallidayan linguistics and applied his
framework to the analysis of semiotic systems beyond verbal language for deciphering
social messages. Van Leeuwen (1984) puts Hallidayan systemic-functional (SF)
notions to the analysis of sound and music by examining the intonational aspects of
speech. Subsequently, the SF framework looked at the analysis of visual images
(Hodge and Kress, 1988; Kress and Van Leeuwen, 1990) and of visual art, sculpture,
and related spatial structures (O’Toole, 1994). The Grammar of Visual Design (GVD)
(Kress and Van Leeuwen, 1996, 2001, 2006) method gained critical acclaim for the
analysis of multimodal compositions. Over time, academic interest in the use of SF
theory for multimodal discourse analysis (MDA) (SFMDA) has gradually increased
(e.g. Baldry and Thibault, 2006a; Bateman, 2008; Iedema, 2001, 2003; Lemke, 1998,
2002; Martin, 2002; Martinec, 2005; O’Halloran, 2004a, 2005; Royce, 1998; Unsworth,
2001; Van Leeuwen, 1999, 2005; Ventola et al., 2004).
The SF theory has also been applied to movie and TV advertising research. Accepting
the basic premise that films are multimodal texts where the filmic narratives are co-
constituted by linguistic, visual, and auditory modalities, SFMDA recognized the indi-
vidual as well as interactive contributions of modalities in the multisemiotic texts (see
e.g. Baldry and Thibault, 2006a, 2006b; Bateman, 2008; O’Halloran, 2004a, 2004b;
Royce and Bowcher, 2007; Tan, 2009; Unsworth, 2006; Ventola et al., 2004).
Film analysis involving linguistically inspired methods was disapproved by cognitive
theorists on the ground that films cannot be studied using models of language (e.g.
Bordwell and Carroll, 1996). They argued that such practices encourage the imposition
of linguistics-based models on other areas of signification by upholding an exaggerat-
edly static, a-historical, and non-social vision of meaning-making. Subsequently,

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Dash et al. 5

Bateman (2007), Bateman and Schmidt (2011), and Tseng (2009) countered this position
by developing the necessary theoretical foundation for systematic accounts of meaning-
making in films. They claim that the film is a complex structure of significations and that
the basic semiotic properties of the film remain poorly articulated in the absence of a
systematic analysis of the textual properties of the film. It is left for the cognitive theo-
rists to recognize that language is ‘a network of systems, or interrelated sets of options
for making meaning’ (Halliday, 1994: 16), and not simply a set of structures. Taking
clues from Martin’s (1992) socio-functional theory of discourse semantics, Bateman and
Schmidt (2011) substantiate that the linguistic mechanisms at the level of discourse
(rather than at the level of sentences) can divulge the interconnected threads of the cogni-
tive structure of meaning formations in films.
Recent advances in SFMDA have resulted in the multimodal transcriptions of filmic
texts highlighting the intersemiosis of diverse semiotic resources. Baldry (2000, 2004),
Thibault (2000), and Baldry and Thibault (2006b) have developed and applied phasal
analysis to transcribe and analyze television commercials. O’Halloran (2004a) has
demonstrated the application of video editing techniques and overlays to multimodal
analysis. The systems and theories proposed by Royce (1998), Royce and Bowcher
(2007), O’Halloran (2008), and Unsworth (2006) have been crucial to the analysis of
intersemiosis.
In a TVC, sound works both as a single representational mode and as a mode-in-
relation to images and texts forming synaesthesia (Kress and Van Leeuwen, 2001: 122).
Continuity in the case of a TVC can be strategically created and disturbed by altering
rhythmic and melodic forms in the composition. Speech patterns as well as the music and
sound effects create or forestall continuance in the advertisements. The aural track cre-
ates continuation of forward motion while still providing support for the development of
other aural and visual elements. Meyer (1956) emphasized that the individuals bring
their own experience and training to understand the style-specific (i.e. melody, rhythm,
and harmony) incorporation of completion and closure in music.
Kress and Van Leeuwen (2006) highlighted the integration of two semiotic modes in
multimodal compositions: (a) the mode of spatial composition and (b) rhythm, the mode
of temporal composition. The former operates in texts in which the modes are spatially
co-present (as in print advertising), and the latter operates in texts which unfold over
time (as in TV advertising). Multimodal texts such as the film and the TV utilize both
space and time, while rhythm remains the dominant integrative principle (Kress and Van
Leeuwen, 2006: 177).
The ‘kineikonic mode’ (Burn, 2013; Burn and Parker, 2003) was developed to analyze
the moving image. The framework integrated several concepts from multimodal research
including Metz’s (1974) cinematic terms as well as Kress and Van Leeuwen’s (1996)
visual grammar. Film analysis also involved the phase-wise segmentation of dynamic
images into frames as in Baldry (2000) and Baldry and Thibault (2006a). The transcrip-
tion of the film into frames on a page for analysis inevitably leads to ‘transduction’
(Kress, 2003), where one form of text is translated into another form. Subsequent to this,
the visual semantics stratum for sequential images (Lim, 2004; O’Halloran and Lim,
2009) provided the basis for analyzing the dynamic film text by segmenting them into
static images in frames as in Lim and O’Halloran (2012).

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6 Discourse & Communication 

Putting taste and aesthetic at the core of signification and communication, food adver-
tising constitutes a field of research that offers stimulating insights into the semiotics of
culture. According to Parasecoli (2011), food can be interpreted “as a realm of nature
where choices about ingestion interact both with the physiological facts of nutrition, the
cultural aspects of signification and communication, and the social structures of produc-
tion, distribution, and consumption” (p. 647). Therefore, advertising of food and bever-
age items need culturally sensitive semiosis to fit into the aesthetic public sphere of India
and to be visible in the highly competitive, cluttered, and fragmented space of Indian
television. Against this backdrop, the following research questions are raised:

•• What significations and meanings are attributed to the products in the selected
commercials?
•• What values and life style concepts are created and how do the commercials con-
struct consumer identity?

Methods
This article is an extract from a larger work involving two different methods: (a) con-
tent analysis and (b) MDA. In the first stage, 538 TV commercials were collected
from TATA Sky cable service in two phases during August 2009 to December 2009.
The aim was to examine the varying permutations and combinations of global, local,
and glocal cultural appeals in the TVCs. The content categories included (a) TVCs
from foreign, Indian, and joint venture companies; (b) 11 product categories; (c)
global, local, and glocal linguistic, visual, and auditory features; and (d) three possi-
ble patterns (Wu, 2008) of glocalization: glocalization with maximum global cultural
appeals, glocalization with maximum local cultural appeals, and glocalization with a
near-balance of global and local cultural appeals. The results revealed the maximum
presence of glocal cultural appeals in the TVCs and within the category of glocal, the
maximum presence of the sub-category – glocalization with maximum global cultural
appeals. This was the first part of the study.
The second part of the study involved a qualitative analysis of representative TVCs
from each of the 11 product categories. Out of the 538 TVCs, the category of food and
beverage products was the largest category (n = 56). Against this backdrop, this article is
an attempt to report our experience with three TVCs from the food and beverage cate-
gory. These TVCs were selected on the basis of (a) the country of origin of the endorsing
company and (b) the patterns of glocalization (Table 1).

Multimodal discourse analysis

In TV commercials, glocal identities emerge from the integration of global and local
cultural texts or signifiers in a dynamic intersemiosis of audio and visual modes trigger-
ing context-specific consumption appeals. Against this premise, we have appropriated
the Kress and Van Leeuwen’s (2006) compositional trilogy of information value, salience,
and framing to unravel the glocal identity concepts embedded in TVCs. It is worthwhile
to mention that some of the recent frameworks in MDA (e.g. Lim and O’Halloran, 2012)

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Dash et al. 7

Table 1. Sample TVCs.

Brand Product Country of Market Patterns of Leading competing

or origin and target history and adaptation to brands
service audience in India depth Indian culture
Knorr Soup Foreign Old company Glocalization • Nestle: Maggi
Soup powder company new to Indian with • Capital Foods:
targeting Indian market dominant Ching’s Secret
families with new global cultural • Bambino Agro:
products phenomena Bambino
Funda Mint Indian company New Glocalization • Perfetti: Cloromint
Mint candy targeting Indian company with and Centerfresh
youths new to the dominant • ITC: Mint-o Fresh
Indian market local cultural • Nestle: Polo Mints
with new phenomena and Fox’s Glacier
products Mints
Cadbury Health Foreign Renowned Glocalization • Nestle: Milo
Bournvita drink company company with a • Amul: Nutramul
targeting Indian in Indian balance of • GSK: Horlicks,
mothers and market with global and Maltova, and Boost
children a time-tested local cultural • Heinz: Complan
products phenomena

have successfully assimilated these textual metafunctional categories of Kress and Van
Leeuwen (2006) into their models. In this study, we have adapted and operationalized
these categories as mentioned in Table 2.

Potentially problematic categories and test of inter-subjective agreement

While analyzing information value and salience, three sub-categories appeared problem-
atic: (a) given/new information, (b) center and margin images, and (c) visual element in
the background or foreground. After a lot of deliberation, the sub-category center/margin
was excluded from the analysis both at the level of test of reliability and subsequent dis-
course analysis. That is because, in the context of this study, the category was found to be
doubly problematic: (a) that the temporal space of the TVCs coupled with the dynamic
nature of film editing often blurs the distinction between center and margin, and (b) that
in the sample TVCs, global and local cultural emblems often occupied the center/margin
space in rapid mutual transgressions.
Based on inter-subjective agreement, test of reliability was conducted on the cate-
gories of framing, salience, and information value. Three doctoral students in social
sciences were given one-day training on how to analyze the TVCs. Based on well-
defined parameters (see Appendix 2), each of them analyzed the same three commer-
cials independently and recorded the summary of their observation in respective tables.
Inter-subjective agreement for framing was found to be excellent, whereas the same
for salience and information value were fairly good.

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Table 2. MDA framework: Framing, salience, and information value.1
Units of GVD framework (Kress and Van Leeuwen,
analysis 2006)
Framing In a temporal multimodal composition like
TV advertising, framing is manifest in the
rhythm which can be perceived through
specific time-ordered patterns.
According to Kress and Van Leeuwen, the
presence or absence of framing devices in a
print composition are realized by the following:
Disconnection: The degree to which a visual
element is visually separated from other
elements through frame lines, pictorial framing
devices, empty space between elements,
discontinuities of color and shape, and other
features.
Connection: The degree to which an element is
visually joined to another element, through the
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absence of framing devices, through vectors,
and through continuities or similarities of
color, visual shape, and so on.
8
Adaptations and operationalization
The rhythm of TVCs is analyzed as per narrative sequences having one or more
shots.
Scene/sequence: A scene is a fragment of a narrative film that usually takes place
in a single time and place, often with the same characters.
Shot: A shot is a single flow of images, uninterrupted by editing. It must be
continuous. Shots: cinematic continuity is constructed by editing shots to create
the illusion of continuous space and time. Following Burn (2013) and Lim and
O’Halloran (2012), the rhythm of a TVC was analyzed as per interconnected
narrative sequences having one or more shots.
The gist of each sequence/scene is directly incorporated into each commercial’s
movement analysis. Product and consumer identity in a TVC is manifest in the
storyline. They are unraveled by the moment-by-moment analysis of the dynamic
intersemiosis of audio and video in various narrative sequences.
Disconnection: Major breaks in the storyline or the narrative rhythm.
Connection: Overall narrative continuity brought together by themes/values and
audio-visual congruity.
Discourse & Communication 
 Table 2. (Continued)
Units of GVD framework (Kress and Van Leeuwen,
analysis 2006)
Salience Kress and Van Leeuwen’s notion of salience
is related to the figure-ground dichotomy of
Gestalt theory. It is the degree to which a
visual element stands out or maintains the
viewer’s attention. Salience is enhanced
through a visual’s positioning, size, brightness,
or through a multitude of other techniques
Background and foreground (visual): A visual
element in the background or foreground of
a shot is presented in such a manner that it
assumes greater or lesser prominence in a
ground of activity.
Information The spatial position (left/right or center/
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value margin) of the elements on-screen display
dichotomous relationships and speak of
the importance of the visuals (here, global/
local cultural signifiers) that reside in or pass
through these positions. These positions
impart information through given/new, real/
ideal, and mediation/subservience relationships.
Dash et al.
Adaptations and operationalization
In this study, global-local interactions were studied by observing the salience of
background–foreground imagery.
Background and foreground (aural): Multilingual narrates, modern/traditional
music
Aural salience: (a) Background voice or on screen dialogue delivering global/local
cultural cues, (b) How global and local linguistic properties mix and create hybrid
linguistic cues and further aural salience through code mixing and code switching.
Aural intensity: Rise and fall in intonation and unique word stress highlighting
glocal experience and modes of articulation.
The dynamic text of a TVC is concurrently spatial and temporal. Therefore, we
deviate from Kress and Van Leeuwen’s (2006) notion of information value: given/
new. Here, given/new information is understood in a more traditional sense, that
is, the information is known. Accordingly, we have focused upon:
– explicit information in the verbal structure, or implicit information through
implicatures and presuppositions in dialogues
– cultural information salient in the rhythm of music and songs
– overall ideologies or cultural appeals.
9
10 Discourse & Communication 

Analysis
The Knorr Soups TVC
The 29-second Knorr Soups TVC consists of four sequences (sub-themes) and 17 shots.
The TVC begins with a string of four close-up shots, that is, the daughter taking a spoon-
ful of soup and relishing it; the son, the mother, and the father are also seen in the same
manner – relishing the chatpataa2 soup with the peculiar Indian body language express-
ing the stimulating impact of sour and chili. Next, the whole family is seen around the
dining table enjoying the soup. Soft, low volume guitar melody is heard in rhythmic
parallel to the shots. The song, ‘Kabhi chatpataa, kabhi jhatkilaa, kabhi mastibharaa
hoon/Jo bhi taste chaahiye, naye knorr Indian soup se paayea (Sometimes chatpataa,
sometimes tickling, sometimes rapturous/whatever taste you may wish, get it in the new
Knorr Indian Soup)’, continues all through. The song is composed in Hindi with occa-
sional English, but suffused with an English accent and youthful energy. The melody is
contemporary pop, whereas the delivery style and crooning are distinctively Western.
Only the language is Hindi. The creolized song that goes along with the video is in the
foreground, whereas the modern instrumental music is in the background of this sequence
supporting the value of a happy nuclear family engaged in the feel-good act of consump-
tion. The settings (dining room, table, and kitchen) suggest an affluent modern Indian
middle-class family. The background guitar tune and the prominent song continue from
the first sequence – ‘…Whatever tastes you may want, find it in the new Knorr Indian
Soup’ (Table 3).
In the second sequence, which is a flashback, the mother goes to the kitchen, puts the
pan on the stove, cuts the soup powder pouch, pours it into the pan, and stirs the broth. A
jubilant female voice delightfully announces the core proposition, ‘Tomato chatpataa,
Knorr Soups bangaye Indian, tadkaa maarke (with the addition of imli and chili, Knorr
Soups turns Indian, with the force of Indian spices)’. The sequence culminates in the
final shot where the soup is seen garnished with green coriander leaves juxtaposed with
the brand display on the top left and a slice of lemon amid thick coriander leaves on the
top right.
In the third sequence, the daughter is seen pouring a soup droplet into her mouth and
relishing it with excitement. Next, the family and the dining table are again back to the
center with the two children completing a high-five in delight. A shrill background
crooning voice that had started toward the end of the third sequence gives way to the
yodeling of voice proclaiming the climax of the ritual of consumption. The fourth
sequence takes off from the exuberant yodeling effect and displays the plastic pouches
containing the soup material and the readymade soup on a table, and the curvy punch
line, ‘Nayaa Knorr Indian Soup…/Tadkaa Maarke’, on the bottom right of the wide front
screen, followed by the web address for queries on Knorr Soups in the final shot.
Based on product innovation and high-frequency advertising, the soup in the Indian
market has come a long way from its conservative image of a mere appetizer to some-
thing between a snack and a meal. With aggressive promotions and packaging flexibility,
companies have targeted the urban middle classes with the appeals of convenience and
taste. Knorr, the most popular and one of the largest selling soup brands in the world, is

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Dash et al. 11

Table 3. Analysis of Knorr Soups TVC.

Textual Description
composition
Framing Disconnection: The four sequences have three cut marks announced by the
background crooning twice and the quite prominent yodeling effect as the third cut
Connection: The same music and song continue till the end. In fact, the creolized
song, with maximum explicit information about the product, provides the vital
link to the verbal, visual, and the musical texts. The video movement follows a
rhythmic pattern: the brand foreshadowed in the first three stages (such as the
dining room, the kitchen, and back to the dining room), takes center stage in the
fourth sequence.
Salience The impact of chatpataa is visible in the facial kinesics of the four actors.
The local nuance attached to the enjoyment of the soup is supported by modern
music and the song which is a blend of English and Hindi.
In the foreground image, the global tomato soup is garnished with coriander
leaves, which is an Indian phenomenon. In the background, the brand mark lies
in vertical parallel to the coriander leaves and lemon imagery to define the new
Indian Knorr Soup and together they co-create a happy combination with the
concurrent jingle and the just-begun yodeling.
Gradually, the background music moves forward to the foreground, with a
pulsating dose of the yodeling bringing a global aura to the episode leading to the
climax of the ritual of consumption. The resolution is achieved with a shot that
zooms out to display the brand highlighting global standards of packaging and
design, and local thrust for small sizes.
Information The soup described here includes chatpataas and tadkaa which are the twin
value important Indian items. The word tadkaa displays deliberate inter-textuality since
it has already been used in the Coca Cola Thande kaa tadkaa campaign, which
turned out to be quite appealing to the Indian consumers across sectors
The expression ‘Knorr Soups Bangaye (turned) Indian’ presupposes that originally
it was not Indian.
Children are given a certain prominence in this TVC which traditionally children
are not allowed in India. Parents being playful with children and acting excited
like them is a Western import in contrast to the rather reserved affection that
traditionally an Indian parent is expected to show.
It is typically, Indian that the mother takes care of the kitchen while father
presides over the dining table.

considered to be the category king in the Indian soup market. From the Hindustan
Unilever stable now, it was born in 1838 in Germany, but gained a share in the category
in 2007 in the Indian market thanks to its aggressive marketing strategies, strong distri-
bution system, and the wide range of flavors. The present TVC is an example of Knorr’s
tryst with the local Indian market. Indians are not traditionally used to the soup; they
have their own counterparts which vary across regions. Therefore, Knorr brings home to
India two of the most favorite tastes – chatpataa and tadkaa which are trans-regional and
thereby to be easily identifiable for all Indians.

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12 Discourse & Communication 

The second sequence of the TVC introduces the brand proposition ‘Tomato chat-
pataa, Knorr Soups bangaye Indian …, tadkaa maarke’. The aural language is a
mixture of Hindi and English words and is announced in three intersections: English–
Hindi, English–English–Hindi–English, and Hindi–Hindi. In this code mixing, the
pitch of the tone rests on the second words (‘chatpataa’ and ‘Indian’) in the first two
intersections and on the first word ‘tadkaa’ in the third intersection with a falling
intonation. The rhythmic parallelism cultivated in the first two intersections denotes
the local transformation of the global product which takes a heavier colloquial turn
in the third. This adds a peculiar stylized rhythm, which is the keynote of the glocal
position held by the product proposing a distinct glocal identity to the audience
through a lovely moment of consumption.

The Funda Mint TVC

The 31-second Funda Mint Dil Se Desi3 TVC portrays the unusual behavior of a call
center executive after chewing the mint. The storyline consists of three sequences and 19
shots. The commercial opens with the executive answering calls in fluent English with
an American accent. He introduces himself as Harry Nicolson from Nevada and offers
his help. The overseas client says he has a problem in loading his DVD player. The
executive enquires about the name of the dealer (Table 4).
While on call, he chews the new Funda Mint candy and starts talking in his native
Haryanvi language. The client is confused and asks for clarification. The executive
barges in with offensive language which gradually takes an aggressive turn. Even the
executive himself is taken aback by his own behavior. The co-workers are stunned and
the boss looks aside in anger and disdain. At this tense moment, the brand is introduced
along with background voice and verbal cues ‘Funda mint, DiL SE DESi (Funda Mint,
indigenous from the Heart)’. The daily ritual of answering calls is reversed by the comic
shifts in the sitting posture and style when he keeps one of his legs on the chair with the
other leg on the ground. A blend of Hindi and English and the peculiar desi accent is sup-
ported with comic, jarring music. The executive has completely become desi and is not
at all afraid of the boss anymore. The background voice murmurs, ‘Get ahead, leave
space for me’, followed by a more emphatic ‘Funda mint, DiL SE DESi’.
Funda Mint is a new local brand competing with the established global brands in the
Indian market and is on the quest for a niche market for this low-involvement product.
Positioned as a mint with a twist, it offers a pan-Indian answer to India’s diverse consum-
ers with varied tastes. This commercial from Godfrey Phillips India unleashes a hybrid
Indian identity that savors the magical desi palette in a Western format. The commercial
constructs a glocal identity that is bold and expressive, yearning for innovative experi-
ences to break away from the monotony of hierarchies and conventions, but in a desi way
(Indiantelevision.com, 2009). Targeted at the contemporary Indian youths who would
prefer a desi connect in their choices, the brand mission is to convey desi freshness to the
youth that would free them from the clutches of so-called Phoren (foreign) stuffs.
The Funda Mint TVC builds upon the hybrid identity of an Indian executive who
turns out to be a rebel and opts out to be a desi from the heart. The reactionary executive

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Dash et al. 13

Table 4. Analysis of Funda Mint TVC.

Textual Description
composition
Framing Disconnection: The two points at which the product is introduced mark the
two disconnects. In the first sequence, the executive acts like a perfect call
center man. The second sequence begins with the chewing of the candy
which is the beginning of the transformation of identity from glocal to desi.
The brand is back again in the third and final sequence with the emphatic,
jarring voice-over dil se desi.
Connection: The dynamic intersemiosis of the audio and video is achieved
through the overriding sense of incongruity. The local identity revolts
against the imposed glocal identity according to which a local young man
has to conform to global manners, accent, and pseudonyms.
Salience The TVC opens with the global sophistication and sense of professionalism
embodied in a hi-tech call center.
The brand is introduced following the incongruous role rehearsals. In the
letters ‘D’ and the space in between, in a vertical order, three hearts,
in the tri-color of Indian flag: orange, white, and green. Thus, the TVC
seems to suggest a new kind of nationalism. Although the flag shown is
not a national flag, the reference to the colors of the national flag (orange,
white, and red) and the three curvy shapes are hints of nationalism
constructed by the TVC.
Information value As a common practice in the call center, the executive hides his name and
location which intend to create credibility to the service. Moreover, it is
not merely about hiding one’s true identity, but about creating a spurious
identity. This identity is not cosmopolitan but again local – some location
in the United States so that the US client feels that he is being served by
a compatriot. A client from Nevada is being communicated with in an
American accent and so on. This is important because it is another kind of
enforced glocalization that is taking place here.
From the niceties of corporate English to vernacular Haryanvi, the comic
reversals in the attitude, tone, and manners of the call center employee
connotes a rebellion against the hypocrisy and humiliation involved in hiding
one’s nationality and identity.

who is forced into loss of identity in the workplace emphasizes that in spite of this new
colonialism which he has to tolerate for a livelihood, his true identity is left untarnished
(though hidden) – hence dil se desi (indigenous from the heart) and not desi in body.

The Cadbury Bournvita Folk TVC

The 48-second Cadbury Bournvita Folk TVC consists of three sequences and 22 shots.
The boy, Kabir Arora, a modern dancer, is dancing to Western tunes from the stereo when
his friend, Ashraf Khan, sings the refrain to an ethnic song and challenges him to dance
accordingly. Kabir is seen with modern jeans and a T-shirt, whereas Ashraf is seen in
ethnic costume with a red, floral printed turban. Kabir takes up the challenge. After the

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14 Discourse & Communication 

Table 5. Analysis of Cadbury Bournvita Folk TVC.

Textual Description
composition
Framing Disconnection: The cuts in the video are provided by several acts: Ashraf’s
interference in Kabirs dance, Kabir’s momentary hesitation while adapting
to the challenge, Ashraf becoming a part of the dance, Kabir’s outburst into
a sustained climax, the end of the dance, and the shift of the focus to the
audience. The three important cuts in the music are the folk gaining momentum;
the folk having duet support and becoming exuberant; and finally, taking a soft,
melodious turn in falling resolution until the brand is introduced in two different
stages only in the third sequence.
Connection: Thematically, the twin values of ‘confidence’ and ‘adaptability’ link
the TVC together. In terms of visuals, the setting is the same throughout in
which two cultures come together through Bournvita.
Salience The dance hall and Kabir are exposed in forward and backward motions
through continuous zoom-ins and zoom-outs and Kabir often takes the center
stage. The hall and the boys are introduced by explicit textual subtitles in English
at the center of the screen. Place and individual names add to the authenticity of
the acts while embodying the corporate social responsibility of Bournvita where
the academy becomes synonymous with talent grooming.
There is a gradual movement of vectors from the world of dance to the
audience, which helps to bring the brand to the foreground.
As the melody reaches the sustained resolution and the dance is over, Ashraf,
who embodies the local singer, puts his desi cap on Kabir (a visual metonym
suggesting the synthesis of the global and the local), who performs the modern
dance, and points the hand at the audience asking if they are equipped with the
Bournvita confidence.
Information The two boys represent the global and the local in the realm of creativity.
value Alongside core skills, one needs confidence. Confidence needs energy which
comes from Bournvita. The folk song means that ‘Whenever I see somebody’s
angry red eyes, I am not afraid…’
Verbal cues such as ‘Aur confidence ke liye chayiye tan aur man ki shakti (And for
confidence, one needs strength of the body and mind)’ – are presented in an
informal language juxtaposing English and Hindi, and enhancing the glocal aura
associated with the brand.

initial indecision, he tries and becomes successful, thanks to the confidence that he has
gained from Bournvita. The skill and maturity of the dance grows stronger, with Ashraf’s
song being supported with an exuberant vocal chorus from the background and the élan
of a Rajasthani ethnic folk musical concert. The song is no longer audible, but the exu-
berant folk music takes a soft melodious turn and carries the cadence of the song. Kabir,
carrying the Bournvita jar in his hand, says, ‘Aisi challenges ke liye chaahiye Bournvita
(For the real challenge, you need Bournvita)’. The voice-over says that for confidence
you need physical and mental strength which comes from Bournvita. Ashraf puts his
ethnic turban on Kabir’s head and asks the audience in Hindi, ‘Do you have the Bournvita
confidence?’ (Table 5).

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Dash et al. 15

Bournvita is a power brand from Cadbury. It has continuously re-invented itself in

terms of product, packaging, promotion, and distribution in sync with the shifting con-
sumer preferences. Post-2000, Bournvita adopted a laddering-up strategy identifying
confidence as its core brand essence. Horlicks, the rival brand in the Indian market,
began tying up with popular movies such as Ice Age II and Superman Returns. To counter
the strategy of Horlicks, Bournvita launched a Folk campaign that showcased the jugal-
bandi (duet) of distinguished talents hailing from urban as well as rural areas. The central
message was that if an individual was confident, he or she would never be caught by
surprise. This advert associates Cadbury Bournvita’s functionality with boosting the con-
fidence of talented people undergoing challenges.
Bournvita ran two different campaigns: one for Bournvita Fivestar Magic and another
featuring the Bournvita Confidence Academy. The Bournvita Confidence Academy is
not a school but a reality show. The show which premiered on July 2007 on the Pogo
channel is different from the usual reality shows. It features seven youngsters who have
exceptional talents in various fields like dancing, racing, singing, magic, studies, and so
on. In the reality show, these youngsters act as experts and are expected to teach each
other their skills. The point is that ‘You need confidence’ to venture into unknown fields.
The focus on confidence was a smart move by the brand. Its arch rival Boost has based
the brand proposition on the value of ‘energy’ and achieved success by involving Sachin
Tendulkar, the cricket icon. To neutralize the threat from Boost, Bournvita had to build
up a marker of differentiation. ‘Confidence’ for ‘energy’, whiz-kids for Sachin –
Bournvita had to counter Boost in every move (Harish, 2007).

Discussion and conclusion

A product can be positioned based on two main platforms: the consumer and the com-
petitor. In case of the former, the campaigns and messages are always targeted at the user
of the product. In case of the latter, the campaigns and messages are designed vis-a-vis
those of the competing brands. Out of the three TVCs cited here, the Knorr Soups TVC
and the Cadbury Bournvita TVC are directly targeted at the consumer, whereas the aim
of the Funda Mint TVC is to promote a unique selling proposition that will shield the
brand from the established super brands (Appendix 1).
Founded on the discourse of adequation and distinction, the glocal identities in these
TVCs are constructed in several ways:

•• Using the pester power of advertising: In the Knorr Soups TVC, children are seen
enacting distinct roles in the foreground concurrently with the woman’s voice
(mother’s advocacy) from the background describing what is Indian about Knorr
Soups. Similarly, in the Cadbury Bournvita TVC, the two boys in the foreground
represent the global and the local while the woman’s voice (mother’s advocacy)
from the background correlates confidence, power, and adaptability to the con-
sumption of Bournvita.
•• Ideological framing: A person can have several identities. For example, during
the job hours, one must maintain professional identity and outside the office, one
can cherish their true social identity. Accordingly, the customer care executive

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16 Discourse & Communication 

hiding his true identity and speaking like an American is a professional commit-
ment. However, this commitment is framed as hypocrisy and loss of identity by
the Funda Mint advertiser.
•• Releasing an undertone of nationalism: This is achieved through the emphatic
promise nested in the expressions ‘Naya (new) Knorr Indian Soups’ coupled with
‘Knorr Soups bangaye (turned) Indian’. The Funda Mint TVC asserts the primacy
of the desi identity in a global set up and ends with implicit visual reference to the
Indian national flag. The Cadbury Bournvita TVC brings together the global and
the local in the realms of creativity (i.e. performing arts) and exalts it as the ideal
identity for Indians.

Central to food consumption is the tension between the desire (acquisition of new
identities) and fear (loss of existing identities) for new foods. A new food is usually
located in the cultural binary of the edible/inedible, ‘which constitutes the semiosphere
as based on difference and opposition, inherent heterogeneity, and defining boundaries’
(Parasecoli, 2011: 654). For the marketeer, relocating a global food product into the local
consumption space or positioning a local product in the competitive local market remains
an arduous task. Therefore, global corporations like Cadbury or HUL resort to hiding
dietetic otherness by associating with local cultural signifiers, whereas Godfrey Phillips,
a local corporation, tends to transfer elements from diverse semiospheres to combine
with native forms and meanings to suggest unique consuming propositions.
The three TVCs discussed are directed at the new Indian middle class that is in search
of a unique identity articulated through the consumption of commodities. The new Indian
middle class has succeeded in terms of material wealth, but still retains its basic Indian
values. Through the continuous supply of the important cultural markers associated with
the East and the West, the market-linked television is triggering as well as catering to this
oft-cherished glocal cultural identity. The result is an emerging ‘hybrid aesthetic’ (Toor,
2000: 4) which combines ‘the glitz of an urbanized life style with family values’ as in
case of the Knorr Soups TVC; the quest for the lost identity through a sort of reverse
glocalization as in case of the Funda Mint TVC; and a politically correct (for the consumer)
and economically pragmatic (for the industry) mode of cultural synthesis suggested by
the Cadbury Bournvita TVC.

Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this
article.

Notes
1. Kress and Van Leeuwen’s order was reversed because it was observed that in the context of
motion pictures such as the TVCs, information value derives a lot of meaning from framing
and salience.
2. Aromatic and savory, chatpataa is a sort of mouth-watering Indian delicacy made from mix-
tures of various ingredients with a liberal share of spices, sour items, and chili. Chatapata is
often a common feature in many vegetarian curry and salad dishes.

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Dash et al. 17

3. It is to be highlighted that the term Desi (indigenous) is one of the widely exploited words in
the contested public sphere of India, especially because of the politics and rhetoric associated
with it. During India’s struggle for independence from the British rule, the word was used in
the political binary of swadesi/videsi (indigenous/foreign). Post-independence, the word was
heavily used in the rhetoric of political parties and cultural theorists to resist the economic
and cultural hegemony or the post-colonial influences of global superpowers and to develop
indigenous modes of living.

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Author biographies
Amarendra Kumar Dash serves as a Lecturer in the Department of English in RGU-IIIT Nuzvid,
Andhra Pradesh, India. His area of specialization includes rhetoric, pragmatics, and discourse. His
recent publications include the articles ‘Media Impact on Corporate Governance in India: A
Research Agenda’ (Corporate Governance, 2012) and ‘Glocalization, Cultural Identity, and the
Political Economy of Indian Television’ (Media Watch, 2015). Currently, he is working on issues
related to environment and communication.

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20 Discourse & Communication 

Priyadarshi Patnaik is a Professor at the Department of Humanities & Social Sciences, IIT Kharagpur,
where he teaches literature, communication, and visual aesthetics. His research interests include
Indian aesthetics, visual arts, media and communication studies and translation. His publications
include six volumes of critical work and edited volumes, and two volumes of creative writing. He has
published widely in a number of national and international journals in the areas of aesthetics, visual
arts, photography, design, media and communication, translation, and creative writing.
Damodar Suar is a Professor in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences and in the
Vinod Gupta School of Management at IIT Kharagpur. He is an Associate Editor of Psychological
Studies (Springer). His research focuses on laterality, leadership, values, consumer behavior, post-
disaster trauma, and pro-environmental behavior. His recent publications have appeared in the
journals Death Studies, Psychological Reports, Journal of Applied Social Psychology, Journal of
Business Ethics, Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, Laterality, and Voluntas.

Appendix 1
Knorr Soups TVC
• Sequence one: Five shots, 10 seconds (dining room and a family relishing the soup)

• Sequence two: Seven shots, 10 seconds (the kitchen and the mother preparing the soup)

• Sequence three: Three shots, five seconds (the family again back to the ritual of
consumption)

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Dash et al. 21

• Sequence four: Two shots, four seconds (zooms out the brand)

Funda Mint TVC

• Sequence one: Six shots, 10 seconds (the executive is answering the call)

• Sequence two: 11 shots, 15 seconds (changes in behavior and reaction of the client and the
office staff)

• Sequence three: Two shots, six seconds (the executive’s face off with the office boss)

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22 Discourse & Communication 

Cadbury Bournvita Folk TVC

• Sequence one: Seven shots, 12 seconds (Asrafe challenges Kabir to adapt his dance to an
Indian folk song)

• Sequence two: 12 shots, 26 seconds (Kabir tries and becomes successful in adapting his
dance to folk music)

• Sequence three: Three shots, 10 seconds (both the boys relish Bournvita and push the
momentum towards the audience)

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 Appendix 2
Table 6. Inter-subjective agreement for framing.

TVCs Respondents Disconnections Connection Inter-

Dash et al.

subjective
Sequence 1 Sequence 2 Sequence 3 Sequence 4 agreement
Knorr 1 5 shots 7 shots 3 shots 2 shots Happy family members relishing soup Excellent
Soups Same setting agreement
TVC 2 Same as Same as Same as Same as Happy family members relishing soup
above above above above Same setting
Continuous background music and song
Theme of Knorr Soup
3 Same as Same as Same as Same as Happy family members relishing soup
above above above above Same setting
Dominantly red and green color
Funda 1 5 shots 12 shots 2 shots – The same official setting Excellent
Mint The same executive agreement
TVC 2 Same as Same as Same as – The same official setting
above above above The same executive
The theme of rebellion
3 Same as Same as Same as – The same official setting
above above above The same executive
Cadbury 1 4 shots 15 shots 3 shots – The setting of Bournvita Confidence Excellent

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Bournvita Academy agreement
Folk TVC The two boys
2 Same as Same as Same as – The setting of Bournvita Confidence
above above above Academy
The two boys
The confidence theme
Background music
3 Same as Same as Same as – The setting of Bournvita Confidence
above above above Academy
The two boys
23

The italic texts indicate differences or additional opinions in observation.

 24
Table 7. Inter-subjective agreement for information value and salience in Knorr Soups TVC.

Analytical Respondents Visual mode Aural mode Inter-

categories subjective
agreement
Salience: 1 Background setting of the house and the family and Modern guitar music and crooning Good
Background/ dining table on foreground voice from background
foreground The kitchen in the deep background; the lady Oral expression of extreme sourness in
preparing soup in the immediate background; the foreground
soup broth in foreground
The girl relishing a soup droplet in the foreground The leading song in background in Hindi
Soup sachets and vegetables in immediate background and English
and the soup plate in foreground
2 Foreground: Children enacting roles distinctly Background: Woman (mother’s advocacy)
demonstrating the pester power of advertising from background describing what is Indian
about Knorr Soups
3 Foreground: Lemon, coriander leaves, green chili alongside No additional observation
the soup; The soup is tinged with prominently red
(auspicious) and green color (vegetables) to attract Indians
Information 1 Given info: Individual members and family relishing New info: Shift of focus from
value: the soup ‘Chatapata’ (savory), ‘jhatkila’

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Given/new Given info: Lady going to kitchen and preparing soup
information for family party; Knorr Soups sachets in five different
flavors
2 Given info: Knorr Soups is a product to be enjoyed ‘in a
group’.
3 Given info: Typically Indian that the lady takes care of the
kitchen while father leads the dining table
New info: Preparation of Knorr Soups is very simple
(titillating), ‘Masti’ (fun) to a variety of
‘tastes’; Naya (new) Knorr Indian Soups;
Knorr Soups bangaye (turns) Indian
No additional observation
No additional observation

The italic texts indicate differences or additional opinions in observation.

Discourse & Communication 
 Table 8. Inter-subjective agreement for information value and salience in Funda Mint TVC.
Dash et al.

Analytical Respondents Visual mode Aural mode Inter-

categories subjective
agreement
Salience: 1 The office in the background and the executive in Telephone rings in the background and the Good
Background/ the foreground executive’s phone rings in the foreground
foreground Foreground: A flag bearing the tag ‘Dil Se Desi’ that Background voice saying ‘Funda Mint … Dil
resembles the Indian national flag Se Desi’
2 Foreground: Executive talking and reacting to others The Customer’s voice and violin music in
as per requirements background and the executive talking in
foreground
3 No additional observation No additional observation
Information 1 Given info: The executive talking to the customer Given info: An Indian executive speaking
value: with decorum in American accent
Given/new New info: Changes in attitude following the New info: Changes in accent, language,
information chewing of the Funda Mint candy; changes in the and tone; accompanying satirical changes
sitting position of the executive; radical changes in in background music
the manners of the executive

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2 No additional observation No additional observation
3 Given info: Office staff shocked; the boss looking at No additional observation
the executive in contempt
New info: Two lady employees enjoying the rebellion
positively; other hands collecting the Funda Mint candy

The italics text indicate differences or additional opinions in observation.

25
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Table 9. Inter-subjective agreement for information value and salience in Cadbury Bournvita Folk TVC.

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Analytical Respondents Visual mode Aural mode Inter-
categories subjective
agreement
Salience: 1 The Bournvita Confidence Academy in the background Initially, Western music in background Good
Background/ and dance in the foreground
foreground The two boys, and later on, Bournvita brand in the Ethnic song moving to and fro from
foreground foreground to background and vice versa
The boys speaking about challenges and
confidence in foreground
Background voice speaking about
‘confidence’ and Bournvita
2 Foreground: The two boys representing the global and the Background: Woman (mother’s advocacy) from
local are performing beautifully to enforce the pester power background describing that ‘… for confidence,
of advertising one needs the power of body and mind’
3 No additional observation No additional observation
Information 1 Given info: Kabir dancing in response to Western music Given info: Western music
value: New info: The challenge to adapt Western dance to New info: Ethnic song and music; the claim

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Given/new Indian ethnic song and Kabir performing successfully that Bournvita brings the confidence to
information cope with sudden challenges
2 No additional observation No additional observation
3 New info: Ashraf takes off his ethnic turban and places it on No additional observation
Kabir’s head suggesting the blend of local and global

The italics text indicate differences or additional opinions in observation.

Discourse & Communication