Mimicry and Postcolonial Advertising

Emulation is usually understood as imitation of another individual’s behavior. Through a discursive analysis of advertising in India, we offer a richer understanding of emulation as an ambivalent performance. We interpret emulation as postcolonial mimicry. Our postcolonial interpretation helps in understanding the elided dimensions of antagonism, irony, and alterity in emulation. In emphasizing mimicry we explain the relationship of postcolonial subjects to the West and interpret advertising discourse as an expression of this relationship.



Citation:

Rohit Varman, Julien Cayla, and Hari S (2011) ,"Mimicry and Postcolonial Advertising", in E - European Advances in Consumer Research Volume 9, eds. Alan Bradshaw, Chris Hackley, and Pauline Maclaran, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 544.

Authors

Rohit Varman, University of Reading, United Kingdom
Julien Cayla, University of New South Wales, Australia
Hari S, Indian Institute of Management Calcutta



Volume

E - European Advances in Consumer Research Volume 9 | 2011



Share Proceeding

Featured papers

See More

Featured

Trading Crypto Currency: The Ideological Shaping of Consumer Financial Decision Making

Burcak Ertimur, Fairleigh Dickinson University
Ela Veresiu, York University, Canada
Markus Giesler, York University, Canada

Read More

Featured

Both Good from Afar…and Far from Good? Mental Representation Changes Consumer Preference for Products from a Brand with a Reputation for Innovativeness

Jeff Larson, Brigham Young University, USA
Kelly Goldsmith, Vanderbilt University, USA
BJ Allen, University of Arkansas, USA

Read More

Featured

N7. Emotion Or Information? Effects Of Online Social Support On Customer Engagement

Chuang Wei, Tsinghua University
Maggie Wenjing Liu, Tsinghua University
Qichao Zhu, Tsinghua University

Read More

Engage with Us

Becoming an Association for Consumer Research member is simple. Membership in ACR is relatively inexpensive, but brings significant benefits to its members.