Vol. 1, Issue 11, Part C (2015)

Abstract
Heated discussion on offensive advertising was seen on a rise in India. International brands, such as Fast track, Axe effects, etc. attracted extensive yet negative media coverage simply for the advertisements. The Potential pitfalls for advertisers who try to make their marks in India to be endless. Conventional wisdom in advertising believes that a certain amount of irritation will enhance the effectiveness of an ad. In order to cut through the increasingly clustered advertising environment, some advertisers tend to design messages that violate common expectations and/or arouse controversies. However, it’s hard to draw a clear line between Re-Enforcement and offensive, especially in a high-context culture such as India, where communication messages are often embedded with implicit meanings. Advertisers should always be cautious because what catches attention is usually what arouses aversion among consumers. Literature suggests that offensive advertising should be defined as any advertising message that violates the norms of consumers at large. The scope and objective of the current study discussed only advertising executions that violate Indian cultural values. Even if the Indian youth are not particularly Re-Enforcement, the other characteristics of young people everywhere apply. They don't suffer brands that talk down to them; and they are just as whimsical, although some marketers balk at using the term, 'fickle'. The Research framework attempts to measure associations between Indian consumers’ value orientations concerning three social relationships like –Genders (Male & female), Family, Patriotism (person-state), and their perception and reaction toward potentially offensive advertisements.