Market for Goods We have seen how British manufacturers attempted to take over the Indian market, and how Indian weavers and craftsmen, traders and industrialists resisted colonial controls, demanded tariff protection, created their own spaces, and tried to extend the market for their produce. But when new products are produced people have to be persuaded to buy them. They have to feel like using the product. How was this done?
One way in which new consumers are created is through advertisements. As you know, advertisements make products appear desirable and necessary. They try to shape the minds of people and create new needs. Today we live in a world where advertisements surround us.
They appear in newspapers, magazines, hoardings, street walls, television screens. But if we look back into history we find that from the very beginning of the industrial age, advertisements have played a part in expanding the markets for products, and in shaping a new consumer culture. When Manchester industrialists began selling cloth in India, they put labels on the cloth bundles. The label was needed to make the place of manufacture and the name of the company familiar to the buyer.
The label was also to be a mark of quality. When buyers saw ‘MADE IN MANCHESTER’ written in bold on the label, they were expected to feel confident about buying the cloth. Fig. (a) – Manchester labels, early twentieth century.
Images of numerous Indian gods and goddesses – Kartika, Lakshmi, Saraswati – are shown in imported cloth labels approving the quality of the product being marketed. Fig. (b) – Maharaja Ranjit Singh on a Manchester label. Historic figures are used to create respect for the product.
Fig. – Gripe Water calendar of by M.V. Dhurandhar. The image of baby Krishna was most commonly used to popularise baby products.
Fig. (a) Fig. (b) But labels did not only carry words and texts. They also carried images and were very often beautifully illustrated.
If we look at these old labels, we can have some idea of the mind of the manufacturers, their calculations, and