BY
POOJA CHOWDHARY-MEHTANI
PART 6
(UN) CONVENTIONAL MAPPINGS
Luxury
Living, fully air-conditioned apartments, an abundance of amenities, an
exquisite lifestyle, luxury homes amidst verdant expanses, Golf estate living….
seems like a more than perfect living space. But these are only a few features
offered and presented in advertisements of homes by private developers. But are
these advertisements only a representation of reality of living spaces or are
they also linked to our imaginations, dreams, aspirations and
hopes….???
Definitely yes, the advertisement world gear our dreams or in fact, they convert
our world of dreams and hopes into physical reality with their catchy taglines
such as “Where the stars shine below”, “Luxury of living”, “Seven star
living”…..thus, they produce imagined spaces and turn these imagined spaces
into physical reality through paper as well as e-advertisements.
This work explores some of the recent
advertisements of living spaces by private developers in Gurgaon, located at a distance of approx. 20 Kms from Delhi. DLF, Ansals, Unitech, Ireo, Vipul,
Rahejas, Tatas are a few developers who have depicted the dreams and hopes of
people in the living spaces they have offered. The city has experienced a boom
in its growth in the last two decades particularly, and has followed the
incoming of multiple developers’ ventures into the city. Their advertisements
are like dreams coming true…for instance, the following image shows an
advertisement put up by DLF, one of the first private developer’s in the city,
for its project DLF Alameda. It reads:
"Own a piece of land, own a piece of
sky…it further promises to take away all your worries as all the amenities will
be provided in you dream home."
Image 1:
DLF Alameda…Dream home…a piece of Sky????
Similarly,
the project by Victory Valley of Ireo, another private developer in Gurgaon also
raises the aspirations of people as it offers you to be in the tallest building
around and places you at such highs that stars are also below you. It revives
the aspiration of people to be above the rest and be able to shine above the
stars.
Image 2: Ireo’s Victory Valley….The Sky
is not the limit….
Image 3: Ireo’s Grand Arch…
Likewise,
another project by Ireo, Grand Arch has an attached tagline, which reads
“Luxury of Location” emphasizing on the locational advantage and the grandness
of living spaces. It provides the prospective residents with the dream of having
and living in a unique design, that is the shape of an arch as shown in the
above image.
Homes offered by Ambience Group project that stand immediately after entering the city through the eight-lane
expressway, are a promise to more than grandness. They offer you seven star
living, a life which will be super-luxurious and takes a person beyond the
organized, where everything is taken care of like living in a five-star hotel all the time.
Image 4: Caitrionia… Home or rather a
hotel?
The advertisement of Caitrionia by Ambience
group reads:
“Experience
Finesse/Lifestyle"
"True to the meaning of Caitriona; here quality of finishing meets purity
of luxury living. Envisioned with internationalism & modernity in mind,
each element of Caitriona would be the industry's best. So expect
state-of-the-art bathroom's fitted with jacuzzi's, sauna's, enclosed jet
showers….Caitriona is a unique development as it serves you with an excellent
location, ambience, lifestyle, amenities, security, conveniences, services, furnishing and
finishing.”
So, Caitrionia takes people’s imaginations not only to the
life of luxury but also to having the most modern elements of living in their everyday
lives from bathroom to the kitchen.
Image 5: Home or Hotel? Amalgamation
This
ad promises for a hotel which is like home and the advertisements of the living spaces in the city offers to deliver
homes which are more like hotels…they are a promise to deliver your dreams,
aspirations and hopes of homes where all the amenities are taken care of and
luxury is at your disposal.
Photo
Credits: Author
Author's Bio- Note:
The author is a faculty at Dyal Singh College, University of Delhi and specializes in Urban Geography.
Dear POOJA, Very interesting observations. I would expect reflections on how this kind of advertising impacts of purchasing behaviour of middle class people and if not, lower middle class people in India. How audiences are talking back to these advertisement, are these ads are just gratifications of unmet aspirations or do they serve a purpose by recognising higher quality of living, in this case only by appealing to craving for luxurious life. And what do these kinds of advertisement means for India where majority of population do not have their own home and public discourse on affordable housing is almost absent? thanks
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