An Inquiry into Strategic Digital Media Advertisements of Indian Motorcycle Companies with special reference to the Royal Enfield Motorcycle

Abstract

AbstractMotorcycles are discursively gendered mostly in Indian society, with their sound, height,weight, speed, and horsepower reinforcing traditional masculine attributes of power anddominance.Media representationsplay a crucial role in constructing and reinforcing dominantideologies by transforming material objects into ideological tools.Gender flexibility is evidentin recent media representations, but do motorcycle companies genuinely promote genderneutrality in the media, or is it just the PR's marketing strategy? This remains a researchgap,and the objective of this study is to examine how the Indian motorcycle brand RoyalEnfield (India) has become a symbol of masculinity over time through media representation.Do RE's recent advertisements promote gender neutrality in motorcycle riding?Alternatively,gender neutrality is just a marketing strategy of RE (India).To satisfy the scope, this paper dida content analysis of iconic RE (India) motorcycle ‘Bullet’ advertisements from 1955onwards, and a recent movie on female riders. The paper reveals thatRE (India), althoughtrying to gender-neutralise its motorcycles in its recent media representations and invitingfemale riders to construct and resist their identities, does not allow female riders on REmotorcycles to create an image of Independent womanhood with the motorcycles.All becausethe motorcycle market in India is largely dominated by male customers, and, in the case ofRE (India), the brand has already attached a connotative symbol of manhood to most of itsadvertisements.However, this study examinesgendered perspectives on motorcycles and sheds light on gender neutrality in their use. The study will make society aware of a gender-neutral perspective on motorcycle use, reflecting the socially constructed gender disparity.