• Merin Jose

Abstract The anthropological view of considering food as human beings’ primary need to survive on the earth, is quite manifest in the instances from daily life. But food is not only a substance for nourishment and survival. It assumes deeper implications in the social sphere by acting as a sign system. Every culture selects a set of highly nutritional things from a wide variety of materials as “food”, thus leading to a close knit connection between the social behavioural patterns and the food culture. In other words, food has progressively emerged as “a system of communication, a body of images, a protocol of usages, situations, and behavior” (Barthes 1961), and thus becoming a code expressing cultural identity (Lévi-Strauss 1965). Hence food is not just for eating anymore; it has been transformed into a memory, a situation or a culture. The present paper is an attempt at the semiotic analysis of selected Indian food advertisements with an aim of exploring their psychosocial aesthetics. Advertisements have become a part and parcel of the present ‘branded’ age. Contemporary foodspheres can be identified very clearly in the media, especially in the ads. The advertising firm makes use of the psychosocial implications of food in an effective manner by impinging on the cultural identity of the prospective buyers. Taste does not come from our genes but is taught, learned and performed. Tastes change, and such a change has the capacity to alter the cultural identity thereby transforming the individual.

Food, Advertisements, nutrition, Psychology, Culture

"The Psychosocial Aesthetics of Food Advertisements", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.6, Issue 2, page no.374-380, February-2019, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1902157.pdf

"The Psychosocial Aesthetics of Food Advertisements", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.6, Issue 2, page no. pp374-380, February-2019, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1902157.pdf