Is it just me, or are the human "props" wearing better clothes than the model?

The model is also shot to look bizarrely tall. I know models are tall anyway, but it seems the photographer made a particular effort to position and photograph her in a way that makes her seem to absolutely tower over everyone else - particularly the picture where she is at the carts/stalls, or where she is watching the snake charmer and appears like a giantess too tall for the house. Given the associations of height with power/superiority it seems a choice that has implications, positioning the model in a particular way in relation to the "locals." It also works to reinforce her separation from her surroundings; she is not one person among other people, but a person gazed at and backgrounded by Others. She is not intended to be equal or just part of another culture, but is deliberately shot in a way that makes her a particular individual and everyone else just part of an exotic crowd.

They're faintly better than most such shoots I've seen (and man, I feel like I've seen so many!) -- only in that the model's actually meeting people's eyes and smiling with them in a couple of shots, which is vanishingly rare. They're still dreadful, and how weird is it that in the "snake charmer" shot, she's wearing earmuffs? What's the symbolism there?

And yes, it's bizarre how they made her a giant...

Anyway, on the "I've seen so many" line of thinking, do art directors not understand how tired this nonsense is? I can only imagine how put off my many South Asian neighbors feel looking at it, and I'm appalled, but I'm also terribly bored. It's lazy work ... You can't even justify it on artistic grounds (as shaky as that argument often is).

They couldn't use an Indian model? What a waste.

that said she is still interacting with the locals in a few of the images which makes them far more interesting and frankly different from most images of this genre.

This frustrates me on two fronts:

1. It reduces South Asians to exotic 'props' in the eyes of Westerners.

2. It perpetuates the stereotype of white women as sexually 'easy' in the eyes of South Asians.

Obviously the first has a more extensive field of potential damage, particularly given the colonial context of India-West interactions. But the latter is pervasive in South Asia, and makes it very difficult for non-South-Asian women living or working in South Asian (or South-Asian diasporic) environments.

I think the weirdest subtext is that a lot of the clothes Americans wear are made in South Asia. By dramatically underpaid workers. Hmm.

I usually agree concerning most photoshoots that fall into this category. But this one seems different. The description is horrid, but when you look at the actual photos, it almost seems like these are portraits of everyone in them, rather than only the model.

A lot of shoots like this show expressionless people in the background, or focus on their limbs or bodies, ignoring the face and focusing exclusively on the model. In these, the people are clearly depicted in comfortable dress and position. The model looks out of place, and in several of the photos she's not the main focal point.

All of that aside, there's still plenty to be said about the comparisons made, and turning exotic cultures into commodities. I think this specific shoot handled the people they used in a more sincere and careful way than others have.

Not that I'm am expert or anything, but there seems to be a sort of larger than life - appeal to fashion shoots that makes this even more worrying. She's supposed to pop in the best possible way, which means that she's supposed to be better than anyone else in the shoot - by markings that primarily are lighter skin color and clothes made by western fashion houses. One has to wonder what they were thinking.

"Oh mai ghad, brown people are liek, totally the best accessory EVAH!!"

AAAAAAUUUUGH

I am Indian. And I don't find any of this objectionable, because I am PROUD of the fact that we STILL have managed to keep this essence of our tradition, despite the modernity.

They are wrong though, if all their photos are about the same thing.

In fact, the Indian government's sponsored "!ncredible India" did the same thing- they showed how different India can be, how jarring. There ARE cows on the road, and dogs, and yes, snake chramers exist. :) We even have wells, in fact I have a personal well at my home. And I am not a gypsy. I am not offended, because why should I be? One such photo, for example showed a foreign tourist travelling on a highway and then stopping to post a letter in a letter box. The message: A mix of modernity; with the past and traditions still present.

But the tourists portrayed are always white because Indians are racial against themselves. They are taught to feel ashamed at their culture, just like this post of yours will achieve.

HOW DO YOU MAKE AN INDIANS FEEL ASHAMED OF THEIR OWN CULTURE?

For me to be offended at this Indian's being portrayed this way, I would need to believe their is something wrong with living this way. I would need to believe that modernity= white clothes= white standards of living, etc. There is nothing wrong with them living this way. In fact, if you chose you associate India with only this, then be my guest. It changes nothing.

The so-called modern Indians who live in cities constitute a REALLY small percentage of Indians. These Indians who live in villages still have access to mobile phones, TV's, set top boxes, DVDs, theaters, you name it.

The only thing that is objectionable about the India represented in these photos is the way they treat women. Badly. We have no representation in villages, and when we do have them, nobody listens to us unless we do as the men say, etc.

But nobody is talking about that, and nobody is going to. So, other than that, there is nothing wrong with these photos!

I feel so sad when I think of Africa- you have completely destroyed their indigenous culture, and their religion, worse with the indigenous Americans and even in Australia.. STOP with this. (Not YOU as such, but other concerned citizens who pooh-pooh over the sad and "wild" way the Indians live. "They are so strange. Let us go and try to teach them modernity." Meaning? Let us make them wannabe whites. And white Christians, at that.)

I know you have good intentions, but think for a moment! 

 I as a photographer don't see anything offensive about this photos. I understand the idea and why the author didn't show modern India. Because the heritage is what inspires! And it is great that the girl is very different from the local people, but sometimes she mingles so well that she is not the main focus anymore (this is being the nomad, experiencing another culture). People are friendly and images are beautiful. I don't see any intent to humiliate any culture. And this campaign is targeting UK market. So the sexy look of the girl should not be offensive as well.

As an aside, I find it unsettling when people (in my personal experience, white people) exoticize my culture and people. We're not exotic or mysterious or foreign or fascinating, we're people just like you and our culture is normal, way of life to us (speaking as a South Asian). So using groups of people and different cultures as props or as something cool and exotic to look at or inspiration~ for yourself is pretty gross.

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