Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide an advertising history of Tata Steel from its inception in 1907 to 2007 when it completed 100 years of operation. The authors use postcolonial theory to highlight the intertwining of advertising with the broader project of anticolonial resistance and postcolonial nation-building.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors used a visual analysis of a compilation of advertisements published by Tata Steel to commemorate 100 years of its existence, spanning the years from 1907 to 2007. They also used ads and posters available on the website of the Tata Steel Archives. Published work on Tata Steel such as books and papers provided contextualization.

Findings

Advertising creatives, through selective deployment of anticolonial discourses, manage the contradictory pulls of emergent nationalism on the one hand and the pragmatic need to work with the colonial administration on the other. However, such a negotiation leads to moments of slippage, where advertising reinforces colonial tropes. At a broader level, the authors suggest that despite attempts to draw on subversive discourses of resistance used by nationalists, Tata Steel’s advertising is inescapably intertwined with the larger matrix of colonial and capitalist power.

Originality/value

This study contributes to a non-Western perspective on advertising history. Further, it provides understanding of the marketing activities of a large corporation, which straddles the colonial and postcolonial era of India, an important economy.

中文翻译：

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锻造民族国家：印度塔塔钢铁公司的广告史

目的

本文的目的是提供塔塔钢铁公司从 1907 年成立到 2007 年完成 100 年运营的广告历史。作者使用后殖民理论来强调广告与更广泛的反殖民抵抗和后殖民国家建设项目的交织。

设计/方法/方法

作者对塔塔钢铁公司为纪念其存在 100 周年（从 1907 年到 2007 年）发布的广告汇编进行了视觉分析。他们还使用了塔塔钢铁档案馆网站上的广告和海报。在塔塔钢铁公司发表的书籍和论文等作品提供了背景化。

发现

广告创意者通过选择性地部署反殖民话语，一方面应对新兴民族主义的矛盾拉动，另一方面应对与殖民政府合作的务实需求。然而，这样的谈判会导致滑倒的时刻，广告强化了殖民主义的比喻。在更广泛的层面上，作者认为，尽管试图利用民族主义者使用的颠覆性抵抗话语，塔塔钢铁公司的广告不可避免地与更大的殖民和资本主义权力矩阵交织在一起。

原创性/价值

这项研究有助于从非西方视角看待广告历史。此外，它还提供了对跨越印度这个重要经济体的殖民和后殖民时代的大公司的营销活动的理解。