Many EdTech ads show 'war-like' situation where one cannot fail: Analysis

A majority of advertisements by EdTech ventures "underscore and reinforce the narrow view" of education, depicting it as a "war-like situation" where mathematics and science are shown as prime subjects, an analysis has said.

None of the advertisements feature an academician while academically "poor or average" celebrities were roped in at least 30 per cent of such advertisements, which is reinforcing stereotypes like featuring majorly fair-skinned children and male teachers and relegating mothers to kitchen or watching TV serials, it said.

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The 'EdNext: Raising the Bar on EdTech Advertisement' report, prepared by the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) with UNICEF as knowledge partner and Sprint Studio.ai as research partner, said these advertisements have huge impact on parents' choices with 49 per cent relying on advertisement to choose EdTech platforms.

While 81 per cent of parents trusted such advertisements, the study conducted with the sponsorship and support of Byju's, India EdTech Consortium and Unacademy also said, 73 per cent felt that advertisements showed high pressure of studies.

According to the report, nearly half of the 100 advertisements analysed for the study talked about better results or high scores in exams, and highlighted past toppers who enrolled with them.

One-third of advertisements used superlative claims of being the ‘best’ or ‘largest’ or ‘top’ in some parameter while 26 per cent made promises guaranteeing success in the form of improving marks or helping students become a topper among others.

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"Besides the fact that many of these claims are misleading...these narratives underscore and reinforce the narrow view of education. While the marks-linked narrative is not unique to EdTech, spending crores of rupees in perpetuating this narrative can be considered undesirable for society at large," the report prepared after a survey of 490 parents and students in eight cities, including Delhi and Bengaluru, said.

The report was also critical of some of the advertisements, which showed a “war-like situation and students as warriors fighting a battle” where one cannot fail. The advertisements underlined that the future of children rests on scoring well in exams and sacrifices to sleep and relaxation were normalised even for middle school students.

Reinforcing stereotypes – mothers are shown around the kitchen or watching TV while the gender bias in favour of men extends to teachers featured – was another issue highlighted in the report. "Stereotypes in physical attributes also showed up, with kids with dark/dusky complexions being severely under-represented. Unidimensional portrayals of studious kids rather than showing a diverse set of kids further perpetuate stereotypes," it said.

None of the advertisements featured known personalities from an academic field while 30 per cent had celebrities to endorse the products. "In some cases, attributes of celebrities, such as perseverance, were used as inspiration...In fact, celebrities who featured dominantly were popular film superstars who are, ironically, considered academically poor or average," it said.

There is a “tyranny” of mathematics and science in these advertisements while the focus on other subjects is insignificant. Out of the 100 advertisements analysed, 50 showed maths and 48 showed science. English was shown in only nine ads, while other subjects such as history and geography showed up in eight ads. Five ads showed coding.

“One might argue that these typically happen to be the subjects that parents and students themselves are concerned about, and therefore advertising would naturally highlight or address those. But when we see this through repeated portrayals and reinforcement, it normalises the disproportionate importance of these subjects, rather than staying true to the taglines of almost all EdTech brands that promise more holistic and well-balanced education support,” the report said.

On the positive side, the report said, parents are shown as partners and not as pressuring factors in studies in the majority of such publicity material.