Cultural and Creative Industries

Cultural and Creative Industries Developmental Paper Session (2)

From Visibility to Value: The Rise of the Indian “Baddie Woman” as a Consumer Archetype

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Anamika Sinha Goa Institute

PG

Pronamika Goswami free lancing human centered design consultant

Abstract

Abstract

PURPOSE: Identity-associated cultural shifts in India’s beauty and fashion markets have repeatedly evolved and have increasingly been shaped by new forms of visibility. This paper explores how the Indian “baddie woman” has become a clear and distinct consumer archetype, outlining how the traits of confidence, boldness, and self-expression have been refined not as personal attributes, but as performative and market-mediated identities that marketers can leverage.

METHOD: The study uses semantic and thematic analysis to understand component and dominant words associated with the baddie identity, how the identity is enacted, and normalized, based on qualitative interview of 54 Indian participants.

FINDINGS: The findings indicate that the baddie identity is organized centrally around confidence, choice, and visibility and performed through fashion, lifestyle presentation, and trend participation. The identity can transcend the fashion or beauty sector to a cross-category segment of lifestyle through the use of cultural mechanisms like platform visibility, nostalgia driven reinterpretation, and event-based identity performance. The paper further goes on to construct a four-archetype framework that translates identity meanings into actionable consumer segments.

PRACTICAL IMPLICATION: Marketing professionals can leverage this identity archetype and platform specific performed need to co-create marketing and branding content and outreach. While ethical reflections address and highlight the conflicts between commercialization and empowerment in identity-based markets, with mindful caveat on the same, this finding can be used as a guide for marketers in cosmetic and lifestyle product segments.

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Workshop (Track Only)

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Cultural and Creative Industries

Published in BAM2026 Conference

Publisher X-CD Journal

Date of Conference September 7–11, 2026