A study of contemporary advertising need to take into account the influence of western aesthetics of representation on Indian advertising as well as the intertextuality between advertising and other Indian art forms. On the basis that advertising in India is situated within and in continuation with a long tradition of representational formats that are uniquely Indian, this paper examines the sign-system of advertising in the Indian context using a semiotic approach. The author suggests that the organisation of time and space in a society influence both, the technical and representational aspects of advertising, and goes o to examine the cultural construction and desire, reality, and identity as factors that influence the reception of advertisements in a culture. This paper thus, presents an argument for taking into consideration the unique position of advertising in Indian society and exploring creative options offered through the development of an indigenous aesthetic tradition.