Aeons ago wise old Heraclitus left us with the knowledge that the only constant is change. Another year has come and gone, and in between it has left us plenty of food for thought.
As a nation, our ability to take offence remains largely unchanged. Even a whiff of anything that threatens our rigid notions of dharm and sanskar is a call to arms. In short, change offends us. However, despite our best efforts, change has crept in, quietly, slowly and humbly.
Advertisements are nicely insidious. Skip YouTube ads all you want, you’ll invariably end up watching them somewhere. They’ll sneak in and ruin your latest funny cat video compilation when you least expect it, or ruin a particularly exciting song.
However, some ads in 2015 surprised us. We didn’t skip them and we’re glad we didn’t; they were strong advocates for positive, practical change.
Biba: Taking Baby Steps Towards Change
The girl in the video is having her marriage ‘arranged.’ She doesn’t look thrilled at the prospect of choosing her soulmate over a plate of samosas. Her father, however, has a surprise in store for her. He insists that before the rishta is pakka, they visit the boy and his family, and experience first-hand his samosa-making skills.
All hell could have broken loose. Instead, the prospective husband doesn’t seem so bad. The boy offers to learn to cook, and all is hunky dory.
What to love: Biba’s ad introduces an idea gently, and packages it sensitively. The advertisement doesn’t shove change down our throats. It doesn’t go in, all guns blazing, and insist arranged marriages be abolished. Instead, what it does suggest is that within the convention itself, there are ways to make a marriage more equal. It’s a small step, but a thought-provoking one.
Anouk: The Courage to Speak Out
This one is more radical in its advocacy for change, and given what it’s dealing with, we’re glad that it is. Over the course of the ad, it is revealed that the two women are not only roommates, but also lovers.
What to love: At the beginning, you can’t really tell that they’re romantically involved. They do regular flatmate things; borrow kajal and share clothes. This ad ‘normalises’ the relationship between two same-sex lovers, without catering to male pornographic fantasies. Suddenly, they’re no longer fetishised women, but human beings with real loves, real lives and real struggles.
Dabur Vatika: A Different Kind of Beautiful
We as a nation really, really, REALLY value our hair. We’re suspicious of women with short hair – they’re ‘loose’ and ‘fast.’ If having short hair invites value-judgement, one can only imagine the courage it must take for a bald woman to go about her business with her head uncovered.
What to love: This hair oil advert believes that beauty need not necessarily be conventional and prescribed. The woman in the video has lost her hair to cancer, and the ad celebrates her resolve. She chooses to go out without a headscarf, because as a survivor, she has nothing to hide.
FabAlley: Wear Whatever the F**k You Want
FabAlley’s ad is a lot of our fantasies come true. No, not that one, you perverts; it’s just that plenty of times we’ve looked into our cupboards and wished we could go about our day naked, because it would save some tiresome decision-making.
What to love: Radhika Vaz. She has the confidence to hold forth on stage, completely naked, in a culture that regularly body-shames and slut-shames women. Radhika, all of our salutes and love. She also ridicules fashion advice that is baffling, arbitrary, and frankly, insulting. I am neither square, nor pear, nor rectangle, thank you very much!
JSW Steel: Resolve is Inspiring, Sweaty is Beautiful
Films regularly celebrate victory in the face of adversity. We’ve rooted for the underdog to win. The Will of Steel ad is special because it is the story of a real woman who prevailed in a traditionally male space. Geeta Phogat is a wrestler who holds the record for being the first Indian woman gold medallist in the 55kg category.
What to love: No glitz, no glam. Just an inspiring story of making the most out of one’s circumstances, following one’s dream and winning. Geeta’s story is one of grit and determination; she chased and mastered an unconventional passion. Our Rhonda Rousey, we hope, will inspire many little girls to chase unusual dreams.
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