“Why should laundry be a woman’s job?” asks a new TV commercial for a detergent. Featuring the father of a young, working woman who gives voice to inequality in homes, the video is one of the many ads that are touching upon social issues like gender stereotyping.
So, are Indian ads coming of age as far as gender sensitivity is concerned? Yes, say many, although there are still those fairness ads that equate success and happiness with the skin tone of a woman. Or a man.
But coming to the ones that have positive messages riding on them, Ariel’s latest “Share the Load” campaign has gone viral on social media, a testimony to its popularity. Sharat Verma, associate brand director of Fabric Care, P&G India, said that commercial approach is a part of a bigger movement of making ads that are more purposeful and meet the needs of consumers.
The best ads also avoid a sermonising tone.
Challenging the age-old superstition that associates periods with ‘impurity’ the ‘Touch the Pickle’ campaign hit a chord with the masses and went on to win the Glass Lion at Cannes. b A new award category, the Glass Lion seeks to honour work that challenges gender stereotype.
Josy Paul, chairman and chief creative officer of BBDO, the agency behind ‘Touch the Pickle’, said that ads with social messages are a response to what is happening in society.
BBDO’s ad for Visa Debit Card was another one created a buzz. Set in a village in Rajasthan where girls drop out of school because they have to walk miles to get water, the protagonist in the ad purchases sewing machines online, and then gets saris made for the young women with alphabets on them. This way they can learn to read from each other’s saris while going to get water.
KV Sridhar, chief creative officer, SapientNitro India, says that Indian advertising has come a long way and with people wanting to break norms and challenge stereotypes, the ad world has started reflecting it.
Ragini Sharma, an advertising professional, however, opined that ads such as the ones mentioned or which have a social message, do not necessarily imply that change had arrived.
Paul agrees and adds the Indian ad world is moving away from slogans and taglines and has become a platform for change.
(Azera Parveen Rahman can be contacted at azera.rahman@gmail.com)
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