Come women’s day, brands start glorifying the feminine gender through their ads, and a few of them try to slip in a few discounts to take advantage of the sentiments.
I believe that really misdirects the people. The whole objective of the day is not to say, “Oh women are special today”.
The essence should be that women need to be treated as equally capable, should have equal rights and equal pay, and equal growth opportunities.
Most brands falter in this objective while trying to commercialize the occasion.
Lets look at how brands fared on Women’s day in 2019:
Ariel: #Sharetheload
This came out way before Women’s day, but the message is pretty much suited to the day and deserves the top spot (on my post at least).
What a great ad!
The people who made this ad really understand what ails our system. Guys are not expected to do much work at home. There is no reason why the men can’t share the work load. There is no reason why boys should not be taught to do household chores.
The ad tells the story beautifully of how the mother realizes the importance of teaching her boy to work at home.
Love this ad.
Greenply Plywood: #stopsayingwomencant
Greenplay has had its brilliant moments in advertising. This women’s day they wove a nice social experiment to suit the day and the message and also place the brand beautifully.
The video opens to a wardrobe with many things in it. And people are asked to guess which of the items were made by women. Except for the furniture, people identify many things which were likely made by women.
And then they go on to reveal their team of carpenters who happen to be women.
It had a nice touch to it overall in the execution.
One of the things I noticed here was that the questions were all asked to women. And it was women who got it wrong.
It goes on to show in some ways that our society is so hardwired to this notion that women can’t do things that men can do, it leads to conditioning the mindsets in this manner.
A pretty decent ad.
Candere Jewelers
For a company that targets women, I feel these guys really do not need to focus on women’s day to somehow force-fit the message.
But anyway, this is another company trying to increase its sales on women’s day.
The message and all are a-ok! I mean yes, we must all celebrate our individuality, not only women.
What seems the most off, is the line below in quotes:
“Kabhi kabhi mere dil me khayaal aata hai, ki jaise tujhko banaaya gaya hai sirf tere aur tere liye”
Candere Jewelers
It literally means “Sometimes, I get a feeling that you have been made for yourself”. And it shows a woman admiring her reflection on the mirror wearing the brand jewels.
I think it should not be just “Kabhi kabhi”. “Kabhi Kabhi” is just not enough to make the cut. Should be more than that!
The ad goes from tending to be meaningful, to being absolutely patronizing and flaunting a pointless effort to sell its products.
Liva Fluid Fashion: #MyLifeMyTag
These guys got a decent message for the audience. But they arrived a few weeks late as they are almost speaking the same language as Nike, in their “Dream Crazier” ad.
But aside from the seemingly similar message, the content within rings true for many people. No wonder, it raced up to 3m views on YouTube within 4 days of its release.
Yet, all said and done, I still feel the execution could have been better; especially how they selected the tags (both good and bad versions). I mean, the Nike one left people very motivated. This one was, well, felt like a copy cat ad (although they might not have done it) and quite forgettable.
Dabur: #Womencan
Dabur shot a video with all its women in crucial roles and demonstrated how women can excel in their workplace. Its a nice thing to do, and speaks volumes for the company who took up real women for examples, instead of doing a preachy high budget film.
Its nice, I would say.
Gits Food: #Everydayiswomansday
Gits wins big here with its #everydayiswomansday ad launched just before Women’s day. It talks about how women are told that their place is in the kitchen (“aurat ki jagah rasoi mein hai”).
And how the protagonist of this story found her place and acceptance in Gits factory, where 98% of the employees are women.
Although there is not much to comment about on women’s day here, but they did weave their story well around the event.
Kotak Silk: #sheiscourage #hauslonkiUdaan
At first I wondered I thought this is another mundane run of the mill ad. But as the story progressed, it turned better. Especially I was impressed by the use of a real story by Kotak.
I like the ad. But somewhere again, it irks me when people use these kind of events to sell their product.
Zoomcar: #shedrives
Well, here’s another one that’s pretty ok with the message. I like how they played around with the words “She drives”. I mean for a car company, it is so neat to have that line woven in.
Where these guys lose me is the end where they are offering some cheap discounts again.
Prega News: #YourSecondHome
Oh, why are you so desperate Prega News!!!
Damn, these guys went so enthusiastic about their association as a women’s brand on Women’s day that they literally went overboard and stomped all over the casteism and class-difference issues.
They try to show a well off woman, trying to be “nice” to the house-help. But there is nothing nice in the mannerisms. Right from how she denigrates her work to how she offers her fruits which she claims to be rotting, the woman showcases how Indians should talk to their house-helps.
And the way it ends, when the woman suddenly transforms to a soft voice, while explaining the message from pregacare, makes me go,
“Oh really? You care, is it?”
In the end of this all, I feel a bit disappointed that a day to celebrate women’s equality has been turned into a sales opportunity by most brands who give out discounts targeted at women.
We ought to be better than that.
Cheap marketing gimmicks don’t take brands to great heights. Great campaigns which influence positive change do.
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