Creative critique from a gender lens: 1-5 August

Dr AL Sharada, director, Population First, reviews a selection of ads from last week

Aug 11, 2022 11:55:00 PM | Article | Dr AL Sharada Share -

What could have worked:

Britannia Good Day, the cashew nut cookie brand's new campaign 'Choti Khushiyan' (little joys) invites its audience to celebrate even the little cheerful moments.

A set of five films that depict various small moments of happiness. Of the five films, three of them are in a way breaking the gender status quo, with the woman driving the car, while her husband takes the passenger seat; the mother-daughter alluding to the possibility of the father touching the mother’s feet; or the two women in an office setting. One of the films poses household chores as a burden even though it shows the specific task as the father’s responsibility. But while the father expresses his joy at being free, it shows the mother watering the plants and going about her routine, distorting the sense of shared responsibility it may have sought to portray.

Gender Sensitivity Score (GSS): 2.5/5

What did not work:

Asian Paints

Asian Paints rolled out a film featuring brand ambassadors PV Sindhu and Ranbir Kapoor for its SmartCare Hydroloc range, an interior waterproofing product. However, the film has kept the equation between the two protagonists skewed in the favour of the man. Kapoor confesses that he is unable to concentrate on his badminton practice as he is distracted by the damp wall. On the contrary, Sindhu is oblivious about the damp wall and acts ignorant about available solutions that can solve the issue at hand. The ad reinforces the prevalent notion that problem-solving is a man's forte and that women depend on men to solve their problems.

GSS: 2.25/5

Other films from the week:

Domino's