Creative critique from a gender lens: 28 February - 4 March

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

Mar 10, 2022 07:13:00 PM | Article | Dr AL Sharada Share -

What works

The ad scores on three counts. First, it shows a father celebrating a daughter, second, it shows a father dreaming big for his daughter and third the parents are shown protecting her from various diseases through vaccination. Featuring the favourite captain of Indian Men's cricket, MS Dhoni, I hope the ad motivates parents to vaccinate their babies fully and feel happy about their daughters.

Gender Sensitivity Score (GSS): 4.5/5

Whisper

The ad piques the interest of the viewers with the suspense regarding the red leaflets being distributed in the school by the girls and raises two important issues:

1. The skipping of the chapter on menstruation in biology classes.

2. Dropping out of girls from school because of poor understanding of menstruation and lack of access to menstrual hygiene products.

It shows the girls as empowered and confident by succeeding in getting the support of the school authorities to the issue.

GSS: 4/5

Surf Excel

The ad breaks the brand's inhibitions in showing girls getting dirty in play. Except one, all ads of Sirf featured boys as the main protagonists taking up the responsibility of protecting their little sister, distracting fighting adults, etc. It is, therefore nice, to see girls playing Holi uninhibited, enjoying every bit of it and getting their clothes dirty. It is equally interesting to note the girl child taking the initiative to colour the elderly lady to join the fun by hugging her and staining her clothes with her own colours.

GSS: 3.75/5

Set Wet