This post was written for Escape Velocity Blog and first appeared there.<\/p>\n
In the post on women\u2019s day, we touched upon how the depiction of women in advertisements has been gradually changing and how we now see a number of brands attempting to break stereotypes. We also mentioned that some brands are taking this further and highlighting prevalent gender prejudices, biases and regressive traditions. India has no dearth of gender related social challenges that need addressing \u2013 inequality, inclusion, bias, safety, education, etc. \u2013 and there has been no dearth of brands that seem to have taken up cudgels on one or more of these causes.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s commendable that brands are bringing such issues to the public eye given that very little public conversation takes place around them. Some brands are also taking huge risks highlighting issues that are extremely polarising. While there is no denying that these issues make for powerful emotional messaging, often earning praise from netizens, but as marketers we wonder whether consumers are buying into such messages. Given the proliferation of such creatives of late, one wonders whether these brands sound credible and authentic, and whether brands are losing their unique identity in an attempt to grab eyeballs by blindly riding this advertising trend. In this post, we attempt to answer those questions by looking at the cause related marketing campaigns of a few brands and highlighting what works and what doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
Brands which are targeting the new age Indian woman have taken up a number of gender related issues on digital media. Anouk, the ethnic wear brand from Myntra, launched the \u2018bold<\/strong> is beautiful\u2019 campaign that they believed reflected the attitude of their TG \u2013 \u201cone who is not hesitant to voice her strong opinion\u201d. Narratives around workplace discrimination<\/a> \/ career after pregnancy<\/a>, single parenting<\/a>, sacrificing careers for family<\/a> and even same-sex relationships in their ads also highlighted their brand attribute of being \u2018bold\u2019 in terms of designs. Within a few months of Anouk\u2019s first ad, the brand Biba launched their \u2018change is beautiful<\/strong>\u2019 campaign highlighting more women\u2019s issues \u2013 gender prejudice in arranged marriage<\/a>, dowry<\/a>, body image<\/a>, higher education<\/a> and even their version of marriage over career<\/a> (with the same protagonist from Anouk\u2019s eve-teasing<\/a> ad!). However, unlike in the case of Anouk where the ads did attempt a link \u2013 however tenuous \u2013 to\u00a0 the \u00a0brand attribute of bold designs, in the case of Biba the ads seem to simply highlight a cause without linking it to the brand.<\/p>\n Sportswear brands too have increased their focus on the female TG. The race probably started with Nike\u2019s Da Da Ding<\/a> campaign that encouraged girls to participate in sports. The message \u2013 sports help girls build self-image \u2013 is seamlessly blended into vignettes of sportswomen playing. Soon, Reebok followed with their own campaigns targeting women; as did Adidas<\/a>, Puma<\/a> and Bata\u2019s Power<\/a> a few months ago. Reebok\u2019s campaigns highlighted issues like sexual harassment<\/a> and equal pay<\/a>. The attempt, they say, is about breaking the prevalent stereotype that girls shouldn\u2019t fight back. While there is an association between physical and mental strength gained from fitness training to fighting eve-teasers, the layering to fighting for equal pay at the workplace is a little tenuous. Then the brand tries to stretch an already thin argument further and link this message to their brand philosophy by just tagging \u2018be more human\u2019 at the end of the ad!<\/p>\n Social inclusion, especially of transgenders, is another cause on which we\u2019ve seen a number of ads of late. Unilever with Brooke Bond Red Label\u2019s 6 Pack Band<\/a> was probably the first to talk about prevalent prejudices and exclusion of the transgender community. The brand team has been attempting to break stereotypes with ads for some time now, using the brand proposition of \u2018bringing people closer \/ being more welcoming\u2019 to talk about gender norms<\/a> and religion<\/a>. Given these ongoing efforts, the new ad doesn\u2019t seem out of place and feels natural coming from Brooke Bond.<\/p>\n Contrast those with the ad that UrbanClap released on Women\u2019s Day celebrating acceptance of trans-women<\/a> and that of Vicks on Mother\u2019s Day about transgender adoption rights<\/a> (care, given changing family definition). These ads evoked positive responses for their execution and generated a good amount of PR. But, given the one-off nature of the ads, the release timing and lack of on-ground action, these ads don\u2019t seem a natural area of concern for these brands and make them look rather opportunistic.<\/p>\n Consumers crave authenticity and have started to see through such increasingly opportunistic advertising by brands to sell products. On a lighter note, a recent article on Arre poked fun at cause related marketing and a growing number of \u201ckuch empowerment type ka<\/a>\u201d creative briefs which lead to \u201cshoving of empowerment-friendly hashtag digital campaigns\u201d. Saturday Night Live even did a skit in which they mocked one such pitch meeting<\/a> for cheesy Cheetos during which brand managers were shown discussing scripts around immigration, racial inclusiveness, and transgender rights for the brand\u2019s next ad!<\/p>\n