INDIA – Gillette India has launched its latest campaign – #ShavingStereotypes with the storyline redefining gender stereotypes and featuring the Barbershop Girls of India.
The brand film follows on from the hugely successful global campaign “The Best A Man Can Be”.
A beautifully crafted digital film conceptualized by GREY India, it is a true story of two barbershop girls, Jyoti (18) and Neha (16), from the village of Banwari Tola in Uttar Pradesh. The film shows everyday village life from the eyes of an eight-year-old boy whose thoughts are summed up from everything that he witnesses around him. Based on the insight ‘children always learn from what they see’, he notices how gender roles are clearly defined in society, and while men get to earn a living or indulge in sports, women are restricted to household chores.
As the story-telling progresses, we see the prejudice effect and what the subliminal patriarchy has on the young boy’s mind. It becomes vividly apparent when he accompanies his father to a barbershop and to his surprise he sees two girls ready to shave his father. The boy is puzzled and voices this concern to his father who pauses before responding that a razor wouldn’t know the difference between a boy and a girl.
The film then moves to the two sisters Jyoti and Neha Narayan, showing how they have challenged gender stereotyping often found in Indian villages by running their father’s barbershop–providing a service one would most often associate with a male barber. With their father and the entire village of Banwari Tola supporting, encouraging and standing by the two girls, the village is seen to be setting the right example and inspiring the next generation of men because children do learn from what they see.
The music accompanying the film is inspired by the Sohar – a traditional folk song often sung in celebration at the birth of a boy. A twist in the lyrics challenges this tradition urging people to equally celebrate the birth of a girl, for even she can change the family’s fortune.
Commenting on the campaign, Sandipan Bhattacharyya, Chief Creative Officer, Grey Group, said, “Gillette, as a progressive man’s brand, believes in and propagates topics that are relevant to raising and inspiring the future generation of men. And with this campaign and a powerful message like #ShavingStereotypes, Gillette drives home a point that has utmost relevance in the times we live in. The boys watching today need inspiring role models so that they grow up to be better men.”
Speaking on the story, Karthik Srivatsan, Associate Director & Country Category Leader, Shave Care, Indian Sub-Continent at P&G, said, “Neha & Jyoti and the entire village of Banwari Tola are an example of how when we take positive actions, we create meaningful change and set the right example for next generation. Gillette is proud to further enable their dream through our Saflta Apni Muthi Mein program (Safalta Apni Mutthi Mein). It’s time we acknowledge that brands, like ours, play a role in influencing culture. Our actions need to inspire us all to be better every day and to help create a new standard for boys to admire and for men to achieve. Because the boys of today are the men of tomorrow.’’
Credits
Client: Gillette India
Agency:
Autumn Worldwide India (GreyAutumn)
PR- Huma Qureshi (Grey AMEA)
About Grey Group
Grey is the advertising network of Grey Group. It ranks among the world’s top advertising and marketing organizations, serving one-fifth of the FORTUNE 500, in 96 countries. Under the banner of “Grey Famously Effective Since 1917,” we continue to break new ground in brand experience across every platform and create lasting consumer connections. Our parent company is WPP. Grey won the 2015 Cannes Lions Innovation and the 2015 Cannes Lions Product Design awards. The agency was also recognized as “2014 Global Agency of the Year” by The Global Awards, “2014 Global Agency of the Year” and “2015 Global Agency of the Year” by ADWEEK, “2014 Agency of the Year” by AD AGE, as well as by FAST COMPANY as one of “World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies.
