In the age of progressive initiatives, the advertising industry has been guilty of inauthentic portrayal of women, or showing them in regressive roles. 87% of Indian respondents to a survey by UN Women said that women are typically portrayed in traditional roles in their country’s media. This is also followed by a lack of representation as decision-makers in the BFSI and Automobile category, and an over-the-top set-up to build a female character as a multi-duty fulfilling role. The experts highlight a few of such campaigns that give in to regressive tropes.
Vim India, from the house of Hindustan Unilever, entered the INR 2000cr. club, surpassing the amount in sales in FY22. The highly penetrated brand in Indian households has recently been walking on the path of woke-ism, but the output seems to be on the lines of tokenism, thanks to their regressive narrative.
A campaign by the brand revolves around an aunt teaching her niece how to wash utensils with Vim dishwashing soap to get tough stains out, and ends with the aunt showing some karate moves to teach self-defence. She then tells the niece ‘What did you think? Your aunt only knows how to wash utensils?’, in an attempt to convey the point that women are not just restricted to washing utensils. After already contradicting their message by showing a woman washing dishes, they teach a girl how to do it too.
Vim was also under fire for an alleged sexist campaign launching a dishwashing soap for men called Vim Black. The campaign featuring Milind Soman was widely criticized across social media. Vim India later put out an announcement saying that the campaign was a joke and doing dishes is nothing to brag about. However, the damage was done, and the brand faced further backlash for resorting to sensationalism and promoting stereotypes to promote their brand.
#TestedByRealMoms by Voltas Beko is another such campaign. The bragging mother drinking orange juice out of a wine glass is not the only thing wrong with the ad. Moms getting on a video call to discuss the utility of a dishwasher was the other thing. Such ads subtly reinforce gender stereotypes.
To spell out how easy it is to create a progressive narrative with a progressive intent, we can look at this global campaign by Cascade, ‘Everyday I’m Dishwashing’. It’s simply a man talking about saving water on smaller loads with the brand’s dishwasher detergent. The narrative shows the wife passing the cup to him while he does the dishes. Without a preachy or an overtly in-your-face woke-ism, the campaign managed to drive the message home.
Whether it is tokenism in advertisiments or in personal lives, women are averse to the idea, as Pallavi Chakravarti, Founder & CCO, Fundamental, states, “Women in leadership is now a mandate in many organisations, on juries, and in the workforce. But when you’re hired, elevated, or invited somewhere because you are an aurat, it pinches. Apathy was yesterday’s problem; tokenism is the barrier that needs breaching today. I recognize that these mandates are important steps towards correcting an age-old imbalance - but it’s only the first step”.
Policybazaar on the other hand took a progressive step by showing a female protagonist in their campaign and unfortunately took two steps back with the same ad. The campaign shows the protagonist as a widow who blames her dead husband for being irresponsible and not buying term life insurance, leaving her financially handicapped to manage or earn a living.
Experts share a few more of such ad campaigns that lead by a bad example. Anupama Ramaswamy, CCO, Havas Worldwide India states, “The biggest cringeworthy ads have to be Fair & Lovely (now Glow & Lovely). It shows us the mirror to a society where things are regressive, but as people in advertising, giving hope for a better society is our job”. However, Glow & Lovely continues to thrive on Indians’ obsession with fair skin and does a business of more than 2000cr. INR, as per the last fiscal report.
Mithila Saraf, CEO, Famous Innovations states brands have become a lot more conscious and moved away from sexualizing or demeaning content, but some regressive narratives still lurk around. “The campaign that has stuck with me is ‘Don’t Hold Back’ ft. Ranveer Singh by Jack & Jones that drew a lot of flak. Despite it being a few years, people still remember it and talk about it. That just goes to say that, people have an unforgiving memory when it comes to the portrayal of women”.
She further points out that the campaign by Policybazaar for their Term Life Insurance product where the woman is talking to her dead husband’s photograph and blaming him for not buying insurance was another regressive narrative.
The Gender Equalities Attitude Study 2022 pointed out that over 80% of female portrayals in advertising and media follow gender stereotypes. 70% of women don’t feel represented in advertising.
Ashwini Deshpande, Co-founder & Director, Elephant Design, states that there are too many inauthentic ads. “It may be easier to pick the ones that don’t do that because those will be very few. Almost all ads in some way build stories of bias. Particularly sexist ones are a series of ads that legitimize ‘men being men’.”
She also highlighted a few data points of findings that suggest that although female characters are prominent in Indian ads, they are still highly stereotyped; less likely to be shown in public spaces and employed; more likely to be selling domestic products and food to other women as well as responsible for childcare and shopping.
Accounting for the traditional gender role spectrum, female characters have always been restricted. Unmisha Bhatt, Co-Founder & Chief Strategy Officer, Tonic Worldwide states, “Female characters have always been stereotyped in domestic roles or as the only primary caregiver, showcasing flawlessly beautiful women. But the reality is different than what we see. Most of the cooking ingredients, washing/cleaning, white goods, and beauty categories fall victim to it.”
Women joyfully undertaking the drudgery of work, and running around the house while others lounge around is a common theme in the household categories of products, as per the ASCI GenderNext Report.
Sonal Chhajerh, Executive Creative Director, Leo Burnett, reckons our ideas of femininity and masculinity are deep-rooted in our culture. We can see it on TV, books, and movies, and the advertising industry is guilty of reflecting that and stereotyping.
“The excuse is that it’s advertising, that it reflects reality, and statistically, men buy cars, women buy dishwashing soap. But that’s a very limited view of our power as a brand and it’s our responsibility as a creative industry to have an authentic voice and impact change”, she adds.
In a survey by Unstereotype Alliance by UN Women & Partners, it was noted that 87% of Indian respondents said that women are typically portrayed in traditional roles in their country’s media, while 86% said the same for men.
Shradha Agarwal, Co-Founder & CEO, grapes has a different take on the regressive narratives. She believes that there are certain stereotypes that we’ve grown up with.
She explains it further with an example, “One of the most progressive women ads is from Prega News where Mona was not able to produce a child, and yet she was being considered as the badi bahu. But you could also see her serving tea to the head of the family. Whether you call that a stereotype or not, there are a lot of challenges, and everything that we do is being called a stereotype, even if it’s genuine”.
Are we reflecting the reality or taking the narrative forward? This continues to be a dillema for the industry when it comes to the portrayal of women. Shweta Iyer, Co-Founder, Nine Yards Communications Consultancy mentions that the argument in the industry right now is between us portraying what’s happening in the world and us trying to make the difference. She says, “It’s always what comes first. Are we supposed to drive change or are we supposed to depict what’s happening in the world? Because women do run homes, do the washing, cleaning, and cooking. As much as you might want to sound progressive, in a large part of our country, the man brings home the money and the woman runs the house”.
Susan Ferguson, Country Representative, UN Women, states, “Flagging a few ads won’t address the problem. But yes, there are a few categories, such as beauty, fashion, personal care, banking & financial services, home care, and automobiles, where there is a need for more equal and progressive portrayals of not just women, but also men”.
Consumer Perception
Brands are increasingly weary of the hypersensitive environment that may result in backlash from consumers. Outright misogyny has faced immediate backlash, but how are the ones in the grey area with ingrained layers of stereotypes and inauthenticity perceived by consumers?
Aditi Mishra, CEO, Lodestar UM states that navigating the grey area of portrayals is a delicate task. “Brands should recognize that ambiguous depictions can be interpreted diversely by consumers. It’s essential to approach such narratives with a nuanced understanding of cultural sensitivities and diverse perspectives. It’s crucial to recognize that what we promote as brands can significantly influence a larger narrative”, she adds.
The grey area is often more dangerous than the black area itself. Take the campaign ‘More For Less’ by McDonald’s India as an example. It shows blooming affection between a male customer and a female hostess at a McDonald’s outlet, and how the male customer, mesmerised by her, skips an empty counter only to wait in line to place the order at her counter.
The campaign was widely criticized for allegedly being creepy and promoting advances and harassment towards the female employees of McDonald’s.
While understanding the cultural sensitiveness is important, narratives too require some attention. The portrayal of women, men, and situations surrounding them must be well-thought out before execution. Nisha Singhania- CEO and Managing Partner, Infectious Advertising shares that outright misogyny is rare, however, what needs to change is the way women and their relationships are depicted. “Traditional tropes like barbs between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law or the daughter-in-law being the self-sacrificing superwoman needs to stop. We need to normalize a girl’s parents living with the couple after marriage or the woman looking after her parents”.
Ramaswamy elaborates that long-running campaigns like ‘Men Will Be Men’ are loved by consumers, but they normalize stereotypes. The same is true for ‘Jo biwi se karey pyaar, woh Prestige se kaise karey inkaar?’
This is a campaign that was popular and widely known during its time of release, but in recent times, consumers pointed out its subtle misogyny and the campaign has now made it to almost every list of regressive ads.
Deshpande shares, “The ones in grey areas are hard to notice in passing. But they are building subconscious narratives in the minds of viewers. Women cheerfully serve food to a happy family or wave goodbye to a man leaving for work or a child leaving for school. Such narratives strengthen stereotypical roles”.
Chhajerh reckons that stereotypes communicate very quickly. It’s almost like a shortcut that creates a quick effect, and you get an emotional response. She says, “You have the fair girl, the nagging housewife, the inept dad, and immediately you’ve set up the story. That’s one of the reasons why they’ve been so persistently and commonly used. Our perceptions are also constantly evolving. We are culturally dependent that way, and it’s a constant process of training ourselves to remove those biases”.
Campaigns that do not generate immediate backlash may often also go unnoticed. Towing on similar lines, Saraf believes consumers are watching or absorbing the campaigns in a passive way, they’re not actively decoding them. Bhatt shares that they may not even generate immediate and widespread backlash, but they can still elicit mixed responses from consumers. “But it can still have long-term implications for brands. Consumer responses may vary, but brands need to stay attuned to societal shifts and ensure that their messaging aligns with contemporary values to avoid negative repercussions,” he adds.
This is a perception that is agreed upon by experts as a plethora of content and ad-free options are not inaccessible anymore. Agarwal believes the number of ads that the consumer is exposed to is in the thousands and often when consumers are surveyed, they don’t understand what is being conveyed through the ad. She says, “They don’t have the time to decode all of that. It is only a handful of people who will try to troll because they feel strongly about it”. She also points out that the idealistic thought process is different from their actual buying behaviour.
Regression Behind The Lens
IMPACT Magazine also spoke to several junior and mid-level resources in the industry who shared instances of working their way around misogynistic experiences. Their identities have been kept anonymous to prevent any uncalled-for and unintended repurcussions.
One of the sources shares an instance where the Design Lead of the company was strongly prejudiced against women. She shares, “He would make sure that only men are hired in the design team as he believes women belong to the copy team, which is the industry equivalent of saying ‘women belong in the kitchen’.”
For one of the corporate events as a part of a campaign, the events team of the agency suggested a banter activity where women should be asked questions about sports and men should be asked questions about recipes. She shares, “I told them to let’s not have this, it is just too sexist. All my messages were left on seen”.
Another instance is when she got into an argument with her boss who was shaming a male influencer for wearing nail polish in a campaign video, and she pointed out that wearing nail polish has no relation to gender, she was shut out and told ‘any guy who wears nail polish is gay and just Google men wearing nail polish and you won’t find a single ad about it’.
She adds, “There was no ad, TVC, or even a creative showing that and I felt I couldn’t back my argument. Mind you, he was the Deputy General Manager overlooking the entire digital/social media marketing team”.
Another source tells us that the head of the creative team was so possessed by his male ego that he would not take suggestions from her, constantly block her out, and not be receptive towards her feedback. She shares, “As a person on the client-servicing side, I too understand what the brand needs and the merit of opinions should not be decided with a gender bias”.
Right from the creative side to the production and execution side, patriarchal and misogynistic regression exists through the funnel. A source tells us that the higher-ups have always had a sexist outlook towards the designation of tasks, and several tasks are more about ‘leave that to the men’. She shares, “You can’t change the fact that when it comes to physical strength, men in general are stronger, but it’s not like only men can do those tasks. The creative or client bit is always left to women, but hardcore ad production tasks are always left to the men. I’ve been on sets where the gender ratio has been off, to top that off, the only females apart from me on the set have been from the F&B section, making or serving food”.
Only one of the mid-level resources mentioned that during her entire stint in the industry, she never faced any such issues. She says, “I’ve been in the industry for a while now, but I’ve never faced any such issues. But this could be because I’ve only had female bosses who probably made sure I never face such issues”.
Several factors affect the final output we see on screen. Regressive narratives or reinforced stereotypes may come out of a brief, data point showing the brand’s consumer base fulfils a gender role, lack of representation on the creative team, or a dearth of consideration.
Deshpande reckons a right brief plays a role more significant than it is credited for. “If your brief defines a woman persona for building AI ‘assistant’ because traditionally, women have assumed the roles and designations of ‘assistants,’ then we are building a dangerous narrative for the future of people and technology.”
73% of millennials and 72% of Gen Z are willing to pay extra for products and services from companies dedicated to positive social and environmental change. Brands with progressive narratives stand to gain, as per reports. So, these narratives also affect business outcomes.
Ferguson states, “Consumers today are far more informed. They follow brands and their behaviour. While it’s true that some ad campaigns which cross the line will get immediate black lash, campaigns with subliminal bigotry can also impact consumers’ brand preferences.”
There is, thus, a direct business impact. Brands that deliver progressive ads have a higher purchase intent of more than 25% for all consumers and 45% for women.
Chhajerh points out that often, it may not be the brief alone, but it may be advertisers trying to talk the language that we think reflects the consumer. According to her, “Sometimes it’s the categories that created this coding. We’re just following that, without evolving it. If you look at fairness brands, they’re still telling the same story of fair skin, but now there’s a tokenism of name change. When you sit in a brainstorming session, the more diverse voices you have at the table, the more progressive your output will be”.
This lack of representation behind the screen also translates on the screen. 63% of women don’t see themselves represented in most advertising, according to reports.
Chiming in on a similar thought, Mishra states regressive narratives may emerge due to inherent cultural biases or a lack of diverse voices. She further adds, “One potential pitfall is when content relies on shock value or sensationalism, which can perpetuate stereotypes. As communication partners, we actively work to avoid such pitfalls across our client roster”. Vim Black dishwashing soap for men is a prime example of the pitfall resulted out of resorting to sensationalism.
Singhania believes that the team behind the lens is a significant factor in churning out campaigns that are not regressive. “The creative process needs to have its freedom to do great work, however, it helps if there is a mature head and a woman on the team. They are more likely to spot something regressive. Also, if one sticks to the objective and works on more insightful work rather than being clever for the sake of it, chances are you won’t end up offending someone”.
The creative insights do not seem to be bound by gender too, it’s an open-minded outlook that’s needed. Chakravarti states, “Delivering the goods is all that matters. I’ve worked closely on sports brands without being mad about cricket or truth be told, even understanding all the technicalities of the game. I’ve seen men come up with incredibly sensitive insights on categories like sanitary napkins. The point is to complement each other and fill in the gaps. That’s when a balanced voice emerges, one that’s right for the brands and businesses we build”.
Representation and research go hand–in–hand to make an informed creative decision. Saraf highlights, “If your communication is a direct literal response to the research, then that’s a big contributing factor. If you use your research correctly, that’s different.”
Ramaswamy shares that we always want to show the woman of the house as a great achiever outside and a superb homemaker. This means, that over the last twenty years, she has doubled her role. She says, “We advertisers have put so much pressure on her, haven’t we? In the attempt to be progressive, we have given her guilt.”
With changing consumer inclinations, visible impact on brand perception with regressive narratives, and continual efforts stemming from within the industry, one can be optimistic towards progressive initiatives represented by progressive narratives, but that day is far from today.
