Shaving brand Gillette picked up an award in the music category at Cannes Lions, for a campaign that tackled shaving stereotypes in India.
The challenge
'Is this the best a man can get?' was the tagline of Gillette's controversial advertisement in January that broke the Internet. The ad challenged a lot of pre-existing notions about masculinity, questioned the gender status quo and attempted to dismantle toxic adages such as 'boys will be boys.' The ad garnered much controversy as it got viral. Now, in an ad following a similar thread, Gillete tackled gender stereotypes in jobs. In a video posted on their YouTube page on April 26, they tell the story of two girls who work as barbers in a small village called Banwari Tola in Uttar Pradesh.
The solution
The film, about two barbershop girls, Jyoti (18) and Neha (16), from the village of Banwari Tola in Uttar Pradesh, is from the perspective of an eight-year-old boy whose thoughts are summed up from everything that he witnesses around him – namely that gender roles are strongly defined.
The storyline winds up with the boy in a barbershop where 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 results
Created by Grey India Mumbai, the “Barbershop Girls: Shaving Stereotypes” a campaign for Gillette, was awarded up a Silver Lion for music.
Sandipan Bhattacharyya, chief creative officer, Grey Group India said: " This win is significant because the Entertainment category is truly a new frontier of advertising and moves beyond the traditional definition in every sense. We’ve always believed in making our brands a part of popular culture and to be recognized for that is immensely satisfying. We’re privileged to work with clients of the caliber of Karthik and Omkar at P&G and kudos to the incredible creative team at Grey."
