An Elle India advertisement that seeks to break stereotypes of how women should behave in public is getting an outpouring of reactions on social media. A well-made video that uses the hash tag ‘ungender’, it features women of varying body shapes and sizes in different settings. There are two women at a restaurant, a plus size woman running, one busy at work in an office, another reading at a table and yet another one in a cab. What connects all these women to each other and to the rest of them — women getting out of a car, at a salon, exercising, getting the door and removing a pullover — is that they are all ‘performing their gender’ at first glance, and then deciding later in the video not to conform to that conditioning.
For every woman who has grown up in India, this is a relatable ad — we have all at some point adjusted ourselves, been cautious, wanted to go unnoticed, flagged off bra-andboob flashing to others, and in essence tried to hide ourselves in public. It’s no surprise that the ad is being lauded online and is getting its share of hearts. While the fashion brand sees itself as “working together towards gender equality, doing away with stereotypical ideas of how men and women should behave”, I see it as a great marketing campaign. This is not the first time that an ad with the very same objective is being made.
Myntra ran a similar series a while ago, Titan had the infamous remarriage ad, and not to forget Dove’s long running ‘real women’ campaign. While it is impossible to deny that these ads are touching (I know people who tear up for ads too), stay for a long time in social media memory, and begin a much needed discussion on gender, sexuality and stereotypes, it is impossible to deny too, that women’s empowerment and emancipation are now marketing tools, and feminism a commodity to be sold. While equality is packaged in to selling us something, let’s not forget that we are being asked to ‘buy’ to make ourselves feel good. While some brands are showing us which barriers to break, let us not forget that their sister brands are setting unreal goals with their unattainable bodies and unaffordable fashion.
I mean, both Dove and Fair&Lovely products are sold by the same company right? When companies show us how to be successful, let us not forget that their success lies in a great marketing campaign that ensures that the product is consumed, not really in whether one feels empowered or not. Feminism is now but a way to boost sales, and make people feel great while emptying their pockets. The truth really is that companies are making a killing while consumers are fed cute ideas of empowerment and equality, and if stereotypes are to be broken, women would actually be buying products reserved for men — be it razor blades, deodorants, soaps, or shampoos — that are much cheaper worldwide. If women were to be really emancipated, they would be asking pertinent questions and that’s the last thing that companies want.
This is what the co-founder of Bitch Media, Andi Zeisler, talks about her in book, We Were Feminists Once, as she “explores how a movement that dates back to an enlightenmentera battle for basic rights — to own property, to cast a vote — has been cannily repackaged into profitable ‘marketplace feminism’, focused on shopping and celebrity.” I am saying, even ‘I am a feminist’ or ‘this is what a feminist looks like’ t-shirt wearing feminists can ask fantastic questions after watching fuzzy ad. Instead of buying feminism to feel empowerment, we can embrace it and ask for equality. Now let’s take a minute or two to reconsider our collective outpouring, and redirect our collect outrage onto action.
(The writer is a Chennaibased activist, in-your-face feminist and a media glutton)
Archanaa Seker
seker.archanaa@gmail.com