A father’s lesson

India – In the second part of its #ShareTheLoad campaign, Ariel India uses a father’s guilt to question gender norms.

• The first part of the campaign won a Glass Lion at Cannes in 2015, an award that honours work that challenges gender bias
• The campaign contests the notion that doing the laundry is a woman’s job

The 2015 campaign highlighted how women in India have two jobs – in the office and in the home. Ariel collaborated with BBDO India to launch a his and hers laundry pack, as well as clothing wash labels with symbols showing that garments could be washed by men or women. For the next step in the campaign, BBDO used the Sad Dads tactic, showing a more nuanced approach to a father’s relationship with his grown-up daughter.

In the ad, the father watches his daughter as she juggles between being an employee, a mother and a wife. He writes a letter taking the blame for her assumption that she must take charge of the household chores, admitting that, like her husband, he never helped his own wife with domestic duties. As in the recent Biba ad for the Indian market, Ariel looks at traditional assumptions in Indian households to show how brands can be a leading force in promoting a conversation about cultural issues.