Women are powerless. They are the weaker gender. These statements are so deeply ingr-ained in our minds that whatever acts of courage and bravery women demonstrate are all ignored or taken for granted. Statistics show that the major kidney donors in India are mothers, sisters and wives. They rush to save the lives of their near and dear ones while most look the other way. The recent devastating fire in a Calcutta hospital is yet another example where two nurses from Kerala gave up their lives to save patients from the fire. And this against a management who refused to give orders to call the fire brigade; doctors who switched off their mobiles and security guards who prevented local rescuers get an entry through the back door.
Women by nature are less aggressive and their self projections are more subtle. Patriarchal society has for ages reserved all the accolades for themselves and down-played all the women’s bold acts through the age-old lens of mamta and the sacrificing mother.
What is baffling is that the commercial world has also been strangely apathetic about highlighting the bra-ve and the bold side of a woman. Far from appreciating this quality, a wom-en’s anxiety to do things more sincerely has been portrayed with all kinds of exaggeration in ads and commercials. Over-anxious mothers running after fus-sy children, overzealous wives struggling with pesticides to keep their rooms free from mosquitoes or cockroaches, or women wi-th detergent bars toiling over getting their men’s shirts spanking clean. These are the usual themes of FMCG ads. Why does Harpic insist that it is only a woman who will clean the WC and a man’s role is limited to giving directions on how to clean it?
It is true that of late some brand communications ha-ve their male models being sympathetic to their female counterparts but that is only when the latter has sprained her back by the constant bhag daur or walked miles to reach home and prepare coffee for her husband. And only when the flavour of the coffee has stimulated his brain does the man get a brainwave —that he should do something about his wife’s aching legs. Very rarely does the woman shame her male counterpart about his insensitivity and irresponsibility.
In the Nirma commercial an ambulance gets stuck in the mud. In come four young beauties — amongst a crowd of curious onlookers who throw up their hands in despair. The girls set to work. Tying their chunnis and pallus around their waists they plunge into the knee-deep mud and push the ambulance out while the males bow their heads in shame.
It is as if only women as a community know and ap-preciate each other’s difficulty because only they know what it takes to solve a problem and take up res-ponsibilities. In a situation when there is joint responsibility between men and women it is always the women who are left to fend for themselves. The I-Pill ads show a young lady doctor advising a woman on an unwanted pregnancy resul-ting from unprotected sex. Left to men they would only brag main sambhaal lunga. At the end it is the housewife who has to make her maiden trip to the lady doctor’s chamber to talk about contraception and put an end to those hollow male assurances. It is only very recently that brands are expressing their intention to stand firmly beside the woman. The no aabadi commercial is a reality in the sense that mobile telephony is a major distraction in the mating game and therefore prevents unwanted pregnancy.
We are seeing a new portrayal of the woman who even in her playful behaviour projects a far more responsible and sensible role. The girl in the coco-nut hair oil ad puts a post-it on the car that is scra-tched by her scooter driving exercises to express her apology along with her phone number so that she could compensate for the denting/painting costs. It is a small but significant fra-me which shows that she is brave enough to own up to her responsibility.
The recent Stay Free ads reiterate the woman’s sen-se of initiative whether to clean the roads of plastic bottles thrown by various protesters or to come out of her car and help an elderly couple who have toppled off their scooter. The simple message of an insurance ad shows her readiness to take on life outside home. How many of us have ever given a thought to the ever readiness of our moms and wives when we very innocently tell them we are hungry. We want cooked food, tasty food and they oblige us. Like magicians they are ready to face the challenges of life without complaining.
Recent research by the Boston Consultant Group has quantified that women control a mammoth $12 trillion of the global consumer market. Across countries they are handling more family money and are instrumental in making bu-ying decisions for products for and outside the kitchen. A big chunk of them are earning more, spending more and marrying later. Yet Pako Underhill in his recent book What Women Want wrote, “we live in a world that is owned by men, designed by men, and managed by men and yet we expect women to be active participants in it.”
In a country like India where women have taken bold steps into a man’s world almost nothing is woman-friendly starting fr-om a woman’s privacy to dress, or to use the toilet. Forget toilets, women are not physically safe on the roads of our capital in daylight.
Yet slow but imperceptable changes are taking place. While their impact on social life is going to reflect in some time, the spark of change is there — captured in the commercial world of brands and communication. Who would have thought that a 100 per cent male brand like AXE would start wooing wo-men? Nearly one fourth of the total sales of Allen Solly, another brand whose images are predominantly male, come from women. Have you noticed the latest Thums Up commercial? The brand for the bare dare features a girl competing with her male counterpart stunt for stunt.
So, all you men hold on to that rug below your feet!