It’s weird. The year is coming to an end, we are happy that a dreadful night (which eventually turned into a year) is coming to an end and why shouldn’t we? The world was suffering, however, there were some changes in our media. While not all of them were positive, they indeed had taken a different and much more progressive way of coming out for the audience.
These advertisements, that came in the year 2016, did more than just brand or product marketing. They were there to market an idea that we all need and should acknowledge around us. These advertisements came with a powerful message and moved beyond the idea of sexualizing a woman’s body in order to sell a men’s deodorant. Some of them touched the holy cows of our society, things that you should not talk about, while some just appeared before us in the truest sense possible. It was almost like looking in a mirror where we ended up finding too many flaws in our society, yet again.
1. Dove: Let’s break the rules of beauty.
The advertisement stated a very simple thing of why our media showcases only a certain kind of beauty? We have 631 million women and 631 million reasons for them being beautiful.
2. eBay India – Things don’t judge
We human beings have the tendency to be judgemental about things even when we don’t want to. We can be critical about someone when they walk on a different path than what the society has affirmed and this advertisement portrays this.
3. Dove: Is That You? #ChangeTheRhyme
Dove’s initiative of Change The Rhyme made us realised how the singular beauty ideal is planted in the minds of kids at an early age. It also showcased the lives and struggles of school-going female athletes who are breaking the norms of beauty.
4. Why is laundry only a mother’s job? Dads #ShareTheLoad – Ariel
Gender Roles are still deeply rooted in our society and one might not even know or be able to see until, well this advertisement. How many times have we been told that kitchen and housework are a woman’s job and doing heavy work with physical strength, is a man’s? We have grown with these ideologies and maybe that’s something which is not bringing the change.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xogBz71IHAo
5. Mia – #BestAtWork
Sexism is still here, no matter how many CEOs and CFOs our country have, women still suffer from workplace sexism. A woman still has to prove her sincerity in order to be taken seriously. The best thing about this advertisement were the powerful lines that were spoken in a beautiful way.
6. These 4 women took less trodden paths – UrbanClap
UrbanClap came and gave their message in the best way possible. They differentiated between needing and wanting something. Through this advertisement, UrbanClap captured the spirit of these 4 women who are breaking stereotypes and breaking that glass ceiling, one punch at a time.
7. Nike presents Da Da Ding
Another video that focused on female athletes and their drive for what they want and how they’re achieving it. Apart from having a pumped up music and video for it, we also got the reality about how much female athletes are missing from media.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UvPZ8fD4B8
These brand did more than just marketing their products, they marketed an idea that we all need and should look into. Our society has flaws, but then who doesn’t? We have changed our technology and the way of using things, so are we not at the stage where we should change the way we look at our lives and other’s lives.
Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for more updates. Don’t forget to like and share. Do tell us your views in the comment box below.
19 December 2016
Jyotsna Amla