The Indian society is changing rapidly. There are a lot more career driven women today than there were a few years ago. The concept of an equal partner is slowly but surely making its way into the Indian society. The sudden rise of the ‘Career Woman’ in Indian advertisements is a mark of this. These adverts not only show that there is a consumer segment that is so broad that it can no longer be ignored but also makes a statement that the ‘Career Woman’ is finally getting her acceptance in the Indian society.
It all began with the Airtel wife- boss advertisement. For the first time in Indian media, a consumer product company was specifically targeting a modern couple with wife as the strong career woman. The concept was new and was not tried before and advertisers surely and finally seemed to be targeting this market segment . With this segment growing rapidly, it surely could no longer be ignored ! The Airtel advert however got into some debate about whether it was really challenging stereotypes or was just reinforcing them.
About the controversy, Agnello Dias, co-founder and Chief Creative Officer, Taproot India, the agency responsible for the campaign, explained that “I respect the opinions about negativity around these campaigns but also disagree with them. True freedom is when a woman is free to decide exactly what she would like to do and how many roles SHE would like to play, one or three or five. It is really up to her and no one else.” He added, “The answer to orthodox gender stereotyping cannot be reverse gender stereotyping. It can’t be that it’s alright to either depict a woman full time in a kitchen or full-time in an office but there’s no way she can do both.”With all the debate and controversy, the advertisement was surely responsible for getting the ‘Career Woman’ in the limelight.
Then came the Raymond’s advertisement. ‘The Complete Man’- a man who is caring, sensitive and places a huge premium on relationships this time let his wife go and work while he took care of the baby at home. Again an advertisement portraying the modern Indian couple with a strong career woman.
The recent PC Jewelers advertisement then nailed it with their latest ‘Woman of the house’ advertisement. Again this advert targeted the modern Indian couple where the man, breaking stereotypes, stayed at home to pursue his hobby whereas his wife ran the house.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMavzyNt_5A
Slowly but surely, the ‘Career Woman’ and the concept of an ‘Equal Partner’ are making their mark in India. The advertisements we hope are more to do with social acceptance and acknowledgement of this group rather than just targeting a new market segment.
