No more sexy, swooning women in ads

NEW DELHI: The 'Axe Effect' advertisements, with pouting and skimpily clad women doing anything for male attention, will disappear from screens soon. Unilever, the world's second biggest advertiser and owner of the Axe brand of deodorants, announced last week that it will drop sexist stereotypes from its ads globally. A new-look set of commercials for the brand will soon be on air in India as well.

"While older advertisements have cast women in pursuit of Axe men, a new Axe campaign — 'find your magic' — represents a world in which genuine connection beats conquest and will be launched in India too," Unilever EVP global marketing, Aline Santos said in an email response. The new ads, Santos said, will portray the "modern, relevant, genuine world of attraction — the true magic that happens between two equals".

Are Indians finally waking up to outdated, stereotypical portrayal of women in advertising — used to sell everything from deodorants to cars to food and even cement?

In March this year, global restaurant chain Nando's may have thought it to be a route to immediate publicity when it released 'shock' advertising which read: 'We don't mind if you touch our buns or breasts or even our thighs. Whatever you're into, enjoying any Nando's meal with your hands is always recommended.' The headline was equally suggestive: 'Try something that shows off a bit of skin', it screamed. The eatery, popular for its chicken, was publicly slammed and a public apology followed almost immediately. "We regret the ad and will never tread that space again," Nando's chief executive Sumeet Yadav told ET.


Marketers say the need to change could be driven both by conscience and necessity. "One, there is a degree of voluntary consciousness now about showing often insensitive gender stereotypes across categories. Second, there's the fear of almost immediate backlash on social media. That wasn't the case earlier," said Santosh Desai, MD of Futurebrands.

In some cases, ad agencies are enforcing the new values even if clients want clutter-breaking sexism thrown in. McCann Worldgroup Asia Pacific chairman Prasoon Joshi said: "We are instilling into our teams in the early stages of training itself about what's acceptable and what's not. Any kind of insensitive stereotyping – gender-related or otherwise – isn't just acceptable."

A top ad man, requesting not to be named, pointed out to an ad for JK Cement which shows a bikini clad woman emerging from the sea. "It's the most far-fetched use of sexism in a category such as cement. It's high time voluntary self-regulation comes in play," he said.

Others such as Marico and ITC said they are consciously staying away with ads that stereotype women.

While admitting that "stereotyping of women is a common occurrence in the society we live in, Anuradha Aggarwal, chief marketing officer at Marico, maker of Set Wet deos and gels said: "Set Wet in the past did have communication that was chauvinist in nature. Since our acquisition of the brand, there has been a conscious attempt to alter that positioning."

Marico had acquired Set Wet from Reckitt Benckiser four years back. "Today, the Set Wet archetype believes women are at the same pedestal as men," she added. An ITC spokesperson said advertising for its unisex deodorant brand Engage has consistently stood for 'equality' in a man-woman relationship. "The brand has depicted a couple's romantic relationship in a manner that's playful and equal. We have ensured that our communication does not depict women in a manner that is demeaning, objectifying or sexist," the ITC spokesperson said.

Unilever's call to global marketers to do away with sexism is a result of research that suggested that only 2% ads show intelligent women and that 40% women surveyed said that they don't identify at all with the women they see in ads. "Unstereotype is our global commitment to advance portrayals of gender overall in our advertising. It is about implementing important changes to make our advertising more relevant to our consumers without sacrificing the unique personality of each of our individual brands," Unilever's Santos said.

According to Unilever, 'unstereotype' is about progressive portrayals of gender, taking into account the role, appearance and personality of the people portrayed in its ads. "It is a journey that will take time to implement across all our brands and markets, and to which we are committed," Santos added.

HUL's Fair & Lovely (F&L) fairness cream has had its share of flak too, but the company said the advertising is already moving to advance more progressive portrayals of gender.

According to HUL, the advertising for F&L has evolved to depict women in more equal, contemporary roles.