Ariel awakens father to harsh reality of gender stereotypes, gets him to #ShareTheLoad

Ariel has launched a second film as part of its #ShareTheLoad campaign, conceptualised by BBDO India.

 

It opens with a small boy playing with his grandfather. His mother returns from office and reminds him about his homework, admonishing him for some stains on his clothes. She hands her father his ticket to return home. While doing so her phone rings, and she tends to some official work. Her husband is busy watching a match and working on his laptop, as she hands him a cup of tea. As she talks on the phone, she continues with her chores at home. Her father looks at her, and starts narrating a letter in his head.

 

He says that he’s so proud and so sorry to see his grown up daughter. She used to play ‘House-House’ as a little girl, he says, and now takes care of the household. He apologises that while playing ‘House’, he didn’t stop her and tell her that certain things were not just her responsibility, but also that of her husband. Her husband too would have grown up playing ‘House’ acting as though he was reading the paper or watching TV, the things men are conditioned to do, he bemoans, while she acted like she made tea.

 

He goes on to apologise to her daughter who is reading the note, on behalf of her husband’s father, on his own behalf as her father, and every dad who has set the wrong example. He notes that it isn’t too late even now, and returns home to make amends to his wife. He can’t take over the kitchen, but he can do the laundry, he says, while proceeding to do just that. ‘Why is laundry just a mother’s job?’ says a super at the end.     

 

The film went live online on 19 February 2016.

 

Credits

 

Client: Ariel

Agency: BBDO India