In time for Mother's Day (13 May), Hungry & Foolish Inc has announced the launch of a 'No Mom No You Foundation'. The agency is also urging Facebook users to add their mother's names to their profile names on the social network today, as a tribute to them.
Asked what motivated him to create the campaign, especially since these "special" days see a lot of brand activity, Anto Noval, creative head and president, Hungry & Foolish Inc, said, "Well, to be honest, I was up pretty late like most other nights and I happened to see all the posts about Mother’s Day being around the corner. I had this urge to create some kind of a tribute for my mother, who I lost very early in life. Something thought provoking yet simple. Something in the online space where everyone could participate in."
On the idea and its execution, he said, "I read and saw so many posts on Facebook showing respect to their mothers. That’s when I stumbled upon the thought that respect is pride and pride is always about my surname or my family name. That in India is pretty much a patriarchal society, therefore it’s always your father’s name or his family name. We take a lot of pride in our surname or our father’s name. So if we do respect our mothers so much, and have pride in them, what better tribute than adding her name to yours? And that’s easily possible on Facebook or any other social network."
He added, "No Mom No You is already registered as a foundation, with absolutely no commercial interest, whatsoever. You will be seeing a series of activities that address larger issues like female foeticide and uplifting the attitude of a patriarchal society towards women." The agency will be pushing the idea for the next three weeks, post which supporters will be organised into groups and activities.
On whether he would involve brands with the campaign, Noval said, "Several brands wanted to participate in this initiative. But we strongly felt that we should keep this purely non-commercial, non-corporate, non-brand-endorsed to just plain human expression and humane interest."
Credits
Agency: Hungry & Foolish Inc
Creative head and president: Anto Usha Noval
Production: Rolling Dice Studios
Producer: Aditya Vijayalakshmi Shetty
Team: Sahil Honey Israni, Gautam Rajrani Singh, Nakul Nandini Kamath