23. Shaving Stereotypes

Gillette is owned by P&G –  a company that sells personal care products. Recently they created a campaign where they brought a story from rural India to shave gender stereotypes. This campaign was made by an agency called Grey India. In an extension to the global campaign “The Best A Man Can Be” Gillette India’s campaign is based on a true story of two barbershop girls Jyoti Narayan and Neha Narayan who have challenged gender stereotypes by running their father’s barbershop, basically adopting a profession associated with men from the village of Banwari Tola in Uttar Pradesh. The campaign is shown from an eight-year-old boy’s point of view through his inner thoughts about everything that happens around him, as he notices that women are restricted to household work only. A curious boy who starts comparing everything to his father’s wise words, “children always learn from what they see”. Until he walks into a barbershop with his father, where he is surprised to see two girls instead of a man ready to shave his father. While the boy is muddled at the sight, his father explains that a razor doesn’t know the difference between a boy and a girl. The video ends with the boy smiling and realizing that jobs do not have sex. This campaign has an inspiring message, Gillette shows that it supports gender equality because the boys of today are the men of tomorrow. Gillette as a progressive man’s brand believes in topics that are going to inspire the future generation of men. And with this campaign and a powerful message like #ShavingStereotypes, Gillette concluded that we need inspiring role models so that they grow up to be better men. The campaign has received over 16 million views in four months. These campaigns reveal how each brand portrays its message in their unique manner and to what extent they can use their creativity.