Mumbai: Ariel India is committed to progressing the lives of women across the country because women are the backbone of our society. Ariel #ShareTheLoad movement started in India in 2015 to address the inequality that exists within Indian households. Launched in February 2019, Ariel India’s Sons #ShareTheLoad campaign garnered widespread national and international acclaim, from consumers, media, advertising & marketing industry as well as celebrities, for its impactful message of change. And now the award-winning campaign has made it to the most awarded work for Media excellence in the WARC list for the year 2020. WARC – World Advertising Research Centre, is an online marketing intelligence service that provides the ultimate, independent benchmark for excellence in creativity, media, and effectiveness. It is built on a rigorous methodology, developed in consultation with Douglas West, Professor of Marketing at Kings College, London.
The conversation of inequality within the household, particularly when it comes to housework and chores is one of growing social importance for women across the country and indeed the world. The Ariel #ShareTheLoad movement started in India 6 years ago, to address this household inequality that exists in our society. As the social debate continues to evolve, Ariel has continued to bring different perspectives and insights. In 2019, the 3rd edition of the movement – – Sons #ShareTheLoad raised yet another pertinent question in this direction – Are we teaching our sons what we are teaching our daughters? The film urged parents of today’s generation to raise the next generation as equals. Even within the same progressive households, there is often a difference in the way our sons and daughters are being raised. Of late, daughters are being raised to be strong, independent, and confident to excel in all fields. But they continue to be the primary caretakers of households once they get married. This places unbalanced expectations and burdens on them, which can get in the way of their professional growth. While society is changing, there is not always enough attention given to raising sons differently and teach them important life skills like laundry, cooking, etc. If not taught to #ShareTheLoad, the sons of today become partners of tomorrow, who may not be prepared enough to be equal partners. Powered by Ariel Matic’s 1-Wash superiority, the brand joined women in asking Sons to #ShareTheLoad, since anyone can get great laundry results with Ariel.
The powerful digital film created a social storm, garnering over 83 million views in partnership with Mediacom as the media partner, extensive plans ensured that the message reached the consumers through multiple touchpoints right from the strong, thought-provoking message behind auto-rickshaws, to reaching young boys on digital apps like Hello English or reaching superhero fans in PVR at the launch of Captain Marvel on Women’s Day. A unique mother-son fashion show was also organized in Chandigarh to drive home the message of teaching the sons of today basic household chores, where mothers sported clothes washed by their sons! We converted Sundays into Son-days, where for a full month every Sunday we gave tutorials to sons to learn different chores so they could do their share of work around the home!
On the momentous occasion, Sharat Verma, Chief Marketing Officer, P&G India and Vice President, Fabric Care, P&G India, shared, “We are delighted with this recognition. Over the last 6 years, Ariel #ShareTheLoad has consistently sought to address the inequality in the division of household chores. We started off by raising a pertinent question on ‘Is laundry only a woman’s job?’ back in 2015. And, over the years, we have kept the conversation alive to continue to create awareness around the issue and drive change. With Sons #ShareTheLoad, we focused on what we can do as parents. We realized that while we are now raising our daughters differently, we have not changed the way we’ve been raising our sons. We urged parents to teach our sons, what we have been teaching our daughters over decades. By doing so, we can raise a generation of equals – a society where our sons can make equal partners, not bound by the conditioning of gender roles. We have continued this journey and will continue to leverage our brand as a Force For Good and make laundry the face of the change we are trying to drive across the country. The credit for the continued impact and success of Ariel #ShareTheLoad goes to our agency partners. They have worked tirelessly, hand in hand to creatively spark conversations that have stimulated debate on gender biases and have placed this issue and the brand at the forefront of social change!”
Speaking about the win, an elated Navin Khemka, Media Com CEO South Asia said, “It’s a moment of great pride to see our work getting recognized globally. A media strategy that resonates with the brand vision and is able to consistently deliver is truly the gold standard. We are proud to be an ally in this social change with Ariel and P&G India, not just now but since the start of ShareTheLoad in 2015. I congratulate every member involved with this initiative and thank P&G for giving us this opportunity to work on such an iconic campaign. Together, we aim to address the inequality that exists in Indian households and continue to work in that direction even now!”
Ariel India’s #ShareTheLoad is not just a campaign, it is a Movement to end the stereotype of gender roles within the home which has, year on year, sparked conversations across multiple touchpoints, leading to massive participation from consumers. Ariel has continued to drive this social change since 2015, where it started by raising a very relevant question – ‘Is laundry only a woman’s job?’ to draw attention to the uneven distribution of domestic chores. With the 2016 ‘Dads Share The Load’ movement, the conversation was aimed at unearthing the reason for the disparity, which is the cycle of prejudice passed down from one generation to the next. In 2019, we started to drive action, urging parents to raise their sons like they have been raising their daughters, so that the future generation is more equal! For 2020, the focus was on the impact of men not sharing the load, with 71% of women in India sleeping less than their husbands due to household chores. Lack of sleep was almost an indicator of the inequality within households. As covid- imposed lockdowns came in, families restricted to home and limited domestic help, there was an increased pressure of domestic chores with most of this responsibility falling on women in most households. Ariel leveraged this to demonstrate the need for SharingTheLoad and how lessons learned during the crisis can help us in times of comfort.
Over years, the movement has had a significant impact over the years, with more men sharing the load than ever before. In 2014, before ShareTheLoad, 79%* men thought household chores are a women’s job. The percentage of men who believe that household chores are a woman’s job has steadily come down, reaching less than 50% for the 1st time in 2020 – at 41%. Despite all this progress, more work is still to be done. Towards this, Ariel will continue to drive the message of equality at home with #ShareTheLoad.
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