In 2015, Ariel opened a dialogue in public, through it the brand sparked conversations around the unequal division of domestic chores within households and urged more and more men to #ShareTheLoad. In the spirit of keeping this conversation going, this year in its fifth season and furthering the cause of equality within households, the brand has launched the film #SeeEqual.
The film dwells on the theme of the equality of partners while dividing home chores. BBDO is the creative agency behind the film, while Kinnect will take care of the amplification of the campaign on the digital medium.
With this film, Ariel is trying to open a conversation with a question, “If men can share the load equally with other men, why are they not doing it with their wives?” Through this, Ariel is urging men to be equal partners who have equal roles. Because when we see equal, we #ShareTheLoad.
The film is about a couple who visits their new neighbours who are bachelor men working together and dividing the chores. This makes her think about her relationship and how she is not seen as an equal when it comes to household chores, she then conveys to her husband her feeling and how she wants him to actually #sharetheload.
The film is fully reflective of the reality of today’s times. On one hand, the woman refuses to accept inequality in her marriage, and on the other, it depicts what men are capable of and how it is that they are changing. The neighbours in the film could be roommates, friends, brothers or in a relationship themselves, but irrespective of their relationship, they represent the men of today who are open to change. While there are many men who have started to do more, a lot of them even take up their full share of responsibilities within the home and #ShareTheLoad equally. This is possible only when they See Equal.
Sharat Verma
Sharat Verma - Chief Marketing Officer, P&G India, and Vice-President, Fabric Care, P&G India, said, “Honestly we want people to keep conversing about #sharetheload. For us, word of mouth is the main marketing tool. We have kept #sharetheload on our packs around the year and along with that we also keep making conversational posts over all the social media platforms so that people keep talking about it.”
During the lockdown, everyone got confined to their homes which transformed into offices, schools or playground, almost overnight. So many men took to household chores actively and proudly- be it cleaning, cooking or doing laundry. And while this trend faded as the pandemic eased out, it established that men are open to change and can take up chores when needed. Additionally, a new study by an independent third-party revealed a startling fact - 73%* men agreed that they did their share of household chores when they were staying with other men or roommates. So, if men have taken the responsibility for chores in the past, what stops them from doing this as partners?
Josy Paul
Josy Paul, Chairman and Chief Creative Officer, BBDO, said, “We’ve taken a slightly different track in the latest film for Ariel #ShareTheLoad. There is a definite shift in the tonality. This time, it’s the woman who speaks for herself. It is the woman speaking her mind and sharing her point of view. The film is fully reflective of the reality of today’s times, where the woman refuses to accept inequality in her marriage. Research confirmed this. 88% of women believe it is time to talk to men about doing their share of the household work equally. There is a sense of restlessness, an impatience in the women today at the pace of change. So, this film is also a means to encourage conversations so as to truly move us towards an equal tomorrow.”
The fifth edition of #ShareTheLoad was launched at an event in the presence of Genelia and Ritesh Deshmukh – actors, producers, entrepreneurs, environmentalists, Nandita from Akshara Centre - an NGO whose vision is to establish a gender just and violence-free society, P&G’s Verma and BBDo’s Paul. The event panel was moderated by Shibani Dandekar.
Ariel has continued to drive this social change since 2015, when it started by raising a 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, they urged 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 were 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.
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