Video: Youtube
Chak De India director Shimit Amin's phone has been buzzing off the hook and with good reason. Two of his ad films with BBDO India have won prestigious honours at the highly acclaimed Cannes Lions International Festival of creativity 2015. Touch the Pickle, a bold, eye-opening campaign for Whisper about shunning the taboo associated with menstruation in India, has bagged the Grand Prix, in the Glass Lions – a new category for Gender Equality at the festival.
Additionally, Share the Load for Airel, also directed by Amin, featuring two senior women talking about their independent daughter-in-law over tea, has also bagged a Glass Lion for its entry to the festival. Vogue chats with Amin about the award and his experience with campaigns that advocate and highlight women's rights.
Two Cannes awards within three years of directing ad films is a feat. Do you wish you were there with the team to receive the Grand Prix?
Of course I do. I've never been to the festival and this is a big deal, especially for an Indian ad film campaign. The Gender Equality category is a first of its kind category which has been introduced this year and we are the first to win the grand prize within it. What's interesting is that we made this ad for India because it talks about Indian stereotypes. So it's a pleasant surprise that it has resonated with people who are not from our country and may not realise the taboo associated with periods in India. Also, we had strong competition from headliner campaigns like Like a Girl by Leo Burnett (among the most talked about TVCs in the genre), and it was a pleasant surprise that we trumped such strong campaigns and emerged winners.
Most sanitary napkin ads in India look and sound the same. Was it easy to break that pattern?
That was the point. If you look at the history of pad advertising in India, it's all been very silly and mindless. This was a campaign which stepped away from that. In fact we used the clichés and poked fun at them. The idea allowed a little bit of freedom, which is why it looks honest too.
The Touch the Pickle campaign goes beyond the product and addresses a mindset. How challenging was it?
The idea was that the older generation remembering that periods were something that was taboo. Many urban women today are able to go through normal life during their periods, but it wasn't always this simple for their grandmothers and even mothers' generations. We wanted to underline that and the challenge was to not make it preachy. It had to be a positive, upbeat campaign, unlike many sanitary napkin ads which usually begin by showing the girl being down and depressed. Here the young girl does everything that she's warned against during periods like wearing white, touching the pickle, playing an outdoor sport. What worked for the campaign was that we addressed an honest issue in a happy and tongue-n-cheek manner.
Today we see many ad films highlighting gender equality among other issues. Is that a positive sign?
Honestly I think it's becoming more of a fad and anything that is a fad ends very soon. There shouldn't be the need to constantly address the issue of equality, because it should be something that naturally exists. The Ariel campaign asks a simple question- Why are men not doing laundry in this country? Sometimes it angers me to even ask this question, but at least in the ad space where usually things are so clichéd, I'm glad I've got the opportunity to rock the MNC boat a little.
Do you think campaigns like these make a difference, or are they award-specific many times?
Yes, there are agencies that create campaigns only for awards, but I don't subscribe to that. I'm new to the advertising space and for me it's a great way to understand different demographics. Ads have tremendous reach. I can put across an idea within 45 seconds and if it's a strong film it will make people think. That cannot be done with a full-length feature. It's an important medium to explore ideas without being too heavy handed. Plus when brands are involved there are many clichés one is expected to resort to anyway. Making a point despite that is what one hopes to achieve.
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