Social Awareness Through Advertisements

There are many of us, who, while watching television do not enjoy watching advertisements and usually tend to skip it, but we don’t realise the importance of certain advertisements that carry a social awareness message. Advertisements are usually a great platform for sending out a short, crisp social messages, but these ads usually get lost in between all the unnecessary, promotional advertisements.

A few Indian advertisements with an incredibly strong social message are :

• Vogue India : Start with the Boys

Most of us throughout our childhood and adulthood have heard the phrase that boys don’t cry. The social message that is being conveyed through this advertisement is the way men treat the women in our society, girls and women are yet treated as the weaklings and the men are the dominating factors. It conveys the way these boys are brought up and the need for taking effective action to reduce the crimes against women by changing the way the boys are brought up.

• KBC’s Kohima Ad :

This ad campaign is for one of the most popular Indian game show - Kaun Banega Crorepati. The social issue that is focused in this ad campaign is the racial discrimination against the northern states of India. In the ad, a north eastern girl is asked which country does the city Kohima lie in. the girl opts for audience poll in which 100% population opts for India as the right option, but towards the end the girl wins everyone’s heart by asking an emotional question that how many people actually consider the people from Kohima as Indians. This statement puts light on the racial discrimination that is faced by a lot of people from the north eastern states.

• Fastrack - The Closet

This advertisement puts an entirely new light on their tagline - “Move On”. This ad focuses on the queer rights. The aim of the ad is to ask the audience to move on from the old, stereotypical ideas to form a modern society in the actual sense. In the ad, two girls come out of the closet suggesting the things that might have happened in the closet, the metaphorical use of the closet is also fantastic. The ad is short but carries a very powerful message for the audience.

• Havells Fan - Hawa Badlegi

This ad is about the stereotypes and boundaries that are set by the society and how it is overcome by the people. In the first ad, a newly wed couple enters the registrar's office in which the husband breaks the stereotype and promotes a society for equality, takes up his wife’s last name. In the second ad, a Hindu-Muslim couple delivers a baby girl and the father explains that the girl can take up any religion she wants to once she grows up which taps the acceptance of all religions. In the third ad, a servant is asked to dine with the family which breaks all the stereotypes about class.

This ad speaks volumes about the boundaries that have been crossed. It also depicts that it is time to move on from the old stereotypical and orthodox beliefs and it is time to treat everyone equally.

These are only a few ads which leave a mark on the audience, there are a lot more other ads which get lost in between the unnecessary one’s. Our society, that is yet very orthodox needs more ads like these to make the people aware about the racial discrimination, women empowerment, queer rights, etc.

We as an audience need to understand that not all ads are a waste of time - some advertisements have a very strong message that is being delivered. The above advertisements were successful in questioning the orthodox society that we are living in and how it is high time we all stand up against the stereotypical, orthodox views of our society and take a stand for every individual that is being suppressed by them.