Is she a womxn or a prop?

By Amit

Source: screenshots from https://youtu.be/V5q2Pq80DSU ad.

“Like Father, Like Son!" they say.

And here in this
https://youtu.be/V5q2Pq80DSU ad too, we see a father-son duo. Here the Father’s (role by Mr. Abhay Deol, Hindi language movie artist) action of dressing up for an office presentation inspires the child to do the same. The child trusts that what his father does is right. He gets inspired by him even for simple things like dressing up for work from home during this pandemic caused by CoVid 19.” That is exactly what the commercial creators explained.

It sounds good! right? and normal as well, isn’t it?

But here we missed something.. There was a prop in the scene as well. It was a womxn, the mother of the child and wife of the protagonist. I use the word prop because that was what the advertisement reduced her too. Her presence doesn’t add value to the commercial in any way.

But that isn’t it. The gender roles we see here are stereotypical. The man of the house doing the office work and the woman is busy somewhere in the background with household chores. The child looks up to the father, imbibes his action and replicates. One might not notice it, considering it as one off thing. But the fact of the matter is, pretty much all insurance commercials have been portraying womxn as someone who is dependent on some man in her life for all her success or security.

Advertisements by the life insurance companies specially have been using this method as well versed formulae. Womxn have constantly been denied any value or significance compared to the other predominant gender. Reducing womxn to the stereotypical roles of doing the household work is a regular trend which goes unchanged in this particular advertisement too.

Commercial ads are considered to be a work of art. As Plato said, “Art is powerful, and therefore dangerous.” They have a huge impact on our psychology and behavior pattern. They are capable of affecting our mood, behavior, habits, choices and socially assumed presumptions.

Womxn constitute 36% of the insurance buyers market as per Insurance Regulatory Development Authority India report 2019. But if we look at commercials by the insurance companies that support this data we will hardly find one. This kind of bias and neglect of one half of the population in spite of being a considerable customer base is shocking.

Some people claim one commercial might not make any difference. But the fact is we can pick any insurance ads to visualize the similar story. Using women as a prop shows the narrow mindset of the society we live in. Commercials make us feel that we aren’t thinking broad enough. Showing womxn as someone who is not significant in playing an inspirational role model or someone who can take care of the family’s financial security is factually incorrect and needs to be changed.

We should ask for Equal representation of womxn in an equity way.

These commercials have the power to change our society in a positive way. Upholding gender sensitiveness in commercials can create a pathway towards an equilibrium in the society.

Women aren’t just a dominant support workforce but they have proved to be great managers and leaders in all the fields. Taking care of the family as a homemaker has been their role for ever but they proved to be much more than that. They are taking care of themselves and their families financially. Now we need to see them through our commercials as well.

Commercials have the power to change perceptions, stop gender biases and reduce gender based social norms. They need to utilize this boon for mass communication, and it’s high time now.

By Amit