Is 'sindoor' the only way to protect life? Rethink ICICI !!
By Shreejita
Source: screenshots from ad video (https://youtu.be/bKL8sneYzMI)
Like widely broadcasted ‘Saatphere’ (circumambulations) ad by ICICI Prudential, another ‘Hindu’ marriage ritual connected deeply with patriarchal sentiment, was used to drive consumers’ mind to buy insurance plans. The ‘Saatphere’ ad and this ‘Sindoor’ ad (https://youtu.be/bKL8sneYzMI) share the same ground for marketing mass emotion eventually ignoring equality and inclusivity.
Consequently, in this ad we can see married couples protecting lives of their loved ones from all sorts of harms by only putting ‘Sindoor’(vermilion) on womxn’s forehead in their bad times (as shown in ad: a couple lost themselves in the crowd and then found) or in different stages of life (as shown in ad: a wife was going to give birth a child or in old age) or while celebrating their achievements (as shown in ad: buying a new car).
Honestly at very first glance I thought this is an ad for any random sindoor manufacturing company until I heard the voice saying in the background --“ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, suraksha zindegi ke har kadam par”. Then I realized, ooohhh! They used that equation of analogy for their ‘creative’ ad i.e.,
Sindoor = Life protection.
Life protection = Life insurance
That is how ‘sindoor’ is also related to life insurance. It’s so deep, right!!!
Out of curiosity, I googled in order to know about the significances of ‘sindoor’ and found that in Hindu tradition and culture, auspicious ‘sindoor’ symbolizes the idea of ‘protection’ but it symbolizes protection of ‘men’ particularly by their wives. It’s the sign of ‘womxn power’ in order to protect her husband’s fortune and a sign of devotion of a wife for her husband, but nothing more than that. Putting ‘sindoor’ is like any other regressive ritual of Hindu culture which continuously remind ourselves how gender biased our society was and still it is. Beside that major significance there are plenty which justifies the praxis of applying ‘sindoor’ on several websites but none of them can justify the concept of gender equality.
It seemed to me that the idea of choosing sindoor as central prop for a life insurance ad, was evolved from that major significance of ‘sindoor’. As men and womxn are not considered as equal in our society so the way of protecting each other should be accomplished by different methods, isn’t it? Wives’ sindoor has a very spooky, mysterious, supernatural, belief oriented power to protect their life partners from all harms like avengers’ superpowers that no one can describe ‘how’ and ‘why’. But men have a very realistic way of protecting their family that is ‘life insurance’ which can be explained scientifically, statistically and mathematically. Although superpowers are deemed as the future, what about if womxn prefer realistic methods more to protect their loved ones?!
It’s very simple to understand that if womxn can earn on their own, they can also protect their family financially unlike by only putting ‘sindoor’ and they have been doing the same for years. Now, commercials need to acknowledge womxn those who are buying life insurance plans, securing pension plans for their loved ones and to encourage womxn those who are dreaming to secure her dream and lives of their loved ones in future. Even when this ad was actually created and telecasted, then also I knew many married womxn personally who used to share financial responsibilities with their husbands. So it was not that difficult to portray womxn also as protectors in their ads at that time too. The fact that ‘womxn also can be financially active’ is no exception anymore, this has to be made part of the main stream ad and should be normalized. ICICI Prudential Life insurance should reflect upon their commercials as soon as possible whether these are catalysing social change or dragging it behind. On second thought, ‘is such an ad religiously inclusive?’‘Saatphere’ / ‘Sindoor’-- choosing as the central topic for making mainstream insurance ads do not make it relatable or appealing for customers of varied religious belief as we live in ‘secular nation’. We rarely see representation of minorities (gender and religion) is something that insurance ad makers don’t take into account while creating something for the mass communication.
Insurance companies can decide what plan or policies to sell, but can’t decide whom to sell. Thereby, targeting a particular group of customers through their commercials as per their choice for the sake of business. Hence, this is discriminatory, that needs to be stopped. Otherwise, these voices will be echoed time and again until the change happens.
By Shreejita
