The new Reebok ad series starring Kangana Ranaut are breaking stereotypes and creating ripples. So far, the company has released two videos with #GirlsD̶o̶n̶t̶Fight and we hope they would be releasing a few more.
The theme for the first ad is Equal Pay.
This video reminds us of Alicia Keys “Girl on Fire” and we are loving it. By putting this ad in an Indian setting, Reebok is one of the first companies to openly acknowledge the gender-pay gap in India. The ad is not a miracle story, it is not a story of steely determination to better oneself. It is literally asking women to stand up and demand better treatment from others. The ad is asking women to acknowledge their own value and fight for it, thereby breaking the myth that #girlsdontfight.
The theme for the second ad is street harassment.
This video is powerful in its subtlety. The ad shows a woman walking back home and being harassed by men on the way. It shows the woman’s frustration at not being able to do anything to protect herself despite being a boxer. However, it isn’t asking women to do something drastic, it doesn’t show the girl walk around with a hockey stick or find her tribe of women to fight with her. It is very subtly asking women to recognize their own strengths and not shy away from bullies. The boxer won, without raising a hand, simply by staring down at her tormentors.
What is beautiful about these ads is that in less than 90 seconds, they are able to capture the everyday internal and external struggles of a woman’s life. The creative heads of this ad series should be proud of themselves for understanding and capturing the undercurrents of the entire struggle of fighting back.
Reebok furthers its campaign by asking women to narrate their stories of struggles and victories and write back to them with #fittofight #bemorehuman. We are hoping the campaign breaks the internet with inspiring stories.
Isn’t the situation dangerous? An unarmed girl against a group of men? Yes, girls should be taught self-defence and how to deal with such situations, but the case in point looks foolhardy.