Advertising and Bollywood, both have picked up on the new Indian woman; a woman who is stepping forward outside the bounds of her home; a woman walking shoulder to shoulder with men; a woman boldly achieving her goals and dreams.

But while this may be so, they also reflect the cultural and social norms at homes across the country that make it the duty of every woman, working or non-working, to take care of household chores. This stereotypical representation of women in advertising and Bollywood films reflects the gender inequality embedded culturally in each and every Indian home.

Here is where Ariel’s campaign Dads #ShareTheLoad is significant for 2 reasons:

1. It challenges the notion that household work, today, when women are increasingly contributing equally to household incomes, is only a woman’s job.

2. It makes dads the centre of change to end gender inequality at home by shining a mirror at their actions that propagate gender inequality down generations.

The movement was led by a poignant film about a dad's self-realization and conversion, and about setting the right example by helping with laundry.

As the video went viral, Ariel launched the Share the Load pack with a unique calendar that divided the laundry task between men and women equally – odd days for him, even days for her. To take the odd-even message to every Indian household, Ariel tied-up with Kalnirnay – a calendar found in almost every Indian home, a calendar that most Indians follow religiously to keep track of the good and bad days.

Another strong influencer that joined Ariel in creating positive change was Tinkle –the most popular comic book amongst Indian children. Tinkle is now committed to incorporate the share the load message in their stories with kids’ favorite characters sharing the responsibility of household chores, thus making gender equality a part of popular culture.

Dads #ShareTheLoad created a movement that resulted in:

• 50 million views and counting

• 2 Billion Impressions

• So far over 2.1 million men pledged to ShareThe Load

• Earned media: $11 million and counting

• Sales up by 76%

• Engagement went up 4.6 times (the highest ever)

For 2016, the client brief was how can Ariel create deeper social change around the issue of gender inequality at home – where its product’s ability to wash away stain in one wash, so that both men and women can do the laundry, plays an essential role.

We knew gender inequality at home was a relevant issue. Digging deeper, we realized the root cause for this was the passing down of this prejudice from one generation to the next: Children learning the behavior by watching their dads and growing up to imitate what they’ve seen. Research showed that 71% of children ask their mothers to do the laundry.

This led us to ‘Dads #ShareTheLoad’– a movement for deeper social change that spoke to dads by shining a mirror on their actions and showing that they have the power to end the cycle of gender inequality by sharing the load.

In 2015, Ariel launched #ShareTheLoad a provocative social movement that focused not on clothes stains, but on the cultural stain of gender inequality at home by raising an important question ‘Is laundry only a woman’s job?’ This brought the issue of gender inequality out of the four walls of the home to make it a national conversation.

For 2016, the client brief was to go deeper: how can Ariel create deeper social change – where the product and the brand plays an essential role and as a result drives a deeper relevance for the brand.

We knew 70% of Indian men believe household chores are a woman’s job. Digging deeper, we realized the root cause for this was the passing down of this prejudice from one generation to the next: children learning the behavior by watching their dads and growing up to imitate what they’ve seen at home.

This led to Dads #ShareTheLoad – an evolution of Ariel’s #ShareTheLoad movement for deeper social change that spoke to dads by shining a mirror at their actions and showing them that they have the power to end the cycle of gender inequality in the home by sharing the load.