India is a patriarchal society. Over generations, deep-rooted cultural norms have made housework the sole responsibility of women. In 2015, Ariel, a leading detergent brand – made gender equality at home its mission. Over 7 years, #ShareTheLoad created a gradual shift as it sparked conversations that nudged men towards taking up housework. But In 2021, a World Economic Forum report revealed a shocking truth, at the current pace of change, gender parity is 135 years away. Which means no woman alive will experience gender parity.

This startling reality shaped Ariel’s next brief:

1.How do we radically accelerate the pace of change on the issue of gender inequality at home?

2.Moreover, how do we affect a more immediate mindset shift in men to free women from being solely responsible for housework?

Our objectives were clear – we needed to trigger a conversation of a scale that would beat our past successes.

Men don’t see women as equals.

Urban Indian men have shared housework equally in the past, but only with other men or roommates they live with. With their wives, they don’t because of learnt cultural biases. (Ariel’s third-party survey)

Brands & their content perpetuate gender stereotypes.

To sell their products, almost all detergent & food commercials in India depict women as the caretaker for her family. Men are almost never shown. (Gender Bias & Inclusion in Advertising in India – UNICEF, 2021)

In India women are conditioned to never challenge their husbands.

Traditionally, the husband is called ‘Pati-Parmeshwar’ (husband-almighty). Even today, 87% of Indians believe a wife must obey her husband (Pew Study, 2022). Challenging him is a distant dream.

In this context, to accelerate the pace of change and drive a sharper mindset shift, Ariel’s ‘See Equal #ShareTheLoad’ is significant for 3 reasons:

1.It takes a defiant stance and a new tone for the country – a significant departure from previous #ShareTheLoad campaigns

2.It challenges the mindset of men and inspires women to break their silence and speak out.

3.Invites collaboration with other brands and content creators and asks them to join Ariel in creating a more equal tomorrow.

To accelerate the pace of change and drive an immediate mindset shift, ‘See Equal #ShareTheLoad’ – a provocative social movement by Ariel for the first time took on a defiant tone.

It challenged men and their mindset through a radical question – “why do men share the load with other men, but not with their wives? Is it because they never saw them as equal?” And in doing so inspired women to break their silence and speak up.

Only when you See Equal, you Share The Load.

Not just that, it called out to brands and content creators publicly in an appeal to join Ariel in creating an equal tomorrow. And then it went a step further and turned its packs into a silent protest.

Our target audience were urban households across India.

Via secondary research, ethnographic studies, social listening, lived experiences and third party surveys, we uncovered the following unsettling truths:

1.When it comes to housework, Indian men don’t see their wives as equals.

2.Advertisers, content creators and media partners perpetuate gender stereotypes.

3.In India women are conditioned to never challenge their husband openly.

4.At the current pace of change, gender parity will take 135 years.

In the face of these truths, to accelerate the pace of change and drive an immediate mindset, we had a multi-pronged approach aimed at igniting conversations and correcting imagery:

A. Grab attention and maximise engagement of influencers, media and consumers

• Trigger national conversation – online and inside homes – with men about their bias and inaction towards sharing housework equally.

• Influence content creators & marketeers.

B. Convert the attention to trial and sales of Ariel

We kickstarted the movement on 11th February 2022 by taking a defiant stand with our film. For the first time in Indian advertising, the woman confronts her husband and calls out his double standards. The wife asks why men can share the load with other men but not with their wives. Is it because they never saw them as equals? This was a new tone for the country.

Next, through the front page of leading Indian dallies, Ariel made a public appeal to content creators & marketeers to join the brand in showing and creating a more equal tomorrow.

And then Ariel turned its packs into a silent voice of dissent by replacing the brand name with the most common Indian male names.

All this triggered a national conversation, as influencers and media stepped forward to take our message into homes across the country.

‘See Equal #ShareTheLoad’ broke all expectations and records.

It grabbed the attention of and engaged consumers, influencers and the media:

• With over 2300 clips, across 1900 across leading local and international news outlets, this became the widest PR coverage to-date

• The movement film received over 115 million views, and counting, across platforms.

• It generated over USD 35 Million in “earned media coverage”- – that’s highest for the category in India, and 3X of Ariel’s annual budget.

• 4 billion earned impressions, and counting

The movement drove preference for Ariel

• Brand awareness jumped 142%.

• Emotional Equities were up 43%

• Brand preference were up 27%

• Sales grew 29%

But most importantly, the movement drove an immediate mindset shift in men:

In 2015, 79% men believed that laundry is a woman’s job. This dropped to 41% by 2020.

Today, it stands at 26%.