Say goodbye to skimpily dressed, sexy women in TV ads who were there just to grab attention

Deodorants, cars and even cement, Indian advertisement industry has been showing off good looking women showing off their sex appeal in several advertisements, when the products being advertised have nothing to do with them. However, this kind of objectification of women will be stopped now, at least from one brand, which is known to display women willing to do anything to get the attention of its users.

Unilever, which is world's second biggest advertiser and owner of the Axe brand of deodorants, has announced that it will be dropping all kind of sexist stereotypes from its ads around the globe, while adopting a new outlook for its commercials.

"While older advertisements have cast women in pursuit of Axe men, a new Axe campaign - 'find your magic' - represents a world in which genuine connection beats conquest and will be launched in India too," Unilever EVP global marketing, Aline Santos told ET.

As per Santos, the new ads will be showing the "modern, relevant, genuine world of attraction - the true magic that happens between two equals".

Does this mean that customers around the globe, and in India, are finally trying to find some sense by not wanting to see women being objectified in advertising?

It was in March this year that Nando’s, a global restaurant chain, ran into trouble when it used 'shock' advertising in one of the ads that read: 'We don't mind if you touch our buns or breasts or even our thighs. Whatever you're into, enjoying any Nando's meal with your hands is always recommended.' Even the headline, which said, “Try something you can grab with both hands” was not far behind when it came to double-meaning objectification.

They had to issue a public apology almost immediately after the ad shook the world and people demanded an explanation behind this.

As per marketers, the need to throw this trend away can be cited to both one’s consciousness and the requirement of this change. "One, there is a degree of voluntary consciousness now about showing often insensitive gender stereotypes across categories. Second, there's the fear of almost immediate backlash on social media. That wasn't the case earlier," said Santosh Desai, MD of Futurebrands.

The trend of not using women in ads just for the sake of glamour has reached to a level that ad agencies are enforcing these new values even if their clients want to put these eye-grabbing tactics to use. McCann Worldgroup Asia Pacific chairman Prasoon Joshi said: "We are instilling into our teams in the early stages of training itself about what's acceptable and what's not. Any kind of insensitive stereotyping - gender-related or otherwise - isn't just acceptable."

Anuradha Aggarwal, CMO at Marico, which acquired Set Wet from Reckitt Benckiser four years ago told ET that "Set Wet in the past did have communication that was chauvinist in nature. Since our acquisition of the brand, there has been a conscious attempt to alter that positioning."

As per concerned officials, Engage, another unisex deodorant brand from the house of ITC, has consistently stood for 'equality' in a man-woman relationship. "The brand has depicted a couple's romantic relationship in a manner that's playful and equal. We have ensured that our communication does not depict women in a manner that is demeaning, objectifying or sexist," said an ITC spokesperson.

As per data, only 2% ads show women as intelligent, something which over 40% women don’t identify with, hence the change is required; because advertisement is an industry that can’t function without appealing to users around the globe.

"It is a journey that will take time to implement across all our brands and markets, and to which we are committed," Santos added.

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