Havells reminder to respect women: She isn't a kitchen appliance!
New campaign created by Lowe Lintas talks to the primary user - women - in a series of five tongue-in-cheek TVCs
Sohini Sen | Mumbai | May 6, 2014
Women's rights have touched a lot of things, and now it is slowly making its way into conversation in advertising as well. Havells has launched its latest campaign under the theme 'Respect Women'. Created by Lowe Lintas, the new campaign consists of six TVCs – five in Hindi and one in Tamil.
Using tongue in cheek humour, the campaign points to the reality that despite achieving a lot, women have not been able to get the desired respect. The campaign shows women as more than just homemakers or cooks, and capable of much more. It signs off as 'Havells Appliances. Respect Women.'
Shriram Iyer, Executive Creative Director, Lowe Lintas and Partners, said, “It's almost taken for granted that the woman in the house will do the job of a home appliance. So, we thought of doing a tongue-in-cheek campaign to show that there are appliances to do that job. The campaign almost pokes fun at the society which expects women to do work which can be done by anyone using a home appliance.”
The coffee maker TVC opens in a girl's house where a boy's family has come to see her for marriage alliance. The boy's mother tells the host that her son lives in the USA and it's such a difficult life there. She feels that he should get settled, after all, for how long can he keep going to a cafe for a simple cup of coffee? At this, the girl smiles and excuses herself. She comes back with a Havells coffee maker and retorts that he should settle down with the coffee machine. Since she isn't a kitchen appliance!
The second TVC revolves around a married, South Indian couple. The wife serves the man fresh idlis and chatni. The husband is very happy but mentions that oh, if it was home and his mother was there, there would have been at least three different kinds of chatnis. At this his wife gets the Havells mixer grinder and tells him he can make the three chatnis with it. Since she is his patni, and not chatni-maker.
The same tune rings out in the air frier TVC. A husband is seen peeking at his neighbour who is doing yoga on her terrace. When his wife catches him, he excuses himself by saying she must be cooking healthy food. His wife storms out and comes back with an air frier which also makes healthy food. She taunts him by saying that you should marry the air frier, then “you can freely watch your neighbour”.
The TVC on iron shows a top manager getting ready for his meeting. But he notices that his shirt isn't ironed. He asks his wife nicely to iron it out for him. She gets the iron and tells him to do it himself indirectly by saying that his employees won't like it if their boss can't even iron his own shirt. She then points out the difference between a stree and an istree (woman and iron).
Another one opens with two friends who are back from a gruelling tennis session and want to try some fresh juice. The host of the house orders his wife to make a fresh carrot juice without thinking that she might be tired or busy too. So she comes and hands him the carrot along with the juicer, and reminds him that she isn't a kitchen appliance.
Vijay Narayanan, VP Marketing, Havells India, said, “In the small appliances segment people don't really want to see the features in full ads, not even just its USPs. So we decided to talk to the people who use it the most – the women. The communication also gelled with our own brand philosophy. This is our IPL special campaign and once the IPL is over, we will take a break and come back with fresh campaigns.”
The TVCs:
Credits:
Creative Agency: Lowe Lintas
Creative: R Balki, Amer Jaleel, Shriram Iyer
Business: Syed Amjad Ali, Sonia Upadhyaya, Arjun Budhiraja
Planning: Naresh Krishnaswamy
Producer: Offroad Films
Director (film): Gauri Shinde