Urban Clap stands up for LGBT community, says everyone has a right to love

Conceptualised by a Delhi-based start-up agency, Ufaan, UrbanClap is promoting the cause that the right to love is equally important for everyone, including the third gender and the LGBT community

Archit Ambekar & Raushni Bhagia | Mumbai | June 7, 2016

Click on the image to watch the TVC.

For a long time in India, talking openly about 'love' was a taboo and then it was replaced by talk about 'sex'. The advertising and communications industry has always tried to tackle such uncomfortable issues by giving them an artistic angle. Lately, there has been quite a bit of focus on issues involving sex couples and transgenders.

Time and again, advertising and brand communications have focused on issues that are socially relevant and are deemed 'bold' to talk about. Be it the seat belt activation in 2014 by Channel V involving transgenders saying, “If you wear your seatbelts, we will bless you,” or the latest ones featuring transgenders as beautiful beings in the Red Lotus saree ads. The special Six Pack Band launched by HUL's Brooke Bond Red Label and Yash Raj Films is another step towards making a point about the need of acceptability of the third gender.

On the similar lines, the next most controversial topic that is screaming for legal stamping and social acceptability is same-sex love and marriages. The efforts of the advertising industry have been commendable in the last few months, including the two major ones, Mynta's brand Anouk and the latest one by the mobile services marketplace UrbanClap.

The brands have refrained from pushing the brand name of the product/services in their respective ad films; however, both talk about lesbian love.

The recent one by UrbanClap has tried to reinstate how the right to love is equally important for everyone, irrespective of their sexual preferences. Conceptualised by a Delhi-based start-up agency, Ufaan, UrbanClap is promoting it as an 'awareness activity supporting the cause'.

While the campaign has a sense of sensitivity and emotion to it, the creative minds think there could have been a much better ideation and execution.

With this campaign, UrbanClap supports the right to love anyone you choose. The film titled 'Show your Love with Pride' portrays a father's struggle to accept his daughter's relationship with another woman. With her supportive mother, the daughter proves to her father that her love is genuine, via a photoshoot organised by UrbanClap.

Raj Jain, Co-founder, Ufaan, said, “We make short films around social awareness. We have worked on child abuse, menstruating women entering temples and even on pollution. Along with UrbanClap, we shared this ideology and came together to get people talking about LGBT relationships. It's wonderful to see a big growing youth brand like UC to take a much-needed stand on this.”

Abhiraj Bhal

Abhiraj Bhal, Co-founder, UrbanClap, said, “We believe that everyone should have the right to love whoever they want to as it's the most basic human right. We firmly stand with the LGBT community in India as they fight for their equal rights in the eyes of law or society. Our past efforts with the NAZ foundation, and this film, are very small gestures towards furthering the cause of the LGBT community.”

Prior to this, the company had launched a film on Mother's Day which spoke about the mother-daughter relationship and how UrbanClap helps a daughter to give tribute to her mother's hard work of all these years.

To further the impact of this campaign, UrbanClap is offering to sponsor five photoshoots across the country for any same-sex couple who wishes to opt for this service. They can easily reach out to the team at UrbanClap through its Facebook or Twitter channels. UrbanClap promises to maintain all confidentiality if that is what the participants wish for.

Suhail Vadgaokar, VP, Customer Experience, Brand and PR, UrbanClap, explained that the thought for this campaign started when they were working with an NGO Naz. “After doing various initiatives with them, the idea of taking it further was born. The campaign process started in March. The idea was to support the cause."

The 2.44-minute film has not really shown the brand or the services that it offers. “It is sometimes important for the brand to speak to the consumers without really hard-selling the product/services. This campaign will purely be digital and is trying to reach out to popular figures in the space to raise awareness about it.”

Peer review

While the advertisement does touch a sensitive chord and bring a human touch, the advertising fraternity has questioned the execution and mentioned repetition of a recent concept. Considering that Myntra's brand Anouk had launched the TVC merely a year ago, is it too soon to touch the topic?

Ashish Khazanchi

Ashish Khazanchi, founder, Enormous, wasn't very impressed. He said, “Completely amateurish. Admirable on the client's part to support the issue but hamhandedly done I think.”

Ninad Umargekar

Ninad Umargekar, Strategy Head, Famous Innovations, said, “Putting a sensational story first and then retrofitting your brand is not how advertising works. What are they advertising? Lesbianism or photography services? If the objective was just to get people to like the story, the least they could've done was to be fresh about it. Anouk had already explored this theme a few months ago.”

Hemant Shringy, ECD, BBDO India, said, "It's a step in the right direction. What's nice about the story is the reality that even as 'progressive millennials', more than anyone in the world, we seek validation and support from our parents. And it educates and encourages parents to stand by the life choices their children make. I wish it could have been executed better and hope that viewers don't struggle to find the brand connect."

The TVC:

https://img-cdn.thepublive.com/filters:format(webp)/

Credits:

Client: UrbanClap

Creative Agency: Ufaan

Director: Surya Singh

Asst. Director: Nitish Shekhar

Director(s) of Cinematography: Arjun Kukreti, Ricky Kukreja

Photographer: Adarsh Chaubey

Lights: Rajesh

Production Coordinator: Siddharth Yadav

Asst. Production Coordinator: Jaideep Duhan

Editor: Surya Singh

Music Composer: Sagar Sharma

Makeup: Sultan

https://youtu.be/ZAHhKOaGSsk

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