P&G Vicks’ ‘Touch of Care’ ad is groundbreaking in its portrayal of a transgender mother – but is it anything more than just empty rhetoric?
Backing a progressive cause for an oppressed minority is all very well, but will P&G put their money where their mouth is, asks Mumbrella Asia editor Eleanor Dickinson
The transgender community has been fighting for inclusion and dignity in advertising and the media for years now. It’s just yet one of an entire spectrum of struggles against prejudice, ignorance and oppression the community faces on a daily basis all over over the world.
Whether it’s near complete exclusion in the mainstream ads or a grotesque parody like this uncharacteristically un-PC effort from IKEA Thailand a few years back, it’s a conversation that needs to be on the table both within the media and between brands and their agencies.
So when I saw Procter & Gamble brand Vicks’ new ‘Touch of Care’ ad by Publicis Singapore about a transgender mother in India and her adopted daughter, I couldn’t help but feel moved at first. The ad’s portrayal of their relationship is touching; it’s one that shows motherhood is both a possibility and indeed ‘normal’ for a transgender woman.
The campaign avoids any questions relating to the mother’s pre-transition status (apart from the tragic glimpse into her past exclusion from her own family), her biology and anything remotely male in reference to her – points that all-too-often find their way into the media and everyday transgender discourse.
Moreover, the motherhood role – while perhaps a cliché – is an effective tool to convince an audience that this character is deserving of respect, irrespective of her gender identity. It’s an award-worthy effort and no doubt we will see much more of it at awards shows.
But speaking of awards shows, I couldn’t help but think of this video that circulated two years ago when I watched P&G’s ad about how cause-related marketing campaigns seemingly only make a tangible impact on the communities they serve for three months a year.
Funnily enough, that video also focused on India. To get more of a sense of the situation, I contacted Kalki Subramaniam, who is the founder of Tamil Nadu-based transgender support charity the Sahodari Foundation Centre, in India. Her words were full of insightl. She said: “[The ad] is touching and somewhat dramatic, but it conveys a good message that the public must see; that transgender women can also be mothers and good mothers, and that our rights to motherhood should be respected. Yes, that is fine.
“But I would like to know how many people from the transgender community has P&G employed in its companies across India? How many times it has it come forward to fund transgender empowerment projects? To promote your product, using a transgender person’s story wisely is all fine, but let’s be practical. P&G needs to tell us so far how many transgender people’s lives it had made a change in, made a difference, if it really ‘cares.’?” The company has been contacted for a response to these questions.
Whether or not P&G will follow through on this campaign with any serious transgender activism in India is debatable. Progressive programmes in place to boost opportunities for the community likewise remain an uncertainty. But for this campaign to be truly effective, then the rhetoric will need to be matched by reality with real-world results.
To give the company its dues, it has clearly has stepped up its game with regards to LBGT rights over recent years. In 2014, P&G publically backed same-sex marriage in the United States and it’s campaign last year for American brand Secret Deodorant made a subtle but sly dig at a North Carolina law designed to restrict transgender access to restrooms in public buildings.
Sadly, the company was quick to back away from any suggestion that the campaign was created to be supportive of a “political statement”, which makes me question the extent P&G will practise what it preaches in India.
Unfortunately for now, the cynic in me cannot see past a row of glittering awards gongs. Let’s hope P&G will indeed put its money where its mouth is for India’s transgender community. And even better, let’s see if they can do something that lasts for more than three months.
I think that one of the world’s biggest companies committing to make and air this commercial on one of its biggest brands and biggest markets is pretty much a major commitment.
This isn’t a “show it at midnight in Cambodia and slip it into Cannes” effort. It’s big, it’s public and it’s as wholehearted as it is big hearted.
The fact that you saw this and saw a quest for gongs rather than a committed client and an agency with exquisite touch and taste is wholly on you.
There are plenty of creative departments working overtime on “initiative work” at the moment, why tarnish a gloriously optimistic film without sad, cynical view of the world.
Reply“…an agency with exquisite touch and taste….”
Methinks doth protest too much…and surely sounds like you’re from the agency, dude 🙂
Nonetheless, I agree with you. Advertising has the power to influence popular thinking and even cultures…and that is probably what P&G set out to do here…to remove some of the stigma from transgenders and have people see them in a different light…for that alone, I applaud the ad.
When you think about it, Share the Load attempted to do the same…to try and shine the light on the perception that household chores are only a woman’s job…no one really questioned whether the P&G hired men who did household chores, did they? And while the campaign did get brickbats from men’s activist groups for misandry, at least it got people, thinking, talking and hopefully reflecting which is the starting points of leading to change.
ReplyThis film has nothing to do with Vicks Vaporub or any of its therapeutic properties, apart from one fleeting 3 second scene. The whole transgender story has been deliberately shoe-horned in to make it look “different”.
This is just one of those things created by creative poseurs for a bunch of liberal luvvies who wanna be seen as people who care about transgender issues. The entire premise of vicks balm trying to change social attitudes feels fake and full of ulterior motives (i.e.. glory at cannes). In reality, I doubt P&G gives a rat’s arse about transgender issues….as shown by the questions posed by Kalki Subramaniam.
As to the creative merit side of things, I found this film weak on story, on its writing and even its resolution. The only thing that makes it “interesting’ is shooting it amidst the squalor of India, which I must admit seems to turn on certain judges from first world countries.
The story was pretty dull too….I am more interested in the back story. Knowing how the mom came to become a transgender and how she happened to have that little girl in her possession. It might make a nice feature film…in the vein of The Crying Game. But as an ad this one is an ill-conceived turkey….made for all the wrong reasons.
ReplyI don’t work for the agency.
I do think that it’s beautifully shot and really well handled.
As for the ad lacking an application shot and a reason to believe… fuck off grandpa.
ReplyHave your say