Ariel launched #ShareTheLoad in 2015, a provocative social movement that focused not on clothes stains, but on the cultural stain of gender inequality at home by raising an important question ‘Is laundry only a woman’s job?’ This brought the issue of gender inequality out of the four walls of the home to make it a national conversation.

For 2016, the client brief was to go deeper: how can Ariel create deeper social change – where the product and the brand plays an essential role and as a result drives a deeper relevance for the brand.

We knew 70% of Indian men believe household chores are a woman’s job. Digging deeper, we realized the root cause for this was the passing down of this prejudice from one generation to the next: children learning the behavior by watching their dads and growing up to imitate what they’ve seen at home.

The movement was led by a poignant film about a dad's self-realization and conversion about roles and responsibilities within the home, and about setting the right example by helping with laundry.

As more and more people in India saw, shared and spoke about the message, Ariel launched the Share the Load pack with a unique calendar that divided the laundry task between men and women equally, by marking odd days for men and even days for women to do the laundry.

To take the odd-even message to every Indian household, Ariel tied-up with Kalnirnay – a calendar that is not just found in almost every Indian home, but also a calendar that most Indians follow to keep track of the good and bad days for travel, meetings, and other important events, so why not make it the strongest influencer for gender equality at home.