Gender biases are prevalent in rural India. And they get inherited by the next generation in the form of what they see and hear. Therefore, Gillette, as the leading men’s brand took up the responsibility to inspire the next generation of men to question gender biases they’re growing up with.

This philosophy found common ground with the true story of two sisters from rural India. While the girls shaved gender stereotypes, Gillette felt they ended up doing much more. Inspired a whole generation of boys to question notions about gender inequalities that are handed over to them.

The aim was to get the next generation of men to nip the gender stereotypes in the bud. Before they get cemented in their minds. Because they grow up watching the examples, we set for them.

Two girls from Banwari Tola, a backward village in India, challenged deep-rooted stereotypes by taking over their father’s barbershop, a profession solely reserved for men. Can their story inspire the next generation to rethink the gender biases they’re growing up with?

Gillette saw this as the perfect story to drive the change in mindsets that they wish to see. They told this inspiring story through the eyes of an 8-year-old boy, who witnesses gender biases around him and is conditioned to think it’s normal. That’s until he meets these two girls running a barbershop, which compels him to question everything he’s been growing up with.

This was the first time in India that a men’s brand featured women as protagonists of their film and showed the importance of having positive role models for the next generation of men.

The integrated campaign had two pillars:

-Amplifying the video that brought alive the story of the Barbershop Girls through social media and online portals.

- Bringing together opinionated influencers from different strata to propagate the message further so that it reaches a larger audience, online and on ground.

Key Message:

- Children learn from what they see.

- Gillette is #ShavingStereotypes with #BarbershopGirls to inspire the next generation of men.

Target Audience:

- Indian millennials in the age group of 18-30 years in the middle to upper middle class. This audience is curious about the burning issues around them and would actively like to participate in bringing about change. They are influenced by senior family members and role models in society. They are very active on social media and heavily engage with their chosen influencers online.

Instead of documenting the events in the lives of these real Barbershop Girls, Gillette chose to demonstrate the impact of their actions on the mind of a young boy through a film. The focus was then to carry the message behind the film as much as the film itself.

We thus brought together top influencers from novelists to musicians to actors and sportsmen who themselves believed in the idea of a gender-neutral world and created an unprecedented national conversation in a matter of days.

Gillette even announced a scholarship to further the careers of the girls. They underwent training under India’s top hairstylist and took centre stage at press events where they gave Bollywood celebrities a shave. This sparked further conversations while the campaign directed attention to the track used in the film – a twist on a traditional folk song sung only to celebrate the birth of a boy.

Garnering over 50 Mn views and close to 42 Mn conversations across social media in just 2 WEEKS #ShavingStereotypes caused a conversation unparalleled in India. With over 99% of the comments being positive, there was an outpour of support for the Barbershop Girls, within and outside digital media. Brand conversations went up by over 700%. The campaign earned 2.8 Bn PR impressions worth INR 113 Mn.

People applauded the intent behind this new rendition of the ‘Sohar’, including many artists from the music fraternity. Many called it a cultural milestone, and felt that music of all things, shouldn’t hold any biases. With thousands of comments that echoed similar sentiments, the track on public demand, was finally made available on various audio streaming platforms. In fact, the girls were also invited to one of India’s biggest radio stations – Red FM, where they shared some more light into their story.