With a string of stereotypes to adhere to, women in this country often succumb to the desires of a submissive society, where often the idea of liberal humanism is whacked, questioned and denounced. With the optimism to inspire a revolution, Levi's, for the Women’s Day month released an extensive campaign titled #IShapeMyWorld, bringing in tales from individuals who indeed shaped their own world.
Campaign Analysis
Indian society is judgmental. And that’s an unfortunate fact, but that does not mean that we have to live with it and to ignite some motivation, Levi's I Shape My World brought in women from varied walks of life – actor Huma Qureshi, hairstylist Sapna Bhavani, transgender model Anjali Lama and comedian Mallika Dua to narrate their tale of triumph.
Let’s briefly take a look at all the films that #IShapeMyWorld touched upon-
Firstly, Huma Qureshi spoke of body-shaming especially when she’s in such a vulnerable space when all the eyes are on her with the mainstream industry she belongs to. This film received 927k views and has over 36k reactions.
Sapna Bhavani spoke about her struggle of being “different”, different with the way she dressed, styled her hair or her body covered with tattoo art. She was looked down upon for not being the typical Indian girl and her film received 1.2 million views and 29k reactions.
With a million views and 32k reactions on her film, Anjali Lama, a transgender model through this film shared how she found herself in a fix of rejections just for being a transgender, not her talent.
Finally, comedian Mallika Dua has always been put in a box with some specifications attached with her size, where she only got offers of a ‘chubby girl with a quirky nature’ and this film garnered 1.1 million views and 23k reactions.
As this campaign took us through a journey channelized through a campaign, to yet again become the face of feminism that looks at acceptance above all.
Social media - the channel for change
Where brands pick the elements closest to their heart, this denim wear brand touched upon real-life stories of victory to inspire, inculcating a concept and not their product through this campaign. The boundaries of genres have blurred, with social media giving a voice to everyone, every brand is using their content to preach and it has gone beyond just being a trend, but a mainstream practice put to action, despite your brand identity.
With a 24,064,500 followers on their page, popularity of these celebrities and of course a well executed content gave a push to their campaign. The fashion brand even received an overwhelming response for their long lasting life.
Not that these issues have not been addressed before, brands breaking stereotypes is in fact a stereotype as we discussed in an article earlier, but there are some brands who manage to use their portal with responsibility and through their content try to nail this thought in the viewers mind. In fact, they even have a word for it – fem-vertising.
Real danger lies in slackitivism, where a movement can lead awareness into power, but there needs a way to move from awareness to action. With brands waking up to this wave of feminism, it is imperative that every advertisement utilizing feminism tramps a fine line between genuine empowerment or mere manipulation for attention and sales.
As far as Levi's is concerned, it became a brand that extended a topical campaign thus managing to garner more attention in comparison to most of the Women’s Day campaigns that hit the digital platforms, creating a certain brand recall even when other brand campaigns eventually faded away.
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