Cannes Lions 2023: FCB India’s ‘Untangling the Politics of Hair’ wins Gold

FCB Group India’s ground-breaking ‘Untangling the Politics of Hair’ campaign has been awarded the prestigious Gold Lion, the first ever for India in the Industry craft category at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity 2023. This recognition celebrates the campaign’s profound impact in shedding light on the pervasive patriarchy present in cultures worldwide.

While Mahsa Amini’s death and the protests that followed elicited a studied silence from India, STIR, a disruptive design magazine, went live with ‘Untangling the Politics of Hair’ - a travelling photo exhibit that shed layers of ethnicity, culture and nationality to untangle the politics out of what was fundamentally a gender issue – making every woman see her story in Iran’s story.

Commenting on the big win, Swati Bhattacharya, Creative Chairperson, FCB India, said, “Between STIR’s unfettered ambition for this brief, our aspiration for the work, the standards Rohit Chawla, our photographer, set for making it as evocative as it could be, this is a testament to what being unfettered can achieve for all of us. We fly when we’re unfettered. Jin Jiyan Azadi!”

FCB Group India also won two Silver metals on Day 2. ‘Tr. For Teacher’ from Navneet won its first Cannes Lion in the Entertainment, Social Behaviour & Cultural Insight category, and ‘Chatpat’ won its 9th Cannes Lion from SOS Children’s Villages of India in Entertainment, Influencer & Co-Creation category.

The group, as of now, leads the India tally at the Cannes Lions 2023.