From regressive to empowering - how Macho Sporto is changing the innerwear imagery

For decades, male innerwear brands have been playing on the machismo appeal, with an attractive female model adding the glamorous quotient. It all changed in 2007 with Amul Macho’s gender stereotype-breaking ad, ‘Yeh toh bada toing hai’, which focussed on female desire. This jingle achieved cult status.

Now, over a decade later, the brand is back with Macho Sporto. Featuring South actress Rashmika Mandanna and Bollywood star Vicky Kaushal, the new-launched TVC for Macho Sporto seeks to legitimise the ‘female gaze’. The casting of a leading actress like Rashmika in an ad for a menswear product is another departure from the norm.

Conceptualised by creative agency Leo Burnett and promoted by media agency Madison Media Omega; the Macho Sporto campaign films consist of 3 films, which work as a series, taking up a very bold and progressive topic like the female gaze.

The films feature Rashmika as a young yoga instructor and Vicky as one of her attractive students. The ad shows different scenarios during their yoga sessions, where Rashmika happens to catch a glimpse of Vicky’s Macho Sporto waistband and in an attempt to get another look, has him reaching high shelves and holding longer poses. Vicky catches onto her playful efforts and obliges her requests every time.

Navinn Seksaria, MD of JG Hosiery, parent company of Macho Sporto, said, “We are reviving our iconic campaign, ‘Yeh Toh Bada Toing Hai’, with a modern and trendier avatar of our brand, Macho Sporto. Although we are advertising men’s underwear, the campaign is centred around a young and confident woman who is empowered enough to gaze at a man she feels attracted to. Breaking patriarchal stereotypes, the campaign intends to highlight how today’s women don’t hesitate in making the first move. What better than a male underwear brand to convey this message and begin a fresh conversation.”

Elaborating on the campaign, Rajdeepak Das, CEO & Chief Creative Officer – South Asia, Leo Burnett, said, “Through our campaign ‘Yeh toh bada Toing Hai 2.0’, we wanted to address and break regressive old fashioned gender stereotypes. Typically, innerwear brands portray conventional male dominant imagery, but our films depict a role reversal where we normalise and make the woman in control. This is probably the first time where a men’s wear brand is showing a woman taking the lead. The films are lighthearted and have the brand’s signature tongue-in-cheek humour with Vicky and Rashmika playing their onscreen roles perfectly.”

Watch the latest Macho Sporto ‘Yeh Toh Bada Toing Hai’ digital films here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_ngijP3vRQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGZK7U9sMyA