He Respect Deo takes on sexist ads in three-phased digital campaign

He, the deodorant brand from Emami, has launched a new variant, He Respect, championing the cause of respect to women in all walks of life – a polar opposite to everything the category at large propagates.

Deodorant brands in general promote the concept of chic magnet attraction. In a strong deviation to the same, He deodorant has positioned itself differently from the very beginning with “Be Interesting” being its core brand value. Projecting the face of the modern metrosexual confident man, He deodorant has sought to instigate meaningful social conversations. Taking this brand value to the next level, He deodorant, for its new variant He Respect, has launched a three-phased digital campaign against such objectification of women for commercial purpose.

The new ‘Respect’ campaign has been designed around the central thought – Real men Respect Women. As part of the first video, a digital video film featuring popular stand-up comedian and actor Vir Das takes a dig at the objectification of women in advertising to sell products by showing men in various promotional situations which normally use women and underlining   how the men felt uncomfortable in those situations.

Watch the film:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sD_NeCRV9MQ

This teaser phase is supported by activation, where thousands of men have been sent ‘Respect’ T-shirts through the brand’s online partner ‘Wear your Opinion’, asked to wear them and click a selfie and post it on Facebook/ HE Be Interesting and tweet @ #HeRespect, if they believed in the Respect philosophy.

Setting up the context, the film will eventually lead to the second video of He Respect to showcase its main campaign starring Hrithik Roshan, where the brand ambassador speaks out against the disrespect shown towards women generally in the surrounding social milieu and urges young men to wear the Scent of Respect and be the Real Men Who Respect Women.

Watch the film:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2v-FiYigxxk

In the third video, the HE Respect Manifesto will be rolled out to uphold the brand essence.

The digital videos have been conceived and developed by Orchard Advertising from the Leo Burnett Group. The digital execution and amplifications for He Respect is being handled by digital agency WATConsult.

“We at Emami believe that there is a need to nurture a positive role model among men, who are able to accord due respect to women. He Respect seeks to honour and bring into light such men who believe in honouring women. The main thought of the campaign was that, Real Men, Respect Women. Also, as a brand, He believes that every human being has an interesting side to him and he should strive to live the interesting life,” explained Harsha V Agarwal, Director, Emami.

Commenting on the campaign, RajDeepak Das, Chief Creative Office, The Leo Group, said, “He Respect has been a passion project for us from the very beginning. We were clear that an important message needs adequate firepower and support to make a real difference. And we had fantastic partners in the He brand team who believed in us enough to develop an entirely new product and then a powerful campaign that takes on well-established industry practices head on.”

Rajiv Dingra, Founder & CEO, WATConsult, the brand’s digital agency, added here, “In today’s times, brands sometimes know no bounds when it comes to promoting a certain product. We objectify women in a heartbeat if it gets us the sales we want. That being said, I am very proud of the route He deodorants is taking to promote their new fragrance ‘Respect’. Showing the men what they might face when the tables turn is something completely unprecedented. The response the brand has received so far has been overwhelming.”