Saffola reverses the stereotypical gender roles in new campaign

Saffola, the popular and trusted brand from Marico Limited, has always championed the cause of taking proactive steps towards better heart health with a vision to create a 'Heart Healthy India.' In line with its objective to raise awareness and bring significant emphasis on this important aspect, Saffola has once again launched an impactful campaign that seeks to drive home the need for proactive, everyday heart care by using the context of everyday lifestyle that unbeknownst to us, impacts the health of the heart.

Also read:  Saffolalife has launched its new campaign ‘Heart Healthy India’

While most of us try to juggle multiple professional and personal commitments, we also undergo a huge amount of stress which can impact the heart. The new TVC creatively uses the real-life situations of unavoidable work stress that can impact our heart and emphasizes on the importance of Rakhna Heart Ka Khayal, with Saffola Gold.

Moving away from the stereotypical gender role of a woman taking care of the husband and the family’s health, the film takes a progressive stance and showcases a modern couple where the husband is the one looking after his wife.

Conceptualised by Mullen Lintas, the brand, in its endeavour to champion the cause of women’s heart health, portrays the husband as the one who is concerned about the stress his wife goes through at work and its impact on her heart. While he cannot take away her stress, no matter how much he would like to, he does what’s in his control to take care of her heart. Saffola Gold, specially formulated with its “Power of 3” (anti-oxidants, Oryzanol and a good MUFA PUFA balance) is what he trusts to help keep her heart healthy. While the portrayal is of the life of a working woman, the larger message extends seamlessly to all situations of stress, which makes it highly relatable to anyone viewing the film.

Set to an adaptation of a popular and much-loved Bollywood track, the latest film brings alive the reality that all of us go through on a daily basis and leaves the viewer with the message of taking care of the heart health proactively.

As part of Saffola’s aim to bring conversations about heart health to the forefront, the brand has been focusing on building awareness about triggers like stress that are generally not seen to be connected to heart issues but can be a major contributing factor. Earlier this year, Saffolalife, a not-for-profit initiative by Marico Limited, highlighted the importance of recognising and addressing the signs of stress in women and its relationship with heart health through its #CareForHerHeart digital film released for the World Heart Day.

Commenting on the campaign, Koshy George, Chief Marketing Officer, Marico Limited said, "Saffola has always been committed to raising awareness about heart health as well as steps to proactively take care of our heart. Through this new campaign, Saffola aims to drive awareness of the impact of stress on our heart and the need to take proactive care. The new TVC also portrays an interesting shift in the dynamics of the modern Indian household and shows the husband taking care of the wife’s heart and overall health. The campaign lucidly conveys an important message that while we take our busy and stressful lifestyles in our stride and cannot do much to change it, it could be putting tremendous pressure on our heart and therefore proactive care is a necessary step."

Azazul Haque and Garima Khandelwal’ - Chief Creative Officers, Mullen Lintas said, “As a brand Saffola has been synonymous with heart health since its very inception, but the core task was to drive proactive care of the heart in line with the brand endeavor and by showing a context that viewers can identify with. We wanted to take a more progressive stance and tell our story through a gender role reversal, as heart health is universal so we built the narrative around women’s heart health, but relatable and extendable to all. Hence, the story of a husband concerned about his wife's heart health as her work involves everyday stress seemed sweet, emotive, progressive and relatable and emotionally compelling.”

Credits:  Agency Mullen Lintas

CCO - Azazul Haque, Garima Khandelwal

CEO – Hari Krishnan

Creative: Ripanka Kalita, Ashwin Joharapurkar, Shashank Salaskar, Johns Joy, Chandni Dave, Aswirbaad Das, Pintu Bisoyi

Account Management: Priya Balan, Samir Sagar, Miloni Shah

Planning: Ekta Relan, Vinit Jani