Omo’s latest campaign, 'Dirt Is Good', is based on the premise that with Omo Auto, just a quick wash can remove the toughest stains, meaning ‘less time washing, more time living’… a life full of play and active, shared experiences with your family and friends.
More importantly, this message is not being directed at particular genders.
In an effort to move away from unhelpful stereotypes, the campaign seeks to ‘unstereotype’. “We want to drive unstereotyping in our communications which naturally challenges traditional views,” says Omo SA marketing manager Henry Muchauraya. “As a household name and brand, it’s our intention to inspire and drive a conversation encouraging more progressive gender roles,” he adds.
While he doesn’t think it’s a problem that gender identity is changing, he believes that it is a problem that advertising has not changed enough. He quotes Aline Santos, executive VP Global Marketing at Unilever: “Stereotyping in advertising is a prevalent issue for all genders. However, our research shows that the negative effects are most keenly felt when it comes to representations of females.”
Here, Muchauraya goes on to explain what he means by this and how the campaign seeks to address these issues…
Unilever has consciously made a move away from unhelpful stereotypes to show a more representative depiction of the landscape and fluid lifestyles people live. At Omo we strive to be as diverse and representative of the households we service. We understand that the make-up of our families isn’t typical and because we are aware of this we are better placed to foster better brand engagement that delivers impactful messaging and is resonant. We truly believe that shifting the lens away from women solely owning chores and bringing men in to support and further own chores is both aspirational and prevalent.
Ads need interesting storylines. Using a special day helps craft an engaging script, one that sees negative tensions resolved. Our ad celebrates a present participatory male figure, be it a biological father, uncle or positive male – we see a progressive male, helping out with the chores and not being phased by the stresses associated with looking after a child and tending to the house. The father is modelling progressive behaviour. We are celebrating this so as to shift perceptions and make this normative behaviour.
We really wanted to land the male participation in our communication. And it only made sense to use men like Lupi Ngcayisa, Thapelo Mokoena, Terence Mentor and Siya Kolisi. Men who are active and present father and family men who display the modern concept of dadhood, whilst embracing #DirtIsGood; embracing shared experiences with their kids and landing ‘less time washing and more time living’ using authentic male and female personalities.
The social media element is a component of this integrated campaign. Using male influencers posting active, shared experiences with their children lands the campaign idea of less time washing, more time living. This idea is landed whilst driving ‘unstereotype’.
Because:
The ground is fertile for more conversation around this topic and encouraging parents to play more with their kids, as well as obviously a more progressive display of gender roles. We are looking forward to working with social organisations to drive conversation and activity around #DirtIsGood and shared experiences. We are excited for what is to come this year and in years to come. We are really looking forward to engaging with our customers in a more tangible way.
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