Bini Dahal

Advertisements and promotions lie in the heart of making any particular brand. As long as we do not promote any product or service in this world of fierce competition, it is impossible to even survive. However, in the name of marketing, at times companies have been found to cross a limit. Rather than creating positive branding, they are found hurting the sentiments of certain people in society.

This is in reference to the recent controversial ad developed by Seoul Milk. Considered to be a very popular Korean dairy brand, it went on to create an advertisement that was too bizarre to watch. The ad shows a man with a videography camera in his hands going to a forest area. Then, he sees young women performing yoga in the pristine green pasture land. Everybody is immersed in whatever they are doing. However, the man makes noise by stepping on a dried leaf. This transforms the women into cows. The company is trying to highlight how the milk manufactured in the company comes from healthy cows who have been fed well.

But why show women? And how would the same ad look like had a man been shown instead of women? There are so many takes on this. This sort of depiction not just indirectly presents women to be cows (milk producing ability) but also highlights the issue of hidden cameras (through the man) that has existed in South Korea for a long time.
Known as molka, a growing number of incidences of illegal filming of girls and women through spycams has been found.

Though the company immediately removed the video, it went viral within seconds. And it is still available on the internet for the world to see. This is purely sexist. The ad had tried to show how the milk manufactured was truly organic. But the branding did not promote, on the contrary, damaged the image of the dairy company. Gender sensitivity, sexism and filming someone without their approval are the three main issues presented just by the 52-second video.

Most advertisements even today, not just this one, are sexist. Gendered ads remain an issue even in Nepal. Dubbed Indian advertisements are broadcasted without making much correction. So, just a short ad is found promoting societal stereotypes that targets women. Everyone, be it children or adults, watches television. This is why there is a greater instance of societal belief being enforced and reinforced in us.

Ads should be built on strong and positive content making. It should not promote societal issues. Rather it should be informative and something that promotes goodness in the people. In the context of Nepal, we still lack awareness and the ability to judge between a misogynistic ad and non-misogynistic one. We take it lightly, term it as a common scenario of the society and move on. But this trend has to be stopped at all cost.
We, as consumers, have the ability to change the future of a brand. If a brand makes any mistake, we can press it to rectify its mistake. But before that we need to remain aware of this.