It’s International Women’s Day today- a day when we celebrate gender equality, and reproductive rights, and focus on issues like violence and abuse against women. But contrary to my expectations of brands unleashing their creative expertise to celebrate this year’s IWD theme of inspiring inclusion, most brands are yet to release their IWD 2024 commercials. Maybe we’ll have a few more amazing adverts coming in as the day passes.
But there’s no dearth of some awesome IWD adverts from this year. So, here we are with 5 heartwarming IWD 2024 commercials that empowered women by celebrating their inclusion.
1. Tenali Double Horse: Make a Lot More, Make a Difference
Indian pulses manufacturer and supplier, Tenali Double Horse, created a heartwarming IWD advert this year that showcased how investing in women’s education would bode well for the entire society.
The ad revolves around a woman and her maid Lashmi, who feels that her lack of education is hindering her child’s academic growth. Taking pity on Lakshmi, the woman asks her to stop doing most of the household chores and instead begins to give her tuition classes. The two instantly bond together as women and let go of their class differences in the process. Their joint efforts eventually lead to not only Lakshmi becoming much more educated than before but also her daughter standing first in class.
You see, sometimes the smallest of our efforts can lead to major changes and make a difference!
2. Image Mission: Empower Her
We often hear the term “empowered” being thrown around. But what does it mean to be empowered? Does it mean to be able to bring about a change, to help one another, or to simply lead? Well, the Singaporean charity for women, Image Mission, tries to answer this question in this impactful 80-second commercial.
The ad showcases women from different sections of society and presents to viewers what being empowered means for them. For them, empowerment is not merely a word but a force that binds them and makes them who they truly are.
3. Grab: Breaking Down The Barriers
The same track doesn’t mean it’s the same race for all the participants. Nothing proves this more than the ordeal of female drivers in the ride-hailing services industry.
This beautiful 100-second advert by Southeast Asia’s leading superapp Grab shows a few men and women lining up for a race. But as the race begins, women start falling back one after another despite making a good start. We later come to find out why those women couldn’t complete the race, which in itself isn’t a real race but the drop-out rates of women drivers from the ride-hailing industry.
From being held back from diving into a ‘man’s world’ to being in self-doubt about whether they can manage their kids and their jobs, women cab drivers have to face endless issues to pursue their careers in this field. Thankfully, Grab is removing some of these obstacles to create an ecosystem where women drivers too can pursue their careers in safety and with dignity. Now that’s how you boost a terrific advert with an equally good product placement!
4. Prega News: She Can Carry Both
No blog on the best IWD adverts can ever be complete without including commercials from Prega News, India’s premier pregnancy news kit.
This beautiful advert revolves around a female teacher, who’s in the last month of her pregnancy and is going to school for the last time before her maternal break kicks in. But when some of her students request her to help them with their studies, her maternal instinct takes over, and she helps them prepare for their examinations.
While most employers tend to believe that hiring women is a costly business because of the high number of leaves and mandatory maternal breaks, an overwhelming 50% of women tend to work through their pregnancy, which stands as a testimony to their unwavering commitment.
She can indeed #carryboth!
5. Kotex: Progress Feels Like
Let’s face it, women haven’t had it easy all these years. And thanks to our endless apathy, we tend to blame them for everything; even something as natural as menstruation and related issues are made fun of.
Thankfully, this powerful 2-minute ad by American menstrual hygiene brand Kotex not only fights period stigma but also shatters stereotypes related to women’s menstruation. The #ProgressFeelsLike effort encourages women around the world to have a voice and share their view of what progress is like in their daily lives and the world around them.
Wrapping Up
And that was a wrap of some of the best International Women’s Day 2024 commercials. Women make up half of the global population. However, their representation in different industries remains way below the desired proportion, which makes this year’s IWD theme of inspiring inclusion all the more important. Hopefully, the adverts covered in this blog will inspire more brands to celebrate women and everything they have achieved to the extent that we won’t be needing this day in the future.
We’ll be back with more amazing adverts for you. Till then, stay tuned!