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Vicks makes a strong case for transgender rights with heartwarming new ad. Watch

Hindustan Times | ByHT Correspondent
Mar 31, 2017 02:41 PM IST

Vicks’ latest advertisement titled ‘Touch of Care’ weaves together two controversial topics - adoption and transgender rights - to create a beautiful story, that will stay with you longer than its 3-minute run time.

Vicks’ latest advertisement titled ‘Touch of Care’ weaves together two controversial topics - adoption and transgender rights - to create a beautiful story, that will stay with you longer than its 3-minute run time.

This is Gauri Sawant’s story, a transgender and an activist, who adopts orphaned Gayatri and fights against societal stigma to raise her as her own child.(YouTube screengrab)
This is Gauri Sawant’s story, a transgender and an activist, who adopts orphaned Gayatri and fights against societal stigma to raise her as her own child.(YouTube screengrab)

This is Gauri Sawant’s story, a transgender and an activist, who adopts orphaned Gayatri and fights against societal stigma to raise her as her own child.

Based on a true story, the video opens with Gayatri on her way to boarding school, recounting how she met her adoptive mother. Directed by Neeraj Ghaywan of Masaan fame, the ad subtly brings to the fore the fact that Gauri sends off her daughter to keep her from witnessing the atrocities she is forced to endure everyday.

“My Civics book says that everyone is entitled to basic rights. Then why is my mother denied them? That’s why I want to become a lawyer, not a doctor -- for my mother,” questions Gayatri.

Conceptualised by Publicis Singapore for Procter & Gamble, the video shows how Gayatri, at the age of 6, loses her biological mother, a sex worker, to HIV AIDS.

The narrative ends with Gayatri vowing to grow up and become a lawyer to ensure equal rights for her mother, for transgenders in India. Gayatri and Gauri’s story lives on. Here are some Twitter reactions:

Uploaded on Vicks India’s YouTube channel on March 29, the video has garnered over 6.9 lakh views so far.

This is not the first time transgenders have been highlighted in brand campaigning. Y-Films launched the country’s first transgender band, the Brooke Bond Red Label 6 Pack Band that bagged last year’s Cannes Grand Prix. In 2014, Channel V, along with Ogilvy Mumbai, shot a 2-minute video at a traffic light in Mumbai that showed a group of transgenders teaching road safety.

Several people on Twitter applauded the advertisement:

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