Bajaj came up with the tagline (With the help of an Ad Agency) for its newly introduced bike Pulsar in 2001. The tagline was targeted at the youth in India and may be help them feel related to the feeling "Ladke nahi rohte"
This year Jan 2018, I saw the new ad of Bajaj Pulsar with the same tagline, the best part was that I saw it on the same day when the BSF female warriors were doing motorcycle stunts as part of the republic day parade.
If you have a minute and enough Data watch the new Ad by Bajaj Pulsar below.
Seriously how doesn't anyone see the problem here ? Why isn't the PR division of Bajaj having a nightmare over this ad ? Is it still 1918 ? where men and women are divided by social rules and perceptions ? Or is it that the Ad's motive is so subtle that we do not see it in the grey area of the argument but the white ? Why try so hard to associate it with one gender ?
Here are few more new ads by pulsar on similar lines
If you have watched the movie Dhangal (A true story), you would see the life of a Wrestler who wants his Son to be a world class wrestler. Fate gives him no sons but daughters, he is disappointed at first but later decides to train his girls which later becomes success story as the girls do extremely well and make an entire nation proud. There is an abundance of success success stories of Women everyday, my point here is how many more is required for the thick skull-ed to understand that Men, Women, Trans are equals? Will people ever stop associating certain characters to certain genders ?
Watch this video, you will get what I am trying to say here.
While most organizations around the world are trying their best to highlight how their workplace or designs or products do not discriminate between genders, tagging a bike and essentially, the rider like in the above ads as "definitely male" or "ingredients of a male" isn't this called sexism ???. Even more so when it is not uncommon to see women riding not just bikes, but also premium sports bikes.
It has been 17 years since the tag line came out first and you are telling me 17 years wasn't enough for them to understand or get a hint that it is wrong and misogynistic ?
For the development and progress of the human species we need all the help we can get from all people. Having such divisions or such perceptions or planting such subtle ideas in the masses will be always a hindrance for the greater good of humanity.
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