Why You Should Watch This Ad on Women’s Day

An advertisement that calls out the BS on what Women’s Day has been reduced to

Photo by Taylor Wright on Unsplash

Sleepy owl is a coffee brand — a young company — from India. Their brand communications may not have broken the internet in the past, but they have always been unique. As we approach the dreaded women’s day celebrations, the team at Sleepy Owl has come out with a strong communication that that we need to pay attention to.

The video is released by “Sleepy Owl” leading upto International Women’s Day, 2023

What is the common theme in the brand communications that you have observed on Women’s Day so far?

The ones that come to my mind show a Mom (yeah, you are not really a “complete” woman unless you have a kid or two) who wakes up at insane hours, gets the household ready for the day; cuts to the next scene where she is giving a top-notch presentation(where she bowls over everyone); then goes to Gym, put the kids to bed AND goes to a party looking as fresh as a daisy. This will then be followed by a tagline:

“Celebrating the Super Women in our lives — Brand ‘XYZ”

I get exhausted just watching these ads.

In this communique, Sleepy Owl calls out two such cliches:

(1) The women of Sleepy Owl call out these brands and ask them “Who the heck are these women!” who supposedly do every damn thing

(2) They do not stop there — the HR representative on screen calls out the tokenism every corporate house does by giving the women a card, a flower, or some such gift.

Why do I think we need conversations like these?

(A) Setting up the persona of the “Super Woman” described above is an age-old trick of patriarchy that puts unfair expectations on women while supposedly celebrating them.

This has become so bloody deep-rooted that women believe this nonsense. They try to live up to this impossible stereotype, which is not possible of course and then live with guilt and shame of never matching up.

(B) Celebrating “Women’s Day” like a hallmark moment is an insult to the original intent and purpose with which it was formed. In the early 20th century, the idea to commemorate a day that shines a light on gender issues gained momentum leading to universal women’s suffrage.

Corporates, schools, and communities need to capture the spirit of the movement and work towards specific themes year around.

This year, the UN’s theme is #EmbraceEquity. Instead of a few talks held by corporates and institutions around the world, perhaps they should publish what they intend to do to drive this agenda year-round.

Drive this like any other agenda where you are accountable to the stakeholders.

• Let the March 8th celebrations start with a progress report on what has been accomplished the previous year
• Establish the goals to be derived from this year’s agenda. If it’s “Embrace Equity” for 2023, define the quantifiable goals and how they will be measured on March 8th, 2024.
• Assign accountability
• This needs to rest with the CEO and cannot be pushed down as an HR agenda alone. Build it into every CxO (& downwards) deliverable.

Then, we might just see some change beyond the card and flower that rests on your table when you arrive at the office on March 8th, year after year.