Top 6 Social Issues Campaign by Top Brands

Brands release multiple marketing campaigns to increase awareness about their product and ultimately boost their revenue. These ads are placed on various social media apps, websites, newspapers and on television.

But, should the brand only focus on making revenue? Don’t you think it is the duty of the brands to raise their voice on social issues? The answer to both of these questions is an absolute yes. The positive thing here is that most of the brands have actually raised their voices against social issues.

Today, we will tell top social issues campaigns done by brands that aimed to create a positive change in society.

1. UNAIDS: The Mirror
2. Good News Is GenderFree: Prega News:
3. Unacademy: Teach Them Young
4. Dove: Stop The Beauty Test
5. Truecaller: Shabd
6. RadioCity: Cutting Paani

1. UNAIDS: The Mirror

Transgenders in India face a lot of social discrimination and are often pressurized to behave in a certain way. They are not given proper education and very few job opportunities are provided to them.

Shockingly, 98 per cent of transgenders in India leave their house or are thrown out. Trans teens have much more suicidal tendencies than the ones whose identities match what is written on their birth certificates. Transgender women have the highest HIV rates, up to 40 per cent.

To make parents understand that they should accept their children as they are UNAIDS, a leading global organisation that aims to end AIDS, launched a video campaign named 'Mirror'.

In this video, a young boy is not interested in playing with other children during the kite festival. He goes downstairs and drapes himself in a woman’s scarf.

He then dances with joy. Although after a few moments his mother and grandmother catch him dancing. The boy is scared to see his mother. Although the mother smiles and starts dancing with her son.

The video ends with a beautiful quote, ‘Let's see our children the way they see themselves’. Within just 2:30 minutes the video encourages parents to allow their children to grow as they want to and make their lives happier.

Transgender from all around the country like Australia, Thailand, America, Uganda, Kyrgyzstan and Brazil resonated with the video and said that even though the video is shot in India the message is universal.

2. Good News Is GenderFree: Prega News

Gender inequality has been prevalent in India for many years. Most people prefer a boy child and don't wish to get a girl child. People feel that a girl child will be a burden on the house.

The worst thing here is that most people have a mindset that a man will achieve a lot of success in life while women are only good for handling household chores. This is the exact reason why people pray to get a boy child.

To change the mindset of the people Prega News, which provides pregnancy detection test kits, launched a video campaign titled 'GoodNewsIsGenderFree' on International Mother’s Day.

In this ad, a mother-in-law wishes to get a healthy child irrespective of gender. The company tells the people that instead of praying for a boy child you should rather wish for the mother and baby to be healthy during the pregnancy. The video has generated 16 million views on YouTube.

3. Unacademy: Teach Them Young

If you want boys to respect girls then you must teach boys about gender equality from a very young age. To spread this exact idea among Indians, Unacademy launched a video campaign on various media platforms titled, 'Teach them young'.

In this video campaign, a father teaches his son to respect her sister's boundaries and tells him not to interfere in his life unnecessarily. The campaign teaches us that boys should respect the privacy of their sisters and shouldn't consider them weak.

Protecting your sisters, mothers or wives is a good thing but, always assuming that they need your help is the wrong mindset. 2.3 million people have watched this video on YouTube.

4. Dove: Stop The Beauty Test

Dove is a popular personal care brand that manufactures a wide variety of hair products, skincare and deodorant.

In India, body shaming and colour biases are prevalent. What's worse is that people consider these things funny or normal and don't understand the negative impact it creates on the minds of the people. Body shaming decreases the confidence of people and creates serious mental issues.

To stop this, Dove released a video campaign titled, ‘Stop the beauty test’. The video shows how women are discriminated against for their weight, height, skin colour and hairstyles. It encourages viewers to see the inner beauty and skills of the person. The video has 32 million views on YouTube.

5. Truecaller: Shabd

Stalking is another big issue in India. In 2018, 1 woman became the victim of stalking every 55 minutes. Although this number would have surely increased tremendously in 2022.

Stalking is a criminal crime that destroys the mental peace of the victim. The feeling that one gets when someone is following them is one of the worst feelings in the world.

Unfortunately, most stalking cases are not reported. To encourage women to take action against stalking Truecaller launched a video campaign titled, ‘Shabd’ which was based on a true story.

The video tells a story of a mute woman who is stalked daily by an unknown man. The stranger traumatizes the woman by constantly messaging and calling her due to which she is under deep stress.

Although one fine day she decides to register a complaint against the men in the police station. The video tells the viewers that it is not okay to be quiet and that everyone should take action against stalkers. The video has 2.5 Million views on YouTube.

6. RadioCity: Cutting Paani

In 2019, India was going through the worst water crisis. According to a 2019 NITI Aayog report, 600 million people in India are water deprived.

The four water reservoirs in Chennai went completely dry. Hotels and Restaurants were temporarily closed due to a shortage of water and residents had to stand in long queues for hours to get water from water tanks.

Several offices in 2019 had asked the employees to work from home since their offices as well had a limited supply of water. What's worse is that between 2007 and 2017 groundwater levels in India had declined by over 60 per cent.

To make people understand the importance of water and encourage them to use water only when required, Radio City launched a 'Cutting Paani’ campaign. In this initiative, a small video was released with a peppy song where the RJs gave ideas to people on how they can save water.

They encouraged hotels, restaurants and corporations to serve only half a glass of water to avoid wastage. The video featured big actors like Salman Khan, Raveena Tondon, Arjun Kapoor and Disha Patani.

Radio City partnered with AHAR, the Indian Hotel and Restaurant Association, to distribute 'Cutting Paani' certification stickers to the hotels and restaurants.

Conclusion

As you can see a lot of brands have launched various campaigns to change the mindset of the people. Since these brands are popular and have a huge audience base these campaigns create a huge positive impact. It is good to see that brands don't just think about generating profits but also wish to make society a better place to live.

FAQs

Should companies campaign on social issues?

It is the duty of the companies to raise their voice on social issues. As brands have huge followings they can bring a positive change in society. Brands also benefit from this as they create a positive image in the minds of the customer and might see a growth in their profits.

How can brands talk about social issues?

Brands can launch video campaigns or upload posts on various social media platforms to spread awareness about social issues like gender inequality, racism, poverty and many more. They can also hold webinars and conferences.