Advertising for a change: An ad featuring India's first trans band win at Cannes

From a beauty brand celebrating the feminine pride of a transgender woman to a sari brand featuring transgender models in their recent print campaign, the Third gender is making its way into more living rooms, one ad at a time. And with an ad campaign with the 6 Pack Band having won the Grand Prix Glass Lion at the Cannes Lion advertising awards this year, there might be more to look forward to.

Ashish Patil of Y-Films, Brand Partnerships and Talent Management, in collaboration with whom the Brooke Bond Red Label ad campaign had been created, says, “When we were creating this ad campaign, we thought that this was something to be done not by being preachy but through something that is intrinsic to this community and comes naturally to us as Indian storytellers — song and dance.”

Ad man Rahul Da Cunha agrees and adds that the decision to cast transgenders is a brave one on the part of advertisers. “Now if we could use the rest of the LGBT community properly too, that would really be something. We could find ways to break down every wall of prejudice, that’s the kind of power ad films and campaigns can wield,” he says.

Kalki Subramaniam, a transgender rights activist from Tamil Nadu feels that there are still a few matters of concern. She says, “Many times, members of the transgender community are simply used as eye-catching factors once and then forgotten about by the company, the advertising agency and consequently the viewers too. I don’t see too many transgender models getting real, sustained chances with fashion designers or ad agencies in India. As far as I know, Niki Chawla — a transgender model who came into the limelight not too long ago and found a fair bit of support at the time — is still struggling.”

Rudrani Chhetri, the Delhi-based activist who launched India’s first transgender modelling agency, has a slightly different point of view.

“I come from a very humble socio-economic background and know the kinds of ideas people have about transgenders — they are only aware of transgenders as the hijras they have always been warned against and either afraid of or disgusted by. The way these ads are portraying us, however, is definitely a sign of shifting perceptions. So, this is definitely a step forward, whatever the agenda might or might not be.”