The encyclopedia · Advertising & PR · Marketing decision · 2019–2022
Gillette turned two village sisters into proof that a razor doesn't discriminate
Gillette amplified a real UP barbershop run by two sisters — Cannes Silver Lion 2019, Abby Gold 2022 — instead of inventing an empowerment story.
Gillette (P&G India)
The solution
India's barbershop is a male institution: men shave men, and a woman behind the chair was unthinkable in most villages. That assumption was Gillette's real obstacle when it wanted to say that 'being your best' was not a male-only promise.
In Banwari Tola, Uttar Pradesh, two sisters had already shattered the assumption the hard way. When their father was paralysed, the teenage girls took over his barbershop — initially disguised as boys, then openly, once the village's men accepted that a razor doesn't discriminate.
Grey India built the campaign as a three-minute film from the perspective of an eight-year-old boy, whose father answers his confusion with the line that a razor wouldn't know the difference between a boy and a girl. Gillette also supported the sisters through its Safalta Apni Muthi Mein program, so the story was backed by real help, not just a film.
The film won the Entertainment Lions for Music Silver Lion at Cannes 2019 and later a Gold in Integrated at the Abby Awards 2022 — an empowerment story whose power came from being true.
Why it worked
- A real, already-working example gave the claim a proof that no invented story could match.
- Telling the story through a child made the inherited assumption visible without lecturing.
- Program support behind the film kept the brand's role constructive, not parasitic.
- The universality of the barbershop made one village's story feel national.
What can be applied
A brand claiming a social idea is credible when it finds the idea already working in real life and amplifies it — the proof lives in the story, not in the brand's assertion.
Aftermath
The campaign travelled from Cannes 2019 to the Abby Awards 2022, and the sisters' story kept circulating as Gillette's proof point for inclusive grooming. While the film won craft awards, its lasting value was the program support behind it — an ongoing livelihood for the two girls, rather than a one-off advertisement.
Sources
- The Barbershop Girls of India — Inspire to the next generation
- Grey India Wins Cannes Silver Lion in Entertainment Lions for Music with 'Barbershop Girls: Shaving Stereotypes'
- ABBYs: The Leo Burnett Group India is Creative Agency of the Year; Famous wins Grand Prix
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