While the automotive industry has traditionally been perceived as male-dominated territory, TVS Motor Company has been actively working to break down the barriers that have hindered women from fully participating in this sector. Last August, FCB Kinnect introduced a campaign for TVS Motor Company titled ‘Miss.Represent’. This initiative was founded on the belief that if young girls were provided with equitable representation, they would develop greater confidence and begin considering career paths that societal norms typically associate with men.
The inaugural video of the campaign shed light on how gender stereotypes are ingrained from an early age, evident in educational materials such as occupational charts commonly used in schools. These charts predominantly feature male figures in prestigious fields like STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), while depicting women in roles like teaching, air hostessing, nursing, and so forth.
Statistics reveal that children’s career choices get influenced at as early as 6 years of age. This means that from an early age, girls that might have a natural inclination or skills for the STEM fields, might still find it very difficult to break out of their conditioning and pursue careers in these.
Although there are multiple solutions, the crucial one lies in changing the education system itself. The solution to a problem is in the problem itself. Hence, the second video from the campaign showcased the solution, which was the chart itself, but a lenticular one. The beauty of this chart is that when viewed from different angles, it displays both male and female in the same occupations.
The campaign is not about leaving men out of these showcases, but also including women in the same roles. This small change can upturn the untapped resource that India is missing out on, by getting more women into the STEM fields. Being a brand that’s had immense success with leading an all-women research team and a 90% engine assembly line, TVS Motor Company is still keen on hiring more women in their workforce.
The brand will now take these lenticular charts to over 5000 schools across India. TVS Motor Company wants to build a world where every girl can dream, because when she can see, she DARES TO DREAM!
Speaking on the campaign, Ashish Tambe, Executive Creative Director, FCB Kinnect, said, “We’re trying to solve a business problem, but in a way that society itself changes. When a child sees a visual representation carrying such an obvious bias, it gets ingrained into their minds. we had to ensure that the term equality shines through the campaign, which is not about women, but about equality. After trying and testing a plethora of technologies, we figured that the solution had to be scalable. It’s a long-term effort that doesn’t just start and end on Women’s Day.”
