India’s first lesbian ad goes viral

NEW DELHI: The country's first advertisement showing a lesbian couple preparing to meet the parents is making waves on social media. The online video shows two women in a live-in relationship flirting and dressing up for the day, chatting about the expectations they face and their love for each other.

Titled 'The Visit', the ad for a fashion portal's ethnic wear collection has got over 2 lakh hits on YouTube over 10 days.  

"We tried to avoid the stereotypes associated with gay people. There was no one woman looking more masculine or feminine in the film. We tried to give it a candid feel like it is any other couple being apprehensive about meeting the parents," says Avishek Ghosh, co-partner of Hectic Content, the production house that made the film conceptualized by ad agency Ogilvy & Mather, Bangalore.

"The ad has got 3 million views across social media like Facebook, YouTube etc," says Manish Aggarwal, VP (marketing) at Myntra Fashion which is promoting the ad. The visibility of same-sex couples is what makes this ad timely says LGBT rights activist Ashok Row Kavi. "This is a bold statement. Lesbians around the world have been in the news, they are getting married and fighting for their rights. This is what society sees, same-sex couples living happily, and there is a huge audience that accepts this," says Kavi.

Says ad-man K V Sridhar, "This trend started last year, with Fastrack ads that hinted homosexuality, Tanishq that showed a re-marriage etc. In India, while living in is still a shock, this ad has gone a step ahead. It is commendable."