Reshma is like any beauty vlogger, except for one detail. Her point of difference, her acid scars, turn a trivial lesson into a profoundly important message.
Ogilvy Mumbai’s YouTube tutorial, Beauty Tips by Reshma: How to get perfect red lips, is almost like any other makeup tutorial. The appealingly dressed young vlogger appears to be in her everygirl room at home. She offers a friendly greeting, “Hi girls, I’m Reshma.”
There’s just one jarringly different detail. Reshma’s face is severely disfigured. She carries out what is otherwise a typical tutorial nonetheless.
“You’ll find red lipstick easily in the market,” she advises, after applying perfect red lipstick.
Then, the tutorial changes abruptly. “ …just like concentrated acid. This is the reason why, every day a girl becomes a victim of an acid attack.”
Reshma asks viewers to sign a petition to stop sales of concentrated acid to the ‘common man’.
The “beauty tutorial” is a PSA by Ogilvy India for Make Love Not Scars, a support group for women who have survived acid attacks.
According to Ogilvy India, “The Supreme Court of India has banned over-the-counter sale of acid since 2013. Yet acid is easily available to the common man, and the number of acid attacks are on a rise.”
According to Make Love Not Scars, there are 1,000 violent acid attack cases reported every year and 90% of the victims are women.
The Ogilvy campaign of three Reshma beauty tip tutorials, #ENDACIDSALE, launched on The Logical Indian on August 30. More than 200,000 have signed the petition addressed to prime minister, Narendra Modi, since then. The tutorials have been viewed throughout the world. The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, BBC World, Mail Online, ABC News, TIME, Mashable, Mirror, People, The Independent, The Huffington Post, Amitabh Bachchan and Ashton Kutcher are now helping to spread its message.
Piyush Pandey, executive chairman & creative director, Ogilvy South Asia, commented, “An acid attack is a heinous crime and every attempt should be made to prevent such attacks. Make Love Not Scars is an organisation committed to persuading the government to pass legislation which prevents open sales of acids. Ogilvy is proud to participate in this cause and has created this commercial with a victim who agreed to participate in generating awareness and support. Ogilvy will continue to contribute to this cause to impact results that lead to safety of people and women in particular.
Campaign credits:
Creative agency: Ogilvy Mumbai
Chairman & creative head, Ogilvy South Asia: Piyush Pandey
National creative director, Ogilvy Mumbai : Rajiv Rao
Executive creative directors: Kainaz Karmakar & Harshad Rajadhyaksha
Creative group heads & copywriters: Harshik Suraiya & Geetanjali Jaiswal
