India jewelry ad starring trans model wins hearts

September 6, 2021

The gist: The one-minute-40-second video "charts the story of the transition of a trans woman - an awkward teenager with facial hair and self-doubt who transforms into a beautiful, confident bride," and "depicts the love and acceptance that the protagonist receives from her family - each milestone in her life is celebrated through the gold jewellery [sic] they gift her." The 96-year-old Company decided to go ahead with the ad to "give a social message" and "start a conversation."

"All our previous ads had happy heterosexual brides. So we were worried about how people would perceive it and react to it….Most of our stores are in rural parts of the state. We were not sure how much exposure people there would have had to these issues."

—Navya Rao, Online Marketing Head at Bhima

Sudha Pillai, a writer and brand strategist, said, “Advertisements and TV series are much more impactful than movies. They are played repeatedly in homes and have the power to change opinions.” The ad has been “viewed more than 900,000 times on YouTube and 1.4 million times on Instagram since its release in April.”

The #faxx:

• India has an estimated two million transgender people, and in 2014 the Supreme Court ruled that they have equal rights under the law as people of other genders.

• Kerala is India's most trans-friendly state - in 2015, it became the first to unveil a Transgender Policy to end stigma and discrimination towards the sexual minority group. But transphobia remains as real in Kerala as anywhere else in India.

Read the BBC article here.

Photos BHIMA JEWELLERY