Milind Soman promotes Vim Black for Men; confused netizens not amused
Milind Soman’s new Instagram post, in which he is seen in a supposed ad promoting Vim Black, a dishwashing liquid made exclusively for men, does not seem to have gone down well with netizens. While the product and the ad seem to be a joke, people evidently have not found it funny.
In the “ad,” a young man is seen bragging to a woman about being tired in the gym because he helped his mother do the dishes the previous night. Soman then enters the scene in a black apron and says, “Wow, what a brag! Did you enjoy bragging? Now, here is Vim Black. You can do all the dishes and keep on bragging.”
Just saw this ad for Vim Black,
it's apparently a dishwash liquid for 'MEN'They're now making gender-specific dishwash liquid and all they had to do was colour the bottle black??? 😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/w66kmZzU8G
— Jitto Thomas (@jobhihoe) December 9, 2022
The bottle Soman holds up in the video is not the usual Vim colour, but in black. Sharing the video, Milind wrote on Instagram, “Vim Black – dishwashing liquid made for men. Or is it? @vimindia @mtvindia #VimBlack #VimForMen #BragWithSwag.”
A satire?
The ad seems to be a satire by the popular Hindustan Unilever brand to normalise household chores and suggest that men should do those without bragging. It seems unlikely that the brand has indeed launched any such product as the page for buying Vim Black says it is out of stock and price is Rs 0. However, the page also says that it’s a “limited edition pack.”
In any case, many people did not get the joke. Others complained that the video has promoted another gender stereotype, that is, black is the colour of men.
Does look like a new campaign to highlight gender bias in doing the dishes, in continuation to using Sehwag for doing dishes in April 2021 (the last Insta post on official channel before the latest set of posts). pic.twitter.com/shkzjFhN99
— Karthik 🇮🇳 (@beastoftraal) December 10, 2022
One Instagrammer wrote: “For men? Kyu (why)? Yellow wale mein kya problem hai (what’s the problem with the yellow one)?!”
Another wrote: “Yeh toh ekdum galat kar dia. Kaam ko genderize kar lia. Matlab black bole toh manly hogaya. C’mon! C’mon! Yeh kya kia. (This is so wrong. You have genderized a chore? So, it is manly if it is black? What have you done).”
Black is for men?
Another person commented, “Yeah, of course! Some men need a ‘Vim black for men’ to be able to feel manly enough to do the dishes because regular Vim mein lagta hai k bartan dhona bhi (makes you feel that washing dishes) is a woman’s job!”
Apparently, Vim thought that they need to have a bottle in black and labeled as dishwash soap for men to motivate men to wash their own plates. How degenerative and toxic should you be to think that this was a good marketing idea!? 🤮 pic.twitter.com/pu6yB9wPg6
— Neeraja Menon (@thegeminian_) December 10, 2022
One user wrote on Twitter with a picture of Vim Black for Men: “Just when you thought you had seen every marketing gimmick — this happens. Vim, are you okay?”
Another user tweeted: “VIM liquid black — do you feel men are ashamed to use yellow or green dish washing liquid? Seriously feel bad for the team who approved this and thought this would work.”
Only some seemed to have enjoyed the campaign. “Contrary to popular opinion, I actually liked this ad/product. I discovered my love for washing dishes during the pandemic & found it quite liberating. This *marketing gimmick* by #Vim only reinforces my love for it. Can’t wait to get my hands dirty again with #VimBlack !” tweeted one user.
Suspense remains over whether the product is a joke or a new launch as Vim India’s Instagram page also shows a few other public figures promoting Vim Black.
