How FCB India cracked a ‘hairy’ campaign for STIRWorld

India on Tuesday scored its first ever Gold in the Industry craft category at Cannes Lions 2023 with ‘The Politics of Hair’ campaign. The campaign was created by FCB India for the design and architecture magazine STIRworld.

afaqs! caught up with Swati Bhattacharya, Creative Chairperson, FCB India about what went behind the making of the campaign.

The ‘Politics of Hair’ campaign was launched to highlight the  patriarchy observed in various cultures across the globe and how women’s hair are politicised across the world. The campaign was launched on the backdrop of the Iran crisis that sparked off after the death of Masha Amini- a 22 year old Iranian woman and was arrested for allegedly not wearing the hijab in accordance with government standards.

STIRworld, an architecture and design magazine and FCB India came together to highlight the patriarchy seen across the globe regarding hair. The campaign is the brainchild of FCB India and photographer Rohit Chawla.

The campaign is essentially a moving exhibition. It was first showcased at the India Art Fair. It was further backed by a digital film and a number of other touchpoints like posters designed as newspapers that had headlines from across the world showcasing control around women and their hair. 

Speaking about the campaign, Bhattacharya says, the magazine’s purpose itself acted as a brief for them. “ STIR which stands for ‘see, think,inspire,reflect’. That in itself is a great brief.”

“STIR wants to shift the needle when it comes to thinking through art which makes the society think and reflect.We all know what happened in September in Iran however it didn’t get much coverage. India was pretty quiet about it and no one spoke up about it. It was great to see a small art magazine talk about it and thanks to the exhibit we got so many women and some of the most important voices in the country join the movement. We had the French ambassador tweet about it,” she adds.

Between STIR's unfittered ambition for this brief, our aspiration for the work, the standards Rohit Chawla, our photographer, set for making making it as evocative as possible, this is a testament to what being unfettered can achieve for all of us. We fly when we are unfettered, Jin Jiyan Azadi!, (Woman, Life, Liberty- a slogan that has been the motto of uprising in Iran) states Bhattacharya.

She states that the India Art fair essentially doesn’t allow anything political to be displayed however they got through and the exhibition received tonnes of accolades and participation from a number of prominent personalities.

Bhattacharya says that they describe the campaign as a moving exhibition and it will soon travel to other parts of the world like France. 

“It (STIR) is not a conventional brand that would want a traditional TVC or ad film. For STIR, we will grow the brand in the art world by creating and inviting communities,” states Bhattacharya.