Not for Her? Not for Me! Assamese Girl Puts Dabur on The Spot

Dabur’s gendered advertising on juice cartons upset a 9-year-old girl in Assam.

Réal Juice’s packaging raises a fresh question about gender in advertising (Photo: Facebook: Real Fruit Juice/Altered by the Quint)

After a 9-year-old girl from Guwahati refused to drink Real juice, for what she considered a ‘male centric’ message, the Parent company Dabur was put on the spot.

The message ‘Something that’s good for your child should make him smile’ was printed on the Real juice packet, upsetting the class 3 girl enough to take the matter to her parents.

The issue has prompted the central government to intervene and ensure gender neutrality in written contents on food or juice packets. While this aligns itself with the government’s ‘Beti Padhao Beti Bachao’ message, it raises more questions on how far the government is willing to go to ensure gender neutrality of products.

The girl’s father, Mriganka Majumder, a banker from Guwahati, told Hindustan Times that he took up the issue as he was hurt deeply by his daughter’s reaction.

“Last Sunday, I bought a carton of Real fruit juice for my daughter. When we reached home, she came to me after a while and said she will not drink the juice as it says on the carton that it is for ‘him’ not ‘her’,” he said.

The father then wrote to Dabur, complaining against what he considered gender-centric advertising. After waiting in vain, Majumder wrote to the Union Minister for Women and Child Development, Maneka Gandhi, who directly took up the issue with Dabur.

Also Read: Diversity Begins at Home: Smriti Irani Talks Gender and Inclusion

I have written to them to ensure that messaging in their products, especially food and beverages is ‘gender neutral’. Why should products such as fruit juice or health drink be male-centric? It amounts to discrimination against the girl child and women.

Maneka Gandhi, Union Minister for Women and Child Development

In their defence, Dabur clarified to the minister that it “always believed in gender neutral communication, be it on its product packs or with its advertisements”. They added that a majority of the Real juice packets, carry images of a family with both a son and a daughter.

Also Read: Say No To Gender Bias, Let Kids Choose from a Rainbow of Colours

With the current government making concerted efforts to improve India’s infamous gender imbalance, campaigns like ‘Beti Padhao, beti Bachao’, and the IRCTC’s recognition of a third gender have slowly exhibited the centre’s shift toward a more gender-inclusive policy.

Indian companies, however, have often thrived on marketing products to different genders such as men’s deodorant and women’s fairness cream, capitalizing on our country’s notable gender divide.

With juice however, the argument needs to be more considerate. As a product, it is gender neutral in it’s marketing. With children comprising a large section of their target demographic, the decisions of the young girl from Assam raises questions over the need for gender neutral advertising in products marketed to impressionable young children.