LUX fights off sexist labels faced by women in Greater China campaign

Unilever beauty brand LUX has launched a new campaign in Greater China to fight sexist labels faced by Chinese women. Done in partnership with creative agency Wunderman Thompson Singapore and Sweetshop, the campaign features a short video starring Chinese actress Dilraba Dilmurat and is directed toward the "brave new breed of Chinese women", encouraging them to express their beauty. 

The video shows Dilmurat walking along the city streets, her phone blaring with female labels on social media. Dilmurat is then surrounded by thousands of negative 3D emoji balls. She then kicks and punches the negative emoji balls, which explode into purple petals, and other women soon follow suit. 

According to a statement by Sweetshop, the film shows how a strong, spirited young woman, bounced back against labels to become the confident role model she is today, thus inspiring other women to do the same with LUX. Zhang Jing, who directed the video, added: "LUX is always visually defined as the pinnacle of what constitutes contemporary femininity, the essence of virtues defined by education, culture, fashion and sophistication. I hope we’ve made a marvellous and colourful LUX film that encourages and empowers women." 

LUX has been known to address and combat sexism in its campaigns. Last month, it launched a new initiative called “Shut Up Sexism”, which aimed to equip female virtual voice assistants with ready-made verbal comebacks, especially when encountering sexist behaviour. The campaign, created in collaboration with Wunderman Thompson Singapore, looked to highlight the unquestioned nature of sexist encounters female virtual voice assistants have had to encounter, by calling out on the exchanges and starting a conversation about the impact of casual misogyny in tech spaces.

In the new campaign, virtual assistants are designed to respond automatically to demeaning, sexist insults. For example, in response to “Shut up”, the hacked assistant might reply, “If I shut up, will you grow up?” or "After you, I insist.” You might even hear a siren noise accompanied by “Attention; the anti-sexist police are on the way.” 

It also launched another campaign last August to highlight the impact of casual sexism faced by women in their everyday lives by inviting men to experience it first-hand for themselves. Titled “In Her Shoes”, the campaign was done in collaboration with online platform City Walks to offer men a glimpse of the sexism that women suffer by doing something as simple as taking a walk. It aimed to spark a conversation and turn men into allies by giving men the opportunity to walk in women’s shoes. 

The campaign ran on City Walks' website and the Middle East microsite for "In Her Shoes". When users visited the platform, they could click on “In Her Shoes”, a special button that allows them to toggle between experiencing the walk as a man, or as a woman. While men could enjoy an uninterrupted ramble, soaking up the sights and sounds of the city, the female perspective experienced unwanted attention from a group of men, catcalls and inappropriate remarks. 

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