Redressing the gender imbalance in household care

Source: Mintel 31-10-2016

“Several Indian ad campaigns have tried to encourage more male engagement with
laundry and other household chores. Mintel’s research suggests there is opportunity
for brands in the UK to do the same, although a softer approach may be more
effective.”
For more information, please see Mintel’s Cleaning in and Around the Home – UK,
August 2016 Report.

What we've seen

● Ariel India’s #ShareTheLoad campaign, launched in 2015, has attempted to
get men to do their fair share of housework.
● Indian TV channel Colors TV launched a campaign to encourage men to step
up in the home with the hashtag #SundayIsHerHoliday.
● Mintel’s The Unfairer Sex Trend highlights that the movement towards gender
equality still has some way to go to achieve its goals.
● Research from Mintel's Cleaning in and Around the Home - UK,  August
2016 Report suggests that women are still far more likely to take responsibility for
household chores around the home, with 59% of women claiming to take sole
responsibility for cleaning indoors compared to 40% of men.
● Mintel’s Marketing to Men – UK, January 2016 Report, 25% of men find it
difficult to identify with men used in advertising, while 20% agree that advertising
too often portrays men as incompetent in the home.

Ariel India campaigns to boost male involvement

Ariel India’s #ShareTheLoad campaign launched in 2015, highlighting that while
women’s roles in society have changed, their role as the main homemaker continues.
Another advert under the campaign ran in March 2016, featuring a father writing a
letter to his grown-up daughter after seeing her taking responsibility for doing all the
chores in her own home. Within this letter he apologises for the upbringing she has
had that has led to her lifestyle, and vows to go home to help his wife around the
house.

The campaign has been extended with the #LaundryGoesOddEven initiative, which
sees Ariel products sold along with an OddEven calendar that encourages men and
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women in the household to take responsibility for chores on alternate days.

FIGURE 1: Ariel India’s OddEven initiative, April 2016

@ArielIndia Twitter account/Mintel

Colors TV launches campaign with a similar aim

Indian TV channel Colors TV promoted a similar campaign in October 2016, which
also tried to encourage men to do more housework, and to give women “the day off”
on Sundays. In addition, it ran a Twitter helpline which allowed men to tweet using
the hashtag #HelpMeHelpHer to get tips on how to help out. The hashtag was a top
five trend in India during the three hours that it was open, with reportedly more than
a thousand men tweeting in.

Female dominance of household chores in the UK

Mintel’s research suggests that it is still women that take the lion’s share of
responsibility for household chores in the UK too.

Mintel’s Cleaning in and Around the Home – UK, August 2016 Report found that
women are 19 percentage points more likely to take sole responsibility for cleaning
indoors, while Mintel’s Toilet Cleaning, Bleaches and Disinfectants – UK, April
2016 and Laundry Detergents – UK, October 2016 Reports also indicate that
responsibility for cleaning the toilet and doing the laundry still largely lie with
women.

This highlights that more can be done to help redress the gender balance around the
home. Brands that do so could benefit from a more positive and modern image by
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actively promoting gender equality.  

FIGURE 2: Responsibility for selected household chores, by gender, January-August

2016

Base: 2,000 internet users aged 16+

Lightspeed/Mintel

These findings tie in with Mintel’s The Unfairer Sex Trend, which highlights that
despite recent efforts, gender equality is still yet to fully materialise. Indeed, other
household care research from Mintel demonstrates the greater role that women play
in household chores compared with men. For example, Mintel’s Dishwashing
Products –UK, May 2016 and Hard Surface Cleaning and Care – UK, March
2016 Reports show women as more likely to have used products  in the six months
previous than men.

Boosting male involvement with “normal” men

The campaigns run in India tend to focus on the benefits of sharing the load to the
female member of the household, either by giving them the chance to put their feet
up, or by taking some of the burden off them. However, there is also scope to try
and play more to the personal benefit to men of taking a more active role in
household chores, such as pride in contributing towards a clean, well-run home.

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Portraying men in a more positive light within the household, including showing
ordinary men as competent housemakers, could help to normalise the issue of men
taking at least equal responsibility around the home and confirm the role of men in
the modern household. With a significant number of men claiming to take some role
in household chores, a more forceful, accusatory campaign may risk alienation.

Bold 2in1 has recently launched a TV campaign for its new Irresistible product range
which has a man as its main character, although the actor’s muscular frame may still
keep him from being seen as someone that regular men can identify with. Mintel’s
Marketing to Men – UK, January 2016 Report highlights a number of attitudes that
men have towards advertising, such as difficulty in identifying with men in
advertising and portrayals of incompetence, while which further highlight that simply
including normal men getting on with different household chores adequately could
provide softer, more effective encouragement.

FIGURE 3: Men’s attitudes towards marketing and advertising, October 2015

Base: 988 male internet users aged 16+

Lightspeed/Mintel

What it means
● Women are still most likely to take responsibility for household chores around
the home, suggesting that there is scope for brands to help redress the gender
balance, as Ariel has looked to do in India.
● Advertising can play a role, with a focus on ordinary men partaking in
ordinary household chores likely to avoid the issue of being patronising while still
highlighting the role of men in the modern household.
● There is a cultural, historic element to the female dominance of responsibility
for household chores, indicating that it is important to help break stereotypes that
have fed down through several generations. Targeting younger adults who have yet
to have children with gender-equal advertising could therefore help to break down
this cycle for generations to come.

This report is supplied in accordance with Mintel's terms and conditions. Supplied to University of Sussex
Library.

© Mintel Group Ltd. 4

This report is supplied in accordance with Mintel's terms and conditions. Supplied to University of Sussex
Library.

© Mintel Group Ltd. 5