Urban Company's Chhoti Soch ad film: right message, but...

The ad, "Chhoti Soch", (loosely translated as " narrow mindset" ) iss almost four minutes long. You can see it here: https://youtu.be/kU3y54ybZqA?s… The ad is simple and straightforward - a young lady who works for Urban Company returns home to find her younger brother angry and sulking. He is upset because everyone has teased him about his sister being a masseuse and buying a car through providing customers with "happy endings."

She tells her brother that people notice the car, not the work that went to get it, and also that the more women succeed, the more narrow other people's thinking becomes. The ad ends with the girl's mother proudly patting her on the shoulder,. and a message asking people to respect the dignity of hard work, no matter what society might say.

The setting of the ad is in a typical middle class family living in an apartment block. The main character stays with her mother and her younger brother (there is no reference to the father). The ad is shot with a generally dark backdrop, with a number of pauses, highlighting the facial expressions of the main characters, and with slightly melancholy music. Production values and direction are absolutely spot on. We can see why people liked it.

We, however, have mixed feelings. It is a trifle too long at almost four minutes. We also found the pivot from people not respecting labour to people not respecting women a little too sudden, and almost like an afterthought. Perhaps the theme of successful women not getting their due could have come in earlier. And well, the fact that the brother needed what is really a sermon by his sister to understand the situation is oddly...unconvincing.

We were a little disappointed at how the boy needed to be told something he should have known - the ad does refer to his sister being called a 'massage wali' in the past. It is also noticeable that she gives examples of women (a tired housewife, a new mother) when she talks of happy endings, whereas the slur that has been cast at her ("masseuse" is a much maligned term, alas)  we are reasonably sure had nothing to do with her women clients.

In fact, not too many folks we spoke to knew what "happy endings" meant in context of the ad - it is a very Western term, so perhaps something simpler could have been used, especially given the middle class setting of the ad. All of which left us with a sense of having heard a very good message that had not been delivered very effectively - a bit like a song with a great tune and instrumentation but weak lyrics.