Could this one little advertisement actually make a difference?

India. It’s a beautiful country with a lot to offer and home to almost one billion people.

But for the longest of times, India has been a nation that wasn’t doing too well in the feminism department. This was compounded when a series of horrific gang-rapes that took place last year gave the country a rude wake-up call.

There is still a long way to go for the country, but fortunately, things are starting to change now. Pro-women government campaigns have been making headway.  Bollywood has begun portraying stronger female roles and writing story lines that tackle issues of rape and eve-teasing. Even Indian Premier League cricket players have been using their celeb status to speak out on female dis-empowerment.

The latest campaign to take a stand is a series of advertisements released by Havells, an Indian home-appliances company. The ads take five banal-yet-clichéd situations and turn them into a funny pro-feminist stance. Their slogan – Havells Appliances. Respect women.

Here’s one of them. This one’s about a coffee maker.

Unfortunately there aren’t any English Subtitles. But trust me. You’ll get it – the important parts are in English.

This one takes all the trope of a stereotypical arranged marriage meet-cute and then goes to town.

Here, the prospective groom’s side of the family is visiting the girl’s house for tea. The groom’s mother starts bragging about her son’s life in the USA, since marrying a foreign-settled man is a common checklist item for most to-be brides. She then says haughtily that she wishes he’d settle down already. How long should he keep going to a café for a simple cup of coffee? To this, the girl suggests he marry a coffee maker and avoid any cumbersome visa issues. Hilarious and poignant.

Boom.

Could this be the start of something special? These ads have been making waves in their home country. Hopefully by fighting fire with funny, we can sucker-punch inequality in the face.

Do you think these ads are going to make a difference when it comes to how women are treated?