Mumbai: Amul Macho turned gender stereotypes on its head way back in 2007 when the brand launched the daring “Yeh Toh Bada Toing Hai” TVC for Amul Macho underwear by focusing on female desire. With the jingle achieving cult status, the brand is back over a decade later with the launch of Macho Sporto and a new campaign along similar lines. 

Conceptualised by creative agency Leo Burnett and promoted by media agency Madison Media Omega, the Macho Sporto campaign films consist of three films featuring actors Rashmika Mandanna and Vicky Kaushal.

The film portrays Mandanna playing a yoga instructor and Vicky Kaushal as one of her students, depicting different humorous scenarios during their yoga sessions. The brand attempts to playfully legitimise the female gaze.

“Through this campaign, we wanted to address and break regressive old-fashioned gender stereotypes," said Leo Burnett CEO and chief creative officer for South Asia Rajdeepak Das. "Typically innerwear brands portray conventional male-dominant imagery, but our films depict a role reversal where we normalise and make the woman in control. This is probably the first time where a men’s wear brand is showing a woman taking the lead."

“We are reviving our iconic campaign 'Yeh Toh Bada Toing Hai’ with a modern and trendier avatar of Macho Sporto. Although we are advertising men’s underwear, the campaign is centred around a young and confident woman who is empowered enough to gaze at a man she feels attracted to," said JG Hosiery (parent company of Macho Sporto) MD Navinn Seksaria. "Breaking patriarchal stereotypes, the campaign intends to highlight how today’s women don’t hesitate in making the first move."