Actor and fitness model Milind Soman's new Instagram post where he can be seen promoting Vim Black, a dishwashing liquid made exclusively for men, has gone viral, upsetting a section of social media users. The ad, which is a cheeky attempt to normalise household chores for all, left many offended as they started trolling the actor for gender discrimination. Responding to the backlash, Vim has cleared the air, saying that the new campaign for black dishwashing liquid for men ''was a joke''.
In an Instagram post, addressed to "men", the company wrote, "We aren't serious about the black pack, but we are super serious about men owning chores at home!" The text on the post read, ‘'Dear men, it was a joke.''
In another ‘'open letter'', Vim captioned the post as, ‘' Hey guys, just something we want to say from the bottom of our b̶o̶t̶t̶l̶e̶s̶ hearts!''
The post read, ‘' Only the bottle is different, the liquid inside has been the same all along... You don't need a new bottle to enter the kitchen, just the realisation that these are your chores too!"
The outrage started soon after Milind Soman posted an ad on Instagram promoting the product, to emphasise that men should be participating equally in dishwashing and other household chores.
The ad features a young man bragging in the gym about helping his mom wash the dishes. "Woh thodi thakaan ho gayi thi. Actually, kal raat na maine saare bartaan dhoye the. Mummy ki help kar deta hoon kabhi kabhi aur karni bhi chaiye. (I am a bit tired as I washed all the dishes last night. I help my mom sometimes)," he tells a woman.
Milind Soman then enters the scene and says, "Waah beta waah, kya bragging karri hai. Go on, did you enjoy?" He then shows him a bottle of the black dishwashing liquid and says now he can wash all the dishes and keep on bragging.
The bottle used in the video is not in the yellow or green colour for the brand, but in black. Sharing the video, Mr Soman wrote on Instagram, "Vim Black - dishwashing liquid made for men. Or is it? @vimindia @mtvindia #VimBlack #VimForMen #BragWithSwag."
Watch the video here:
The ad, which was meant to be a satire by the popular Hindustan Unilever, didn't go down well with many users. One user said, "Sir!! It is so disappointing to see you endorse such things. What on earth has a detergent liquid got to do with men doing the bare minimum? Why is it being labelled or distinguished on the basis of gender? And what is the fucking point of this?It makes 0 sense!!" Another wrote, "Please tell me this a spoof and not a real product. I refuse to believe that we have fallen this deep down the pit hole of idiotic Capitalism."
Notably, the brand has not launched any such product as the page for buying Vim Black says it is out of stock and price is Rs 0.
However, there were also some who got the joke. Another user commented, “What a brilliant way to troll men who think it's a woman's job to do the dishes! Pity many didn't get the message. Arrey baba it's not a new product for men. It's saying ‘ab toh bartan uthhao, dho daalo. Your mardangi won't suffer because of it'.”
