This advert about a trans mother will make you cry – in a good way
A new advert about a single trans mother raising an orphan in India is the best thing you’ll watch today.
Trans people in India suffer high levels of discrimination, with nearly half of all trans children being subjected to violence before they turn 18.
In a new ad, Vicks – yep, the vapor rub company – shows the true face of trans people in India by focusing on Gauri Sawant, who adopted her daughter Gayatri 10 years ago.
Acting as narrator, Gayatri tells the audience her mother is disappointed in her, because she wants her daughter to be a doctor.
We’ll come back to that later.
“Mum made her life on her own. She was only 18 when her father threw her out of the house,” she says proudly.
“Even the thought of living alone scares me.”
Gayatri never met her father, she says, and her birth mother died when she was young. Sawant adopted her soon afterwards.
She goes on to talk lovingly about how her mother massages her hair and cares for her when she’s sick, and how they love watching horror films together.
Then comes the twist, as Sawant is shown on screen for the first time, and the audience realises she’s trans.
“This is my mum,” Gayatri says.
“Isn’t she lovely?”
Gayatri talks about how her mother “has faced so many problems in life and gone through a lot, yet she’s always cared for me.
“My Civics book says that everyone is entitled to basic rights. Then why is my mum denied them?”
And then, the moment which will absolutely make you tear up unless you’re some sort of heartless monster.
“That’s why I’m not going to be a doctor. I will be a lawyer,” she says.
“For my mum.”
Cue the waterworks.
Nitin Darbari, Vicks’ marketing director of Asia, the Middle East and Africa, said the advert shows how love can bind people together, even outside of a typical family structure.
“Vicks has always been about the gentle touch of a mother’s care, as she caresses and gives relief to her child.
“With the #TouchOfCare campaign we are going a step further and expounding the importance of care beyond just the traditional perception of family.
“The campaign shows how people who, though not connected by blood, end up being family through care itself.”
You can watch the full advert below:
