The archive · Marketing & Growth · Marketing decision · 2021
Proya's 2021 Women's Day ad: 'Gender is not the boundary line, prejudice is'
Proya partnered with China Women's News for Women's Day, discussing gender prejudice; the film exceeded 25 million plays.
Proya (珀莱雅) · China Women's News (中国妇女报)
What it had to solve
Around the 2021 March 8 International Women's Day, women's issues surged, the 'She Economy' (她经济) became a traffic trend, and brands successively praised women with homogenized slogans; Proya (珀莱雅), as a women's skincare brand, wanted to move beyond a 'safe play' while avoiding commodifying feminism and triggering antagonism.
How it works
During the 2021 March 8 International Women's Day, women's issues surged on social media, the 'She Economy' (她经济) became a brand traffic trend, but the vast majority of Women's Day advertisements stayed at 'praising goddesses' (「赞美女神」) or discount promotions, with homogenized messaging and even backfiring. Proya (珀莱雅) chose a more risky path: not talking about goddesses, but talking about prejudice.
Proya (珀莱雅) partnered with China Women's News (中国妇女报) to launch 'Gender Is Not the Boundary Line, Prejudice Is' (「性别不是边界线 偏见才是」); on March 3, it published a full-page long copy on the newspaper's back page. It invited rapper Yu Zhen (于贞), who became widely known for 'She and She and She' (《她和她和她》), to appear in the brand film in a speech format, listing everyday gender prejudices one by one, such as 'female drivers' (「女司机」), 'why should boys study nursing' (「男生为什么要学护理」), and 'men cannot cry' (「男人不能哭」)—those constrained by stereotypes are not only women but also men.
In communication, the brand collaborated with 10 KOLs including Xi Rui (席瑞) and Luo Beibei (萝贝贝) to speak jointly, and Li Yinhe (李银河) also participated in the discussion; it also commissioned illustrators to customize the Dual Anti-Glycation and Anti-Oxidation Essence Art Gift Box (双抗精华艺术礼盒) and attitude T-shirts, tying 'fighting prejudice' (「对抗偏见」) to the product's 'dual anti' (双抗) concept of anti-glycation and anti-oxidation (抗糖抗氧).
Result: As of March 9, the brand film had 171,000 WeChat Moments reposts and 216,000 likes, short film views exceeded 10 million, and Weibo topic reads exceeded 110 million; by March 16, plays exceeded 25 million and topic reads reached 150 million. The case was rated by SocialBeta as one of the Top 10 Female Marketing Cases for the first half of 2021 and won the 2021 Digitaling Awards (数英奖) Silver Award in the short video category.
Why it lands
- Expanding 'prejudice against women' (「女性偏见」) into 'gender prejudice' (「性别偏见」): men are also constrained by stereotypes, the issue becomes broader, and it does not create antagonism between the sexes.
- Using speech-style long copy instead of slogans: specific scenarios ('female drivers' (「女司机」), 'studying nursing' (学护理), 'don't cry' (别哭)) resonate more than vague praise.
- A full page in mainstream media, a rapper, and cross-field KOLs advanced together, with authority, youth culture, and academic discussion speaking simultaneously.
- Aligning the value proposition with the product concept: the spiritual 'dual anti' (双抗) and the product's anti-glycation and anti-oxidation (抗糖抗氧) form a double meaning.
What it did
As of March 9, the brand film had 171,000 WeChat Moments reposts and 216,000 likes, short film views exceeded 10 million; Weibo topic reads exceeded 110 million and discussions 91,000; by March 16, plays exceeded 25 million and topic reads reached 150 million; it was selected as one of SocialBeta's Top 10 Female Marketing Cases for the first half of 2021 and won a Silver Award in the short video category at the Digitaling Awards (数英奖).
What you can take
Holiday marketing deepens issue discussion, avoids sides, and turns ads into dialogue; reach follows.
Since then
'Gender Is Not the Boundary Line, Prejudice Is' (「性别不是边界线 偏见才是」) became Proya's (珀莱雅) multi-year annual theme: in 2022 it released an all-female lion dance short film 'Lion Dance Girls' (《醒狮少女》); in 2023 it continued to speak out for the third year; in 2024, in the fourth year, content including a male perspective prompted questioning from some netizens, and related promotional content was taken offline. The theme itself became a long-term brand asset and was reviewed by the advertising industry as a representative case of Women's Day marketing shifting from 'praise' (「赞美」) to 'issue' (「议题」).
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