The archive · Marketing & Growth · Marketing decision · 2015
Whisper turns the pickle period taboo into a proud act — India's first Glass Grand Prix
Whisper and BBDO India turned the pickle taboo into a joyful film — 2.9M pledges, SOV 21%→91%, Cannes Glass Grand Prix.
Whisper (Procter & Gamble India)
What it had to solve
Whisper, P&G's sanitary pad brand, needed to reach young urban Indian women aged 16–24 and make its promise of being 'unstoppable' relevant, while a deep cultural taboo said menstruating women are impure and must not touch pickles, enter kitchens or temples.
How it works
In India, a widespread belief held that menstruating women must not touch pickles or the pickles would rot — one of many rules isolating women during their periods. Whisper, P&G's sanitary pad brand, was briefed to reach young urban women aged 16–24 and make its promise of being 'unstoppable' relevant.
BBDO India's Mumbai office answered with a 30-second film directed by Shimit Amin: a confident young woman walks into a kitchen and playfully touches the pickle jars while older women applaud and celebrate her. Around the film, the agency built the #TouchThePickle movement with celebrity and achiever videos, live radio debates, a CNN-IBN show and Menstrupedia founder Aditi Gupta speaking on a TED stage.
The campaign became India's first Glass Grand Prix at Cannes 2015, beating campaigns like 'Like a Girl', and won ADFEST 2016's Grande Lotus Roots. By the time results were compiled, 2.9 million women had pledged to touch the pickle, the film had over 1.9 million views, earned media was worth US$6.1 million and Whisper's share of voice had grown from 21% to 91.2%.
Why it lands
- It turned a prohibition into the creative device: the forbidden act became the campaign's joyful centrepiece, so the message needed no explanation.
- It made the audience participants, not spectators — 2.9 million pledges turned a film into a movement.
- It treated a sensitive subject with humour and celebration instead of preaching, which is why it travelled beyond India's borders.
- It delivered hard business results: share of voice jumped from 21% to 91.2% while the brand took the inaugural Glass Lion.
What it did
2.9 million women pledged to touch the pickle; the film passed 1.9 million views; earned media reached US$6.1 million; unaided recall hit 73%; Whisper's share of voice grew from 21% to 91.2% — and the work took Cannes' inaugural Glass Grand Prix and ADFEST 2016's Grande Lotus Roots.
What you can take
To break a taboo, don't argue with it — dramatise the forbidden act as joyful, normal behaviour and invite the audience to perform it, turning a belief into a movement.
Since then
Touch the Pickle became the reference case for purpose-driven advertising in India and is credited with opening the floodgates for frank campaigns about menstruation, from Whisper's own later education work to competitors and public-health efforts. It won Cannes' first Glass Grand Prix, ADFEST 2016's Grande Lotus Roots and Kyoorius Creative Abby recognition, and its share-of-voice jump made it a standard effectiveness case study. Director Shimit Amin said the point was to address an honest issue 'in a happy and tongue-in-cheek manner' rather than preach.
Sources
- Whisper – Touch The Pickle (Integrated Campaign – Large Business)
- 'Touch the Pickle' ad wins at Cannes Lions 2015
- Cultural campaigns take home metals at ADFEST 2016, BBDO is Network of the Year
- Whisper Touch The Pickle
- Cannes Lions. Campanhas com sabor a Grand Prix
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