Mock bridal jewellery film highlights marriage rights in Pakistan

Karachi-headquartered agency And The Nerve has used the tropes of a bridal fashion video to draw attention to women’s rights within marriage contracts in Pakistan.

Created for independent legal research and advisory firm Center for Human Rights, the campaign was launched to coincide with the wedding season in Pakistan.

Explaining the rationale behind the campaign, Sevim Saadat, co-founder, Centre for Human Rights said in a press release, “While religion allows a woman to stipulate multiple demands in her contract (ie the right to divorce without having to go to court, the entitlement to financial support from her husband, and the right to pursue employment or further education), culture dictates that women are kept on the sidelines. Male officiants and members of the family step up to decide what goes into the contract—going as far as callously crossing out the clauses that allow for the rights—a practice that continues despite being criminalised by law.”

As a result, women in Pakistan are often denied at least one key marriage right in their nikahnama (a marriage contract used by the global Muslim population), even as they plan every other aspect of their wedding in minute detail.

With women typically the target audience for bridal campaigns, the film is styled as a launch video for a new jewellery line from Pakistani designer Fahad Hussayn before revealing that the ornaments are studded with thorns, making them unwearable. The film directs its viewers to a helpline number that focuses specifically on marriage rights.  

Hira Mohibullah, co-founder and creative lead, And The Nerve said, “The thorns worked as a haunting double entendre: the word kaanta in Urdu means both ‘thorn’ and ‘a cross on paper.’ This duality served as a reminder to women that every cross they allowed on their contract could be a potential thorn in their marital life.” 

And The Nerve was conscious of the potential for backlash against a campaign that questions social mores. 

Mohibullah said, “Due to deeply entrenched patriarchal mindsets, there's always a pitfall in creating any campaigns that are focused on women empowerment. In choosing to disseminate this message as a mock-launch for a jewellery line, we were able to clear out any viewers this campaign was not intended for. Partnering up with the country's leading bridal fashion designer meant that we had the attention of every bride-to-be (our target audience) that was on the hunt for perfect jewellery and wedding attire. We believe this highly strategic targeting was the reason for a 98% positive sentiment.”

With the wedding season ongoing, Mohibullah said the calls to the helpline were still being tabulated and added, “Our biggest aim was to get women to focus on what really matters when it comes to weddings—not their makeup, events or attire, but the marriage contract that they will sign.”

Campaign's take: The film sets its bait-and-switch quite effectively—lulling the viewer with sights and sounds straight from a wedding jewellery playbook before an abrupt detour into more serious territory. The media strategy of relying on beauty salons as a venue to showcase the film raises the odds that it will pass under the radar of the chronically online, perpetually outraged denizens of the South Asian internet. If it does play a role in initiating a movement that secures women's rights to a greater extent, so much the better. 

However that's where not just this campaign, but several in a similar vein, make us pause from unstinting praise. While they do an excellent job of striking an emotional chord, effectiveness at how well they addressed the problem at hand is difficult to verify.

CREDITS

Client: Centre for Human Rights
Agency: And The Nerve
Strategy director: Daniah Ishtiaq
Creative director (copy): Hira Mohibullah
Creative director (art): Fahad Hussayn
Jewellery: The Menagerie (by Fahad Hussayn)
Director: Ibrahim Baloch
Producer: Irtaza Zaidi
PR: Walnut Communications
Photography: Nadir Firoz Khan
Art director: Habeeba Gillani
Onground Partner: Depilex