All India Men’s Welfare Association (AIMWA) is the first ever organization formed to protect the rights and interests of men and to fight against all kinds of discrimination against men and boys in all arenas – social, legal, economic, etc.

AIMWA has launched a massive online protest against the “Women against Lazy Stubble (W.A.L.S.)” campaign started by the Gillette brand of Procter and Gamble India Ltd. (P&G) wherein P&G openly declared the campaign as “Women on the warpath” and has called men, who sport stubble or prefer to remain unshaven, as lazy in order to boost their sales of products of the shaving range.

The demands made by AIMWA are as follows

1. Procter and Gamble should stop the “Women against Lazy Stubble” campaign immediately.
2. They should publish a 10 cm. X 12 cm. apology for insulting men, in all leading national dailies, on either the front page or back page.
3. Actresses Minisha Lamba, Neha Dhupia and Mugdha Godse should tender apologies to all men for calling them lazy and urging women to detest unshaven men.
4. Procter and Gamble should also tender an apology for making a Gender Hate Speech, and
5. They should give an undertaking that they will never design sexist anti-male ad campaigns in future under any circumstances.

However, as there has been no official response from P&G on this issue of withdrawing the ad campaign or complying with the above demands, AIMWA is constrained to make an official complaint in this matter with the Advertizing Standards Council of India (ASCI) for designing a sexist anti-male ad-campaign offending the sentiments of men’s rights organization by calling all men lazy just to boost their sales and in turn also creating an environment that promotes Domestic Violence against Men.

As such AIMWA has launched an official complaint with the Council so that it can take necessary action against Gillette and P&G as per its policies.

Additionally, Katherine Albrecht’s “Talk Radio with Freedom” from the United States interviewed Mr. Parthasarthy, member of All India Men’s Welfare Association on AIMWA’s protest against the W.A.L.S. campaign of Gillette.

AIMWA will continue the protest against P&G and Gillette till all the demands are met. AIMWA further urges the people to boycott all brands under the Procter and Gamble India Ltd. Company like, Braun coffeemaker, Duracell, Old Spice, Pantene, Vicks, Oral-B, Head and Shoulders, Gillette, Tide, Pampers, Pringle potato chips, Ariel detergent, etc. and use alternate brands for the same products.

Date: 04 Jan 2010

Place: Bangalore

Thanks and Regards

President
All India Men’s Welfare Association

Translated Version:-

In continuation with the article, Navbharat Times conducted a poll asking, “Whether sporting stubble is a sign of laziness or a fashion statement? They got a lot of answers. Some selected ones are printed here –

Shaving is not a sign of Laziness, but a matter of fashion

• This ad is completely gender biased. They are doing this for their own profits. These kinds of promotion techniques are shameful for any company – Swarup.
• According to me, it is wrong to say that men do not shave due to laziness. Ordinarily, men professionals shave as per the code and conduct of their service, but men in middle and lower positions are very busy in their work and household chores and do not get time to shave. Hence, lack of time is the reason for not shaving. In a modern society, shaving is a part of fashion only as a man can do anything to look like a hero – Dr. O. P. Sharma.
• I think stubble is a matter of fashion and not laziness. Gillette should apologize for their statement – Neena Dhulia.
• I haven’t shaved today, did not even yesterday, will do tomorrow. Not shaving may be a sign of laziness. By the way, I do not shave every day. I do it alternatively. Sometimes the gap is of two days. We should remain clean. Women keep long hair or short hair, it is a matter of their personal choice. Likewise shaving is also a matter of choice. Women may give their opinion but the final decision should wrest with the man only – Jeevan Kumar Mittal.
• To sport stubble is completely a matter of personal choice. No company / individual have any right whatsoever to dictate – Virag.
• Stubble is fashion and nothing else – Neeraj Sapna.
• It is completely a matter of personal choice. It is meaningless whether someone shaves or not. Ad is bullshit – Amit Kumar.
• I take it as a fashion statement. I have sported a French cut for 27 years and still have shaved other areas of my face daily. It is not so easy to keep stubble. It takes a lot of time to maintain it. May be some people are lazy but most people take it as a matter of fashion – Veerendra Gupta.

New Delhi: Boys…have you shaved? If not, then you might just be tagged as lazy. At least those women can do so who are listening to Bollywood actresses Mugdha Godse, Neha Dhupia and Minisha Lamba. In a new ad campaign started by Gillette, the multinational brand of safety razors, these beauties are appealing to women to encourage their men to shave and also that those men who do not shave daily are lazy.

This ad campaign has hit many a men and they have started a crusade against it. An organization by the name of All India Men Welfare Association (AIMWA), has started a protest against this ad campaign, terming it anti-male, not only in India but in the US as well. They have demanded an apology from the multinational and if no response is received in the next 4-5 days, then AIMWA will make complaints to the ministry of Information and Broadcasting and other appropriate forums.

This ad campaign was launched by the name of “Women against Lazy Stubble” on November 7. As per the ad, men do not shave only because they are lazy. It also shows the women on warpath against their non-shaving lazy husbands. All India Men Welfare Association has started email and blog campaign against this on the internet.

Even their American counterparts have started a protest there, saying that the Indian division of Gillette is running a gender biased ad campaign in India. As per Virag Dhulia, founder member of All India Men Welfare Association, company’s president expressed displeasure over phone and assured that the ad campaign would be stopped after 14 December however, the ads are still running. “Merely, on the basis of whether a man shaves or not, he cannot be tagged as lazy. It is a matter of choice for men.” Dhulia added.

Interestingly, a woman’s organization, All India Forgotten Women’s Association, is also supporting the protest.

Men Stand up for their Stubbly Chins

An MNC can’t make fun of masculinity

Gillette is breaking families

Sub: Announcing boycott of Procter and Gamble Products

About AIMWA:

All India Men’s Welfare Association (AIMWA) is the first ever organization formed in India to fight against all kinds of discrimination against men and boys. AIMWA was launched in Hyderabad on 11^th October 2009 and has expanded to Bangalore and Chennai within two months of its launch with around 1000 members.

Background:

Gillette, the manufacturer of branded shaving products for men has come up with the idea of “Women against Lazy Stubble” wherein men not shaving, or men sporting stubble have been tagged as “lazy” and their women have every right to detest and demean them. And Gillette also tags this campaign as “Women on the warpath”. This ad campaign was launched on November 7, 2009 and includes campaigns on various media channels as well.

AIMWA perceiving this campaign as downright sexist and anti-male launched a massive online protest against the ad-campaign and demanded apology from Procter and Gamble as well as the brand ambassadors Minisha Lamba, Neha Dhupia and Mugdha Godse. The demands of AIMWA were well voiced by our media friends.

However, as Procter and Gamble has failed to respect the demands of AIMWA, AIMWA now launches “Refund for Razor” campaign. Members of AIMWA will be sending used Gillette Razors to Procter and Gamble office in Mumbai and asking for refund for the razors as Gillette has failed to respect the very men for which it designs the products.

AIMWA also urges the citizenry, those who support the protest of AIMWA against the commoditization of men to boost consumerism and sales, to join hands in the “Refund for Razor” campaign and send used razors back to Procter and Gamble office in Mumbai and demand a refund.

Additionally AIMWA calls for boycott of all brands under the Procter and Gamble India Ltd. Company like, Braun coffeemaker, Duracell, Old Spice, Pantene, Vicks, Oral-B, Head and Shoulders, Gillette, Tide, Pampers, Pringle potato chips, Ariel detergent, etc. and use alternate brands for the same products.

Thanks and Regards

President
All India Men’s Welfare Association

Sub: Announcing December 7 as the National Stubble Day

About AIMWA:

All India Men’s Welfare Association (AIMWA) is the first ever organization formed in India to fight against all kinds of discrimination against men and boys. AIMWA was launched in Hyderabad on 11^th October 2009 and has expanded to Bangalore and Chennai within two months of its launch with around 1000 members.

Background:

Gillette, the manufacturer of branded shaving products for men has come up with the idea of “Women against Lazy Stubble” wherein men not shaving, or men sporting stubble have been tagged as “lazy” and their women have every right to detest and demean them. And Gillette also tags this campaign as “Women on the warpath”. This ad campaign was launched on November 7, 2009 and includes campaigns on various media channels as well.

Objections:

AIMWA perceives this campaign as outright against men and is protesting against,

1. Violation of fundamental rights of men.
2. Negative portrayal of men by calling them lazy.
3. Infringement of choices by men.
4. Unnecessary financial burden on men, and
5. Imposing of conditions on men.

Additionally the views expressed in the “Women against Lazy Stubble” campaign and endorsed by Bollywood actresses Minisha Lamba, Neha Dhupia and Mugdha Godse about women’s preference of shaven/stubbled men does not represent the views of the average Indian Woman. As the campaign is being promoted by Procter and Gamble and it has a commercial interest in it, there is every reason to believe the views are bought off, especially when a group of women called “Women Against Male-bashing (W.A.M)” have started the campaign called “Stop the War against Men and Boys”.

The views expressed by W.A.M in their press release aptly represent the views of the average Indian woman as there is no commercial interest involved in it and is a pure expression of thoughts by the Indian women about men and their right to CHOICE. Also, the campaign ignores the umpteen researches that have been done proving it’s actually the stubble in a man that attracts the woman.

A stubble is a man’s right and no one has any right whatsoever to dictate when he should shave or whether he should shave even. It is completely a man’s discretion whether he should remain clean-shaven or stubbled or bearded or unshaven.

By calling men who sport stubble as lazy, Gillette and its parent company Procter and Gamble have issued a Communal Hate Speech as there are enough religious minorities in India who have religious reservations against shaving and also a Gender Hate Speech against men. AIMWA strongly protests it and condemns it outright. AIMWA views the campaign as downright sexist, anti-male and one that can have many disastrous consequences for men like,

1. This campaign will lead to more men facing more domestic violence from their wives in the form of verbal abuse, economic abuse and emotional abuse. The campaign treats MEN as FREE ATM MACHINES and promotes domestic violence against men. Domestic violence is the numero uno killer for men as corroborated by suicide statistics from the National Crime Record Bureau. Every year more than 57000 married men are ending their lives.
2. This campaign adds to the never ending expectations, of the society in general and women in particular, from men.
3. This campaign ignores the countless contributions that men make to the society. It disrespects the fact that the most dangerous, precarious, menial and risky jobs are not only undertaken by men but it is also de-facto expected that they would do so. And if men stop doing those dangerous and risky jobs, the society would cease to run. Rather the campaign designers have chosen an optional activity as shaving as a benchmark to measure activeness of men. It cannot get any more pathetic.
4. This campaign encourages women to command men, which is a violation of fundamental rights of liberty granted under the Constitution of India.
5. The campaign commoditizes men for commercial purpose which is not acceptable. Today it’s shaving, tomorrow some other company might come up with some more such sexist campaigns spreading Gender Hatred in order to boost sales and it can be against anyone, men or women. This campaign is being protested against to pass a message to the Corporate World that they too have limits and they need to learn to respect them.

Why National Stubble Day:

Because stubble is a man’s right and since Procter and Gamble is spreading hatred against men with stubble, AIMWA has come up with the idea of celebrating December 7 as the National Stubble Day. The members of AIMWA have decided not to shave on December 7 this year and the following years as well and urges other men to join us and strengthen the movement.

National Stubble Day is being marked to,

1. Register AIMWA’s protest against the sexist anti-male ad campaign, “Women against Lazy Stubble”.
2. Protest against commoditization of men to boost consumerism.
3. Protest against rampant anti-male quotient in the society and unchallenged insults thrown at men treating them as second class citizens while ignoring the reality that men make some wonderful and indispensible contributions to societies and civilizations.
4. Raising voice against promoting Domestic Violence against Men using commercially motivated sexist anti male ad campaigns.
5. Assert a man’s rights and prevent infringement of the same.

Additionally, on the occasion of National Stubble Day, AIMWA presents the following demands,

1. Procter and Gamble to stop the “Women against Lazy Stubble” campaign immediately.
2. They should publish a 10 cm. X 12 cm. apology for insulting men, in all leading national dailies, on either the front page or back page.
3. Actresses Minisha Lamba, Neha Dhupia and Mugdha Godse should tender apologies to all men for calling them lazy and urging women to detest unshaven men.
4. Procter and Gamble should also tender an apology for making a Gender Hate Speech, and
5. They should give an undertaking that they will never design sexist anti-male ad campaigns in future under any circumstances.

If the above demands are not met, then AIMWA will be constrained to agitate the protest and intensify it and for that Procter and Gamble will be held responsible.

Thanks and Regards

President
All India Men’s Welfare Association

All the characters in the narration below are fictitious and bear no resemblance with any person living or dead whatsoever. Any such resemblance is co-incidental.

Abhishek is 29 years old, has a degree in management, a well-paid job in an MNC, an apartment, a car, lives away from his parents who are financially not dependent on him and is the only child of his parents with stunning looks and dashing personality. In short, he is just the husband any woman can dream off. And so comes Neha’s dream true with as his alliance get fixed with her.

Neha, who is an educated smart and beautiful looking young girl, attracts Abhishek a lot who falls for her and despite her extremely demanding nature tries every bit to keep her happy while their courtship blossoms.

Neha had a wish. She wanted her fiancé to be the first person to wish her on her birthday. So Abhishek gets up at 5 AM on her first birthday after their engagement just to fulfill that wish of hers and does succeed in it as well. Neha is on seventh heaven, as Abhishek just broke one rule of would-be spouses not meeting for 2 days before their wedding just to please his princess and be her Prince Charming.

But, co-incidentally her birthday coincides with their marriage date and Abhishek gets a little late for marriage and reaches the marriage venue with his stubble (not clean shaven).

Neha gets extremely furious seeing him in stubble. She leaves the marriage proceedings in between and tries to run away saying,

“A research by Procter and Gamble has proved that men who do not shave are lazy and I do not want to marry a lazy fellow like you. You have ruined my life. You know how much I hate this damn stubble, yet could not take care of this simple thing, how are you going to take care of my feelings?”

Abhishek, his parents, Neha’s parents and all tried a lot to pacify her and convince her to get married to Abhishek but she does not listen. Seeing all this, her brother Abhijit gets furious and slaps Abhishek saying, “Why did you do this to my sweet little innocent sister?”

Abhijit walks out of the venue along with Neha and the duo return with the local police with a complaint of dowry harassment against Abhishek and his parents who are immediately arrested and sent to judicial custody for 8 days without any trial/investigation. Inside prison, also, Abhishek does not get an opportunity to shave and his stubble get promoted to beard.

He gets bail after 8 days and when he produced in the court before the magistrate, there too Neha lashes out at him saying, “See your honor, I told you, this fellow has no feelings for me. Still he is the same dirty fellow. Please cancel his bail”

Abhishek is still in a state of shock as he is not able to comprehend what went wrong. He said to himself, “I loved her so much, and did everything just to keep her happy and one ad campaign ruined my life! And that too I could not shave only to keep her happy and still today I am a criminal without a crime! Why the hell do they design such bogus, meaningless, destructive and gender biased anti male sexist ad campaigns?”

He decides to fight for his innocence. It takes him 10 years to prove himself innocent of a crime he did not commit. He became victim of what has been aptly termed by the Honorable Supreme Court of India as “Legal Terrorism” i.e. misuse of dowry laws and Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code. But during that time even Neha is not able to get married because of the case.

One ill-designed and myopic ad campaign ruined so many lives!

Think, would you not like to protest against such a campaign?

If so, visit “Phone Action Campaign Against Procter and Gamble”

They are flaunting a flawed research that 94% women like men clean shaven, whereas umpteen number of independent researches sans any commercial interest and involving a far greater audience have  proven the exact reverse – that women prefer men with stubble.

Had it been limited to this, it would have still been acceptable, however, Gillette wanted to stoop to levels far lower than this one. They went ahead to start a campaign, “Women Against Lazy Stubble” and called all men who do not shave or rather do not get time to shave as “LAZY” which is downright demeaning and insulting to men.

They roped in Minisha Lamba, Neha Dhupia, and Mugdha Godse (aspiring Bollywood actresses) as brand ambassadors.

If you think keeping stubble is your rights as a man or your man has a right to decide when he should shave or not and calling all men who do not shave as lazy is infringing into men’s rights, participate in the phone action against Gillette India.

Here’s what you can do:-

1. Call at (+91 22) 2826 6000 and tell them you are a member of the “Stubble India Movement” and have come to know of a campaign started by them called, “Women Against Lazy Stubble”. Ask them, why are they doing so?

2. Write to Gillette and Proctor and Gamble at dutta.a.2@pg.com, mittal.r.2@pg.com, vaidyanathan.d@pg.com, gillette_investors@masserv.com, gillette@in.pgconsumers.com and ask for apology from them on behalf of “All India Men’s Welfare Association“

3. Call Rashi Mittal at +91 22 2826 7463, Abijit Dutta at +91 22 2826 7476 or Deepa Vaidyanathan at +91 22 2826 7243 and ask for explanation from them for the mass insult of men.

Kapoor and others..

There was once a time when it was believed that there is a women behind every successful man. But today, our actors in order to get attention of the producer, viewers are spotting STUBBLE to get the macho man image. So lets check out style mantra of these stars whose has climbed the ladder of success with just a changed look.

If one take a sneek peek onto our Bollywood than the the Stubble style mantra has been started by Abhishek Bachchhan who has miraculously touched success after his changed look. We simply cant miss our Hollywood hunks like Jhonny Deep, Leonardo Di Caprio, Orlando Bloom etc who started the trend and made all the stars adopt the similar style mantra.

Coming back to our television world, lets see who managed to touch success by being extra macho and spotting STUBBLE.

Jatin shah: He did a cameo in Kasauti Zindagi Kay as Omi’s friend but was not able to catch the eye ball of audience until he arrived in as Adi in Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki playing a spoli brat with loads of attitude or most recently as Raunak in Kasturi. So the normal average looking actor managed to pull female crowd towards him simply by letting his hair grow on his face. New look brought new luck and now he is one of the most sought after actor.

Shabbir Ahuluwalia: He is one actor who has always carried Stubble or rather his face is burried under the excess hair so much that now the viewers are waiting to see him without it. Rite from the Kahiin to Hogo days to Shooutout at Lokhandwala and recently Kayamath this actor is consistent in his appearance yet managed to draw a large female crowd. Lets just hope that his stubble is not advised by some numerologists to guarantee success.

Ram Kapoor: He has millions of fans rooting for him already, a mega sucessful show under his belt but yet he felt the need of a makeover to give him new chic and debonair look and maintain his fan following by taking shelter of those mega important hair and now we can see him sporting the grand new look for Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, all in new avatar!

Karan Patel: He played supporting roles in Ekta Kapoor shows like Kasauti Zindagi Kay, Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu thi and others but this actor drew all the attention and grabbed female attention with the rockstar image of Robbie Sabrwal. He has proved his mettle as the spoil brat Rockstar hunk with not only skills but macho appeal and all with help of his….Stubble. How obvious!

Akashdeep Sehgal: He started his career from the movie Pyaar Mein Kabhi Kabhi and hardly drew any limelight. He migrated from big to small screen in search of luck and success but here lied blessing in disguise for him and for millions of his fans who seemed waiting for him only to fire up their TV sets as bad man Ansh Gujral. He ruled Shanti Niketan house so much so that the positive character he played for sometime could not be digested by the daily couch potatoes and henceforth he is back with all the vengeance as Eklavya. Am I forgetting something important? Yes it was his stubble which gave him the edge and bad-boy look that made him so convincing as Ansh and more recently, as Eklavya!

Anand Suryavanshi: He is one actor who is there on television from quite sometime from Kasuati Zindagi Kay days to some important and significant roles in top most shows on television but success always eluded this multifaceted and multi talented actor untill he arrived in as Shaan, an angry young man who is out to take revenge from his wife and best friend. Sporting a new look, loads of talent and a stubble that could make women go crazy, he finally got significant role and success and not to forgot a French Beard !!

Jhalak dikhla ja.. Jhalak dikhla ja.. ek baar aja aja aaa jaa..
You all must have guessed it by now who I am referring to…. Yes our own Himesh Reshammiyaa! His songs and his newly found mega success as an actor, who soon will be dancing around trees on his own music, is thankful again to his ultra important cap and am yes how can we forget his frowning look with heavy Stubble!

Ajay Krish: – He made girls swoon over him as he walked into the serial ‘Mamta’ with the coolest clothes, megawatt grin and a devil may care attitude but the real charm of Siddharth Rai aka Sid is his stubble. Rarely seen with a shaved face, Sid carries off his stubble with extra attitude and it adds on to his charm even more. Once he did try the shaved look but failed to impress the viewers. And the distrubing comparison with comic actor Rajpal Yadav made Sid sport his bearded look once again. For the sake of his fans, we hope this man keeps on that stubble as long as he is in tellywood.

Henceforth, all you aspiring actors of the future .. throw away your Shaving Kit out of the window and let your beard down…oops, I mean grow. This seems to be working for current television stars and a sure shot formula to success.. We showed you the path to good looks rest is your Luck and don’t forget to say one thing.. Hail Stubble.

Forget all the jazz about being metrosexual and freshly scrubbed and clean shaven. It is the thin line of fuzz on the jaw line that separate the men from the boys. Facial hair has never been so hot. And Bollywood’s leading men are flaunting this look in all their bearded glory. From Hrithik Roshan and Abhishek Bachchan at the IIFA awards to Neil Nitin Mukesh and Saif Ali Khan, everyone is sporting a sexy stubble.

Actor Aashish Chowdhry who is a big fan of the “five-o-clock shadow”, says, “A slight stubble not only makes you look macho, but also gives you a strong edge. Chocolate boys may appeal to teenagers, but it is the Bollywood hero with the stubble that impresses all the ladies,” quips the actor who is always spotted with a stubble himself.

Actor Rajeev Khandelwal, who is known for his chocolate boy looks, says, it is the beard that makes him feel like a “man”. “I’ve always been touted as the cute boy by everyone. And to change that image, I started sporting a beard. It worked wonders for me. Facial hair if maintained well can take away the boyish quality from the face and make you look intense. Now I’m a big fan of this look. And if I ever want to get back to that chocolate look, all I need to do is shave,” he says.

While the sexy stubble is sure to make a guy a hit with the ladies, for some actors, it is an integral part of their look. Actor Kunal Kapoor, known for his rugged look, says, “My style quotient is casual and laidback. The beard and the moustache gives me an edgy look and I like to keep it that way. In fact, directors who have cast me have forbidden me from shaving. It’s almost like it’s my beard that’s getting me the roles,” he quips.

Make-up artist Cory Walia couldn’t agree more. “It is important to get the bearded look right. The clean look may have been associated only with artsy actors to give a serious look to the character. But the stubble has almost become a must even for Bollywood’s leading men to give them that brooding, intense edge. And the best part is that it suits both causal and formal outfits,” he says.