Drop the ‘Maa’ from the gaali, warns Project Eve

Project Eve is a fashion brand that places women at the heart of it all. As a brand built by women and for women, Project Eve reportedly champions the cause of treating women with respect. To commit to this cause, the brand decided to something impactful on the occasion of Mother’s Day. It rolled out a campaign highlighting the need to drop the word drop ‘mother’ out of all insults, swear words and slang in all languages.

Some of our crudest insults contain the ‘mother’. So a few days before Mother’s Day, Project Eve held a rallying cry with the campaign #KeepMaaOutOfIt, targeted at both men and women in a bid to end society’s habitual disrespect for mothers reflected in the use of the word ‘Maa’ or as part of an insult.

Conceptualised by integrated advertising agency, Brave New World, the campaign was kicked off at Inorbit Mall, Malad, Mumbai, where a 6 foot high and 20 foot wide installation was set up that spelled the most popular gaali known to us Indians: ‘Teri Maa Ki.’ Armed with hammers, men, women and children convened around the installation to break it down symbolising the movement against the abuse of the word ‘Mother’. The ideas was to rip apart the insult through a symbolic gesture and thus reclaim the purity of the word ‘Maa’. The first blow was made by famed Bollywood actress and celebrity mom herself, Chitrangada Singh who then invited enthusiastic audiences to bring the structure down to rubble until only the word ‘Maa’ remained standing proud.

Joono Simon, Founder and Chief Creative Officer, Brave New World tells us why the brand chose to work around this insight - “Habitual misbehaviours in a society often go unchecked and unnoticed. Over time, they could even become norms that form a part of our culture. Abuses in the name of someone's mother like Teri Maa Ki should ideally provoke anyone who values and cherishes the notion of motherhood. But sadly, our society has callously been spitting out these abuses. These calcified habits need to be called out and broken down. That is precisely what Project Eve has done.”

The campaign continues to make waves on social media as hundreds of Indians protest the use of these insults and urge their peers to stop the abuse of a mother’s name. The movement can be followed on social media @MyProjectEve.