The Gender-Swap Cadbury ‘Something Special’ Ad We’ve Been Waiting For Since The ’90s

Cadbury Dairy Milk recreates its iconic ad from the 1990s

In the 1990s, confectionery giant Cadbury launched an iconic ad featuring model Shimona Rashi. Dressed in flowers, she was eating a Cadbury Dairy Milk bar on the side of a cricket match. When the cricketer – possibly her boyfriend – scored the winning run, she zoomed past security to celebrate with a dance on the field while the tagline “Asli swad zindagi ka” played in the background. The ad, conceptualized by advertising agency Ogilvy, is credited with changing the notion that chocolates are only for children. In a cricket crazy country, a video focused on a cricket match certainly didn’t do any harm.

More than a quarter century later, Cadbury has re-imagined its iconic advertising – except gender roles are changing little. This time, it is a women’s cricket match going on which is seen by a man eating dairy milk. When his girlfriend hits the winning six, he dances in a celebratory manner and runs across the field to hug her.

In a country where cricket has been synonymous with men’s cricket for decades, the ad marks a change in popular perception of the game. Social media users were quick to take note of Cadbury’s iconic ad and praised the company.

Communications consultant Karthik Srinivasan shared the two ad films, writing, “Take a Bow, Cadbury Dairy Milk and Ogilvy.” “A simple, obvious twist that was long overdue, and was staring at us all at the moment!” she added.

MediaCorp executive Parminder Singh praised Cadbury for its contemporary and contextual twist.

Many others echoed their sentiments, praising the ad and its message.

Filmmaker Tahira Kashyap was among those who liked the revamped ad

Anil Viswanathan, Senior Director-Marketing, Mondelez India said storyboard That ad celebrates women achievers – both in sport and in life. “It was a young creative at Ogilvy that came up with the idea and we immediately liked it. Clearly the ad was iconic, it created a trend and it was the culture of the time and we think this representation has potential as well. To be a culture pioneer,” he said.

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