Milind Soman promotes special dishwashing gel ‘for men’, his fans ask: ‘Kaam ko bhi genderise kardia?’

Milind Soman has shocked fans as well as other internet users with his latest Instagram post in which he is seen promoting macho dishwashing liquid, Vim Black. While it appears to be an attempt by the brand to normalise household chores being done by one and all, the result has not quite landed well. (Also read: Milind Soman meets PM Narendra Modi, thanks him for promoting yoga)

While trying to advocate that men should do the household chores minus the bragging, the video actually promotes another gender stereotype that black is the colour of men and machoism.

The video opens in a gym where a young man is seen bragging about helping his mom do the dishes. “I am a bit tired as I washed all the dishes last night. I often help my mom, we should.” Milind then enters the frame saying, “Wow, what a brag. Go on, did you enjoy? Now, here is Vim Black (shows a bottle of the dishwashing liquid). Now wash all the dishes and keep on bragging.”

The video ended with Milind posing with the bottle as he says, “Vim Black, easy to clean, more to brag.” The bottle used in the video is not in the yellow or green colour usual for the brand, but in black. Sharing the video, Milind wrote on Instagram, “Vim Black – dishwashing liquid made for men. Or is it? @vimindia @mtvindia #VimBlack #VimForMen #BragWithSwag.”

Most likely, the brand has not launched any such product as the link for buying Vim Black leads one to a page that says Vim Black is out of stock. The video seems to be an effort at getting men to wash dishes, without the belief that they are helping the women in their house. However, the final video is one that reiterates gender stereotypes.

Milind’s post triggered a flood of responses criticising the genderisation of a household chore. One internet user wrote, “This is so wrong, Kaam ko genderize kar lia. Matlab black bole toh manly hogaya. C’mon! C’mon! Yeh kya kia. (Genderised a chore? So it is manly if it is black? What did you do).”

Another one commented, “Actually a better ad would be if the man would be shown washing the dishes with this n women getting attracted to him… AXE effect se bhi jyada effective rahega (It will be more effective than the AXE effect).”

One also wrote, “Yeah, of course ! Some men need a ‘Vim black for men’ to be able to feel manly enough to do the dishes because regular Vim mein lagta hai k bartan dhona bhi (makes you feel that washing dishes) is a woman’s job!”

The Instagram page of Vim India also has a few other celebs promoting Vim Black. Prathamesh Maulingkar, Vivek Dhadha and Sahil Salathia are seen unboxing the Vim Black box which has black scrubbers and a black apron for the men..