lifestyle

Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg shared a laundry powder ad for a very important reason.

You haven’t seen an advert for washing powder like this before.

On Wednesday, Sheryl Sandberg – the Chief Operating Officer of Facebook – shared an ad for washing powder with her 1.9 million followers.

Sounds pretty unusual, right? As much as we all like knowing how best to remove red wine stains from shirts and how to get the Nutella mark out of our favourite jeans, most laundry ads are just… kinda boring.

Although the majority of laundry adverts are perky mums holding white baskets on one hip as they juggle a toddler on the other, this one by Ariel India is different.

You can check out Sheryl Sandberg’s comments below.

Narrated by a proud father, the two-minute-long commercial shows his daughter – a busy working mum and wife – buzzing around the house. As her father observes her zipping back and forth between the kitchen sink, her little boy, her husband on the couch, and the washing machine, he pens her a heartfelt apology.

“My little baby girl.

You’re all grown up now. You used to play house, and now you manage your own house. And your office. I am so proud. And I am so sorry.

Sorry that you have to do all of this alone. Sorry that I never stopped you, while you were playing house. I never told you that it’s not your job alone… but your husband’s too. But how could I say it, when I never helped your mum either.

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And what you saw, you learnt. Your husband must have learned the same from his dad. While playing house, he would have pretended to watch TV while you pretended to make tea.

Sorry on behalf of his dad. Sorry on behalf of every dad who set the wrong example.

But it’s not too late…

I will make a conscious effort to help your mum with the household chores. I may not be king of the kitchen, but I can at least help out with the laundry. All these years I’ve been wrong… it’s time to set things right.

Yours, Papa.

It’s powerful. It’s poignant. And it’s impressive. Even if we are being sucked in by an ad.

A part of the #SharetheLoad campaign, Ariel India, P&G, and BBDO Worldwide have set out to create more equal homes around the world. In 2o15, the influential idea won a #GlassLion at the 2015 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

What are your thoughts on the #ShareTheLoad campaign?