Vicks India Touch of Care: The Psychology of the Ad

In 2017, Vicks India released “Touch of Care”, a campaign film created by Publicis Singapore. It starred Gauri Sawant, a transgender activist and mother, alongside her adopted daughter. The film was a departure for a cough-and-cold brand: long, quiet and biographical rather than symptom-led.

The ad and when it ran

It ran as a long-format brand film at a time when Indian advertising was still learning how to talk about gender, care and family beyond biology. Instead of a product demo, the film invested its minutes in ordinary acts of looking after a child.

The levers it pulled

Three behavioural levers did the heavy lifting.

• Identifiable-victim effect. People feel more for one named, vivid person than for aggregate statistics. The film did not present a demographic claim; it presented Gauri Sawant, a particular mother, making a particular child feel safe. That singularity loaded the audience’s attention with empathy before any brand idea appeared.
• Social recategorisation. The film framed Gauri as a parent first and a transgender person second. It borrowed the viewer’s existing concept of “mother” rather than asking them to accept a new label. This is common in-group identity at work: the audience is invited to see her not as an out-group member, but as part of a group they already trust.
• Narrative transportation. A long emotional arc absorbs attention and suppresses counterarguing. By the time the product appears, it is not a sales pitch but a small act of reciprocal care. The story lowered the viewer’s defences and let Vicks inherit the emotional meaning the film had built.

What it did for the brand and the culture around it

For the brand, “Touch of Care” reframed Vicks from a symptom-reliever to an enabler of care. It gave Vicks a purpose platform that could be repeated beyond one product or market. The campaign went on to win the Glass Lion for Change Grand Prix at Cannes Lions, an award for work that confronts gender bias and prejudice.

For the culture, the film landed at a time when transgender characters were rare in mainstream Indian advertising. Gauri Sawant’s presence was not symbolic; she was a real activist and parent. The ad normalised trans motherhood by placing it inside a universal Indian narrative: a child is loved, protected, educated and cared for. That created space for more inclusive storytelling, not because it argued, but because it did not.

What still works today and what would not

What still works is the architecture: anchor purpose in a product truth, tell one real person’s story, and let behaviour rather than labels carry the claim. The product’s absence until late in the film also still works as long as viewers stay. It makes the brand feel earned, not imposed.

What would need updating: a slow three-minute film with the brand appearing late is hard to sustain in mobile feed. Today’s version might open with a short care moment and reveal the brand sooner, or run as vertical chapters. The bar for representation is also higher. One ad is not enough; audiences now check whether the brand follows through beyond the film. If “Touch of Care” had stopped at a single film, it would read as cause marketing. It worked because Vicks treated care as its operating idea.

Watch the original: Vicks India on YouTube