MUMBAI: Goafest 2025’s day two lit up with sharp insights and simmering provocations during the session “Mardon Wali Baat: A discussion on Masculinity in Advertising”. Held under the banner of ASCI Academy’s report ‘Manifest: Masculinities beyond the Mask’, the panel challenged brands to move past rigid and reductive representations of men.
Moderated by Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) CEO & secretary general Manisha Kapoor, the panel featured Marshan.Ink (formerly Kotak) principal Karthi Marshan, and Infectious Advertising co-founder & director Nisha Singhania.
“Masculinity is not unidimensional—it has many facets”, said Singhania, kicking off the discussion. She stressed that the emotional complexity of men is often neglected in ad narratives, where strength is still seen through a bicep rather than vulnerability. “Men are tired of being portrayed as a ‘work in progress’ or needing to be fixed”.
She also took aim at legacy brands. “They rely too much on past data and lack the patience to build new narratives”, she said, pointing out that India’s evolving masculinity isn’t as entitled or rigid as marketers presume. “The narrative of ‘get him married and he’ll change’ is outdated and unfair”.
Marshan pushed for a fundamental mindset shift: “Masculinity vs. feminism is a false dichotomy—we need to move beyond gender and sexuality labels”. He challenged the belief that long-term investment alone makes a campaign successful. “Disruption works—if a brand gets attention, people will engage, regardless of target audience”.
Echoing Singhania’s view, Marshan said, “Marketers underestimate audiences—viewers are more progressive than assumed”. He called on creatives to stop playing safe and start trusting viewers’ ability to embrace evolved storytelling.
The session served less as a sermon and more as a mirror—reflecting both the flaws in the way men are marketed and the possibilities that await when brands loosen their grip on stale stereotypes.