Mindy Kaling 'invisible' Super Bowl advert a new win for minority women

Mindy Kaling almost gets within kissing distance of Matt Damon for her Nationwide Super Bowl commercial. Well, the key word here is “almost” kissing distance.

Mindy Kaling’s latest advertisement for Nationwide was screened during the Super Bowl Finale between The Patriots and the Seahawks, is the latest to make waves on the internet. Mindy in the video, is completely overlooked while hailing a cab- leading her to believe she’s invisible.

Her “Invisible Mindy” advertisement made waves on Super Bowl Sunday and is her latest advert for Nationwide.  “After years of being treated like she was invisible it occurred to Mindy Kaling she might actually be invisible,” says the narrator in the clip.

Kaling’s obvious reaction is to sunbathe topless in Central Park, walk through a car wash, and eat huge amounts of ice cream. Only to realise while she tries and fails to smooch Matt Damon—  well she’s not actually invisible.

Of course the main intention of the ad is insurance company Nationwide wanting their potential clients to know that they’re not invisible. But inadvertently, Kaling playing the role of someone struggling for attention also brings to light what women face every day.

In an interview with  Morning Edition , Mindy Kaling talked at length about the struggles of being a woman in Hollywood.

“As a producer and a writer, whether it was at The Office or [at The Mindy Project>, if I make a decision, it’ll still seem like it’s up for debate,” she said. “And I notice that a little bit at The Office, with, like, an actor: If I decided there’d be a certain way in the script, it would still seem open-ended, whereas…if I was a man I would not have seen that.”

Another article by  NPR relates to Kaling in the beginning of the ad and resonates with minority women in general and points out what it’s like to be an Indian woman in America, sharing their quota of invisibility.

This ad though it cannot take a straight feminist angle but amidst the large pool of adverts that do objectify women it’s a nice change.

As Take Part points out , close to half of Super Bowl viewers are female, and they too deserve to be visible.

Watch the commercial here: