Bengaluru: The revered Naga Sadhus have brought global recognition to India through the ‘Naga Saint Eye Test’ — a powerful public health initiative that won silver lion in the Health & Wellness category at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity 2025. The campaign was led by Godrej Consumer Products Ltd. (GCPL) in collaboration with the Eyebetes Foundation, a charitable organisation committed to raising awareness about diabetes and preventable blindness.
India is home to nearly 100 million diabetics, of whom over 60% remain undiagnosed. Diabetes is also the leading cause of preventable blindness. Conceptualized by Godrej Creative Lab, the in-house creative studio of GCPL, ‘Naga Saint Eye Test’ took a bold and culturally rooted approach to spotlight this issue of diabetes-induced blindness.
Leveraging the spiritual aura and visibility of the Naga Sadhus, the health initiative transformed them into living eye vision testing charts, with bold Hindi letters painted on their bare backs in Devanagari script. Those unable to read the letters were guided to a free eye check-up camp. The initiative was conducted at the Triveni Sangam site during the Maha Kumbh Mela 2025 in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh.
Swati Bhattacharya, Global Head of Godrej Creative Lab, the in-house creative studio of GCPL, said, “The most complex human problems can have the simplest of solutions. Our first win was when the Naga Sadhu community said ‘yes’ to us. This win will now make the Eyebetes foundation get visibility all over the world. Our idea has travelled from the world’s biggest spiritual festival to the world’s biggest creative festival.”