The power of communication in changing gender stereotypesNISHMA ROBBHead of Ads Marketing, Google & YouTube
In the next 20 minutes I hope ...
to give everyone a better understanding about the power of communications and the opportunity to use communications to challenge negative stereotypes about women.
you feel empowered about what you can do in your role to affect this change, whether you work in marketing or not.
We are exposed to over 5,000 ads per day, whether we like it or not, they are the backdrop to our lives and play an important role in creating implicit associations and forming stereotypes, gender or otherwise.
said they made the majority of financial decisions in their house.
of women globally feel that there opinion is less valued because they’re a woman.43%
73%
of women globally agreed that femininity was a strength and not a weakness. (UK: 84%)
86%
of women wanted to see more inclusion of female achievement in the history books.
82%
How do women really feel about stereotyping and discrimination?
Workplace DiscriminationOver 1 in 3 women feel that they’ve
been discriminated against in her place of work
DiscriminationAlmost half of women in the UK have
felt stereotyped or discriminated against, regardless of her age
49% 35%
Half of women have felt stereotyped or discriminated against
Source: (left) Google Consumer Survey. N=3380; (right) Google Consumer Surveys N=4739
Source: Google Consumer Survey. Based on W18-64 who have felt discriminated against because of gender. N=1000
Types of discrimination varied across all aspects of life
“What kind of stereotyping or discrimination based on gender have you experienced?”
Major strides in women’s rights, but progress has slowed
Older women feel that women’s rights have improved
Younger women are feeling that discrimination has been getting worse. This could be because these women are newer to the workforce and are being exposed to it more now and/or due to cultural shifts that encourage discrimination against women (ie. body shaming, rape culture, etc).
Source: Google Consumer Survey. Based on W18-64 who have felt discriminated against because of gender. N=1000
Young women feel that discrimination is getting worse
“Do you feel that discrimination against women has got better or worse recently?”
How has advertising changed over time?
Research conducted by Unilever over the past three years found that when asked about advertising ..
40% of women said they don’t recognise themselves in the ads they see.
And in an analysis of ads across a range of countries and brands it found that 50% of ads showed a negative or “not progressive” stereotype of women
and just 3% showed clever or funny women.
i
What is femvertising?
...
MenRecall seeing ads aimed
at empowering women
WomenRecall seeing ads aimed at
empowering women
80% 69%
Source: Google Consumer Survey. Based on W18-64 who have felt discriminated against because of gender. N=800
The majority of adults are familiar with femvertising
“What brands do you think of for advertisements aimed at empowering women?”
Source: Google Consumer Survey. Based on all adults. N=1142
Only a few key brands come to mind for most consumers
Photos - Getty Images Lean In
If you search for ‘working women’ on stock photography sites, you generally get photos of women in trouser suits wielding brick-sized phones, photos of women pouting sexily while adjusting their glasses, and not much else.
Getty Images and Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In org partnered to produce a collection of images that represent women and families in more empowering and authentic ways. This ‘Lean In’ collection has more than 7,000 visuals ‘celebrating powerful images of women, girls and the communities that support them’.
Do women l ve the ads?52% 45%
71% believe brands should be held accountable for their ads to promote positive messages to women and girls
have bought a product because they like how the brand portrays women
have shared a commercial with a pro-female message
It´s true - Femvertising sells
Of women have bought a product because they liked how the ad for it portrayed women.52%
NikeNike saw a 15% increase
quarterly revenue, largely due to its efforts to cater to women.
DoveDove sales have jumped to $4 billions
from $2.5 billions when it´s Campaign for Real Beauty initially launched.
Getty ImagesSales for Getty Images ´Lean In
Collection grew 54% from February to June 2014.
Business success
Mattel shares jumped after results showed Barbie sales growth of 23%
The Sport England ‘This girl can’ campaign got nearly 3 million women doing activity because of the campaign
The Under Armour campaign delivered nearly 300% more brand conversation and over 60% increase in stock price Touch the Pickle campaign delivered US$61 mn in earned media.
...but is it all getting a bit repetitive?
1.
2. 3. There is growing fatigue, a sense it is becoming too formulaic - ⅓
of men and women think it is becoming too cheesy
Nike, Dove and Sure .. not Sure
But they are merging into one. Only 17% of women correctly identified “like a girl” with Always
And they are all starting to blend together for consumers
Source: Google Consumer Survey. Based on all adults. “Which brand ran the campaign “Like A Girl”?” N=1096
Only 17% of women correctly identified “Like A Girl” as a campaign from Always.
Men were more likely to associate it with Dove or Nike.
Among both men and women
Source: Google Consumer Survey. Based on all adults. “How do you feel when brands create ads aimed at empowering women?” N=800
There is growing fatigue around this type of ad
Break the mould …
Manvertising
More male casting in therole of dads
#sharetheload
Storytelling not limited to 30 secs
At YouTube we’ve seen the number of ads aimed at empowering women double of the last year
New age of influencers
No commissioning editors
The public decides …
Creators with a message for good
New age of influencers
No commissioning editorsThe public decides …Creators with a message for good
Your role
Use your power , imagination and creativity …. Do not be bound by stereotypes.
Create the world we want to be in An Inclusive World
Break the next barriers ...
Thank you