How Advertising Can Help Solve Gender Equality
For too long, advertising has featured women as archetypes—the femme fatale, the dutiful mother, the frumpy grandmother, and more. Even well-intentioned brands can swing and miss when they merely update archetypes of decades past. Sure, an ad's “Girl Boss” character might have been intended to reflect women’s leadership and self-determination in the professional world, but it quickly began coming across as a caricature while women were left searching for the connection between representative reality and lived reality.
Advertising has a problem, and women want a solution. Women want better on-screen representation—to see themselves in ads the way they see themselves in life. And they want brands to wield their enormous power and influence to change society for the better. Our attitudinal segmentation research explores how women feel about advertising and what they want from brands. If advertisers want to get it right, they have to start listening.
What women want from brands
Brands need to recognize women's perspectives about social issues and weave them into their ads.
Lay all women’s lives side-by-side, and you’ll have a rich and unique tapestry of lived experiences. Women are not a monolith; they have different backgrounds, beliefs, and body shapes and sizes. But according to our research, women converge in believing that advertising promotes unrealistic standards for women.
Advertisers, your task is to smash the unrealistic standards that nearly ALL women are tired of seeing in their ads.
Let’s look at an example. Open TikTok, and you may hear women collectively sigh at the resurgence of the 90s heroin chic look; yes, thin is back in. Women’s liberation will not be found by riding the next wave of today’s ideal body shape. And while there’s been a surge in inclusive advertising the status quo still sucks. It’s not about seeing more inclusivity; it’s about making inclusivity the norm. And advertisers need to roll up their sleeves and strive for the latter.
Women and girls view countless advertisements on their devices, digesting 1000s of images of women retouched and digitally altered beyond what anybody would see walking down the street. There’s a cost to perfection, and it’s the health and well-being of women and girls, including increased risks for eating disorders, body dissatisfaction, dieting behaviors, and mental health issues.
Women are tired of the pressure exerted on them by advertising, no matter who they are. And with how extensive advertising is in our lives, it’s impossible to ignore these unrealistic standards. A systemic burden should not rest on the shoulders of individual women.
Advertisers, you need to speak up about women’s issues
All women who participated in our research agree to some extent that brands are responsible for moving society forward in dealing honestly with women’s issues.
So advertisers, are you meeting women where they are if you refuse to talk about the issues that matter to them?
Do you know what issues are on women’s minds and impact their day-to-day lives?
According to Pew Research, two in three women believe the U.S. has not gone far enough to level the playing field between men and women. And the top issues they cite are sexual harassment, women not having the same legal rights as men, society having different expectations for men and women, and not enough women in leadership positions.
Do a little legwork to understand the issues the women in your audience care about. You must address them, even in small ways, to connect with them.
Women want to buy from women
Boundary Pushers and Female Favorers are statistically more likely than Brand Approvers to agree they would rather purchase products and services from women-owned businesses. But here’s the thing. Even Brand Approvers show mild agreement with this statement. So even if your target audience is full of Brand Approvers, who are more likely to view brands in a favorable light, you still need to be woman-forward to reach your advertising goals.
So advertisers, to what extent do women influence your advertising ideation and creative execution process?
If you sell to women, you can’t afford to leave women out of your behind-the-scenes work. Our take? It’s easier for women to trust brands with women at the helm or otherwise involved. There’s a voice advocating for their voices, which shows in the end result.
Many women can smell pandering and stereotypes from a mile away.
Three steps advertisers can take now.
The worst thing advertisers can do is nothing. Any action in the service of seeing and hearing women’s concerns and addressing them is a step in the right direction. Based on our research, we recommend three steps to become the advertiser women want and need.
Take a stance on social issues.
Take some time to assess where your brand stands on various social issues that impact women: sexual violence, education, reproductive health, parenting, beauty standards, leadership, equitable pay, environmental justice, etc. You don’t have to look far to find issues that impact women.
It also pays to understand your audience. What do the women you sell to care about? Be vocal about the beliefs you share with them. Better yet, share what you plan to do about it to help women orient to your brand. More and more, women need to know brands care about them to buy their products and services.
Get a woman’s perspective through hiring women, surveying women, having focus groups with women, having women involved with research and development, etc.
As we noted above, women want to buy from inclusive brands, and that includes elevating women to leadership and other positions of influence. If you want to do right by women, you need to provide space for their voices in every aspect of what you do.
Take training to identify when your gender bias is showing.
Unconscious bias is a powerful force that can alter advertising decisions and outcomes. Sometimes, you need formal training to operate differently. You and your team can learn how to be aware of the snap judgments and stereotypes that inform your creative choices—and choose differently.
Women are waiting.
Another great place to start is to read through our executive summary. It’s how you glean high-level insights about women and advertising in 15 minutes or less. Check it out, and let us know what you think.
