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Fact or Fiction: The Art of Feminist Marketing

With feminism in vogue, pro-women ads and taglines were sure to follow; is there substance behind all of this hype, or are women just this season's It color?

By SwaayPublished 7 years ago 3 min read
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In today’s world there is no shortage of feminist-slanted marketing initiatives. Huge companies promise to “help women break the glass ceiling” with emotional campaigns that tug at the heart strings.

The equation goes something like this: company X looks to come across as ‘tuned in’ and inclusive so it creates a new campaign. Company X puts out slickly produced commercial featuring an adorably diverse group of young girls dressed in tutus or something of the like, add dramatic piano music, an inspiring female voiceover, and culminates the spot with a tagline like “Women are the future.” (Oh yeah, that’s good). Consumers watching this tear up a bit and think ‘wow, this company gets it.’ But is there substance behind the hype? Are there even any women behind the message?

“I applaud their intentions but I see window dressing initiatives occur so often that I don’t see it having a sustainable impact,” says Barbara Annis, founding partner of Gender Intelligence Group, and author of Results at the Top: Using Gender Intelligence to Create Breakthrough Growth. “You must think about it in a much more systemic way in order to affect real change.”

Despite more brands than ever utilizing inspiring pro-women messaging, complete with catchy hashtags and splashy campaigns, with only a tiny percentage of women sitting on boards and holding executive roles, one has to wonder how deep the messaging really goes. Feminist scholars see various reasons for the disparity, which include the rising spending power women hold as well as an anti-Trump bandwagon message that brands feel pressured to adopt. Additionally, because the country’s creative directors are nearly all men, Annis warns that many “feminist” commercials may fall short of reaching any real depth.

“I’m certain that when marketing experts saw the power and numbers in the Women’s March, they brought this to the table when pitching ad campaigns,” says Dr. Marika Lindholm, Founder of ESME (Empowering Solo Moms Everywhere). “Even in the Super Bowl, we saw more politically oriented ads. Whenever advertisers take a stance on a social reality such as, marriage equality, multiracial families and feminism, they’ve done their research and take a calculated risk as to whether this will attract new consumers. It usually works in their favor because controversial and cutting edge ads get attention. Female focused ads in this day and age are not super risky.”

According to Annis, although companies are doing branding, advertising and even recruiting with a pro-female bent, a revolving door has been created, in which firms are losing women five to one, sometimes just months after being hired. The number one cited reason for this dropoff is the lack of an inclusive company culture, as many large companies feel more like a boys club than a female-friendly work zone.

“Women are heavily recruited as they graduate with MBAs into [firms like] Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, and Goldman Sachs, but they don’t stick around,” says Annis. “There’s a big challenge because they leave for ‘personal reasons,’ which creates this assumption it’s because of workload. They actually leave because they don’t feel valued for the authentic skills they bring to the table.”

Originally published on Swaay by Belisa Silva on April 2, 2017

feminism
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About the Creator

Swaay

SWAAY is a ground-breaking media and online publishing company that harnesses the style and glamour of today’s business-minded woman.

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