How These 3 Brands Are Helping Women & Girls
Gender representation in ads is not only important for companies to promote diversity, equality, and inclusion, but to authentically connect with various demographics. If a significant part of the population, such as women and girls, feel they can't relate to the ads around them because they don't see themselves accurately portrayed, then there is something wrong.
Of course, it isn't enough for ads to accurately portray women, and to create narratives that are relatable. It's equally as important for the brands to create products and movements that meet needs and pain points.
It's no secret that younger generations value companies that are more inclusive and empathetic; for instance, people want to see companies becoming more empathetic (73 percent of people in the U.S. believe the world would be a better place if people practiced more empathy, for example), according to a study conducted by Method.
Younger generations want companies to back up their words with actions; Jeff Siteman, senior director of global portfolio marketing and content strategy at Adobe, echoed this, writing in an article for ANA recently, "Nearly one third (29 percent) of gen Zers have quit three or more brands in the last year due to a violation of trust. And the number of gen Z consumers who post negative reviews when their trust is violated is 10 points above the average consumer (40 percent versus 30 percent); this is higher than any other generation."
Dove
To help raises awareness to breast cancer in Sweden, Dove wanted to connect with young women and educate them about the importance of self-checks and help make it part of their routine easily. To do this, the company targeted women between the ages of 18 and 35 through their mobile phones.
Since breast cancer is the single biggest threat to women's health in Sweden (it accounts for 30 percent of all cancers and has the second-highest death rate), regular self-checking is crucial. As such, Dove had to change the traditionally boring breast-checking brochures and deliver the information to them in a dynamic forma, thus created an accessible mobile app with interactive and sharing abilities. This was especially important in the middle of the pandemic.
Snapchat was identified as the ideal media platform and its AR Lenses the tool to bring essential information to life in a fun way. Using Snapchat's interactive Lenses, Dove created an educational AR campaign to show young women how to examine their breasts for potential changes. Dove also created a Face Lens for users to spread the word and share the guide, encouraging friends to #CheckYourself.
Dove's campaign successfully reached over 830,000 unique users.
Pine-Sol
Pine-Sol sought to support to Black women entrepreneurs and celebrate them and their successes. To do this, Pine-Sol launched a multi-faceted platform aimed at helping Black women entrepreneurs by providing guidance and funding. It included the first-ever Build Your Legacy Program in partnership with Essence — a leading media outlet for Black women — providing direct access to business experts, a resource center, and grant programs.
Moreover, the brand created the Pine store, a digital shop with products that celebrate the traditions of a Saturday morning clean with 100 percent of the proceeds going to fund education for Black women businesses.
Pine-Sol has delivered nearly $1 million of critical support and affected thousands of Black women entrepreneurs, helping them achieve their business ownership ambitions. It also became the No. 1 dilutable brand for Black households, including high conversion among Black women entrepreneurs.
Mastercard
Mastercard wanted to support girls and help them become the leaders of tomorrow. This is why the company, specifically, Susan Warner, VP of talent and community engagement at Mastercard, founded Girls4Tech. The organization focuses on motivating young girls to build science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) skills.
Today's #WCW goes to Aprille Ericsson-Jackson, the first Black woman to receive a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Howard University and the first Black woman to receive a Ph.D. in engineering from the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. #BlackHistoryMonth pic.twitter.com/2Xs4V7NPBu
— Girls Who Code (@GirlsWhoCode) February 9, 2022
As of now, 1 in 20 women pursue a career in stem versus 1 in 5 men. This gap needs to be fixed to level the field, according to the company. Based on global science and math standards, Girls4Tech showcases the company's payment technology — algorithms, encryption, fraud detection, data analysis, digital convergence, and A.I.
With more than 5,000 employees serving as role models and mentors, Warner developed this interactive, hands-on curriculum to show girls across the globe that it takes all kinds of interests and skills to pursue a career in STEM.
As of today, Mastercard has hosted programs in 43 countries in 17 languages with nearly 6,000 of the company's mentor employees have served as mentors, reaching more than 1.5 million girls. Currently, the age range for the program is between age 8 and 16.
Joanna Fragopoulos is a director of editorial and content development at ANA.
The views and opinions expressed in Industry Insights are solely those of the contributor and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the ANA or imply endorsement from the ANA.