How positive portrayals of women in advertising actually benefit brands
A report compiled by market research company Ipsos highlights the power that positive portrayals of women in advertising have, not only in terms of changing how people think about gender roles but also in boosting a brand’s appeal.
Representation of women in advertising has changed over the decades, with advertisements back in the 50s and 60s showing women in the kitchen, managing a family and taking care of their husband, and ads in the 70s and 80s portraying women as sex symbols or unattainable versions of perfection. This portrayal continued into the 90s and the 21st century.
But with women now spending over $31.8 trillion globally, it is vital for brands and marketers to make sure advertisements are speaking to women and present them in a positive and respectful manner, says Ipsos.
In its new report titled “Women in Advertising – The power of positive representation for a better society and a more successful brand,” Ipsos lays bare the power of positive representations of women in advertising to shape seemingly entrenched societal norms and behaviors. But beyond doing the right thing for society, is there a benefit from shifting the portrayal of women in advertising for brands? Yes, there is, say researchers.
76% of people agree that advertising has the power to shape how people see each other.
To quantify results of their research, they spearheaded the development of GEM®, the first data-driven methodology to identify gender bias in media. The GEM® question measures four key characteristics of women in the advertisement:
PRESENTATION – Opinion of how the female character(s) is/are being presented
RESPECTFUL – If female character(s) is/are shown in a respectful manner
APPROPRIATE – If female character(s) is/are presented in an appropriate manner
ROLE MODEL – If female character(s) is/are viewed as a positive role model
Three Key Findings
1. When ads positively portray women, there is an increased likelihood to have a positive impact on long-term brand relationship as well as short-term behavior change
Regardless of where the ad falls on GEM®, researchers did not observe a relationship for Brand Attention. Meaning, the way in which a female character is presented in the ad doesn’t impact the likelihood the ad will be encoded in memory and correctly linked to the brand. They did, however, see the impact occurring more on the behavioral measures of Choice Intent and Brand Relationship.
Researchers found that there is a positive effect for the brand when ads portray women in a positive manner as they saw a strong relationship between GEM® and Brand Relationship. “It’s a win-win scenario: by doing what is right for society in their advertising, brands increase the chance to gain creative effects,” according to the report.
2. The role and portrayal of women in advertising can influence attitudes towards the evaluation of an ad
When brands positively portray women in their ads, attitudes toward the ads begin to become more positive. Research showed that ads that score higher on GEM® most notably also score higher on these specific ad ratings: for people like me, is informative, fits the way I feel about the brand and is believable.
This shows that the way women are represented in advertising has a relationship towards the perception of the creative, more specifically a more positive representation of women is linked to a more positive perception of the creative.
Ads with high GEM® are more likely to be considered as relevant, brand differentiating, and reflect the world around the people brands are looking to influence, researchers say.
3. There are category-specific lessons to be learned about positive female portrayal in advertising
Women purchase over 50% of traditional male products including automobiles, home improvement products and consumer electronics. This fact made researchers wonder how categories that typically target towards females compare to categories that typically target towards males in terms of their portrayal of women in advertising.
Ipsos’ study showed that traditional female targeted categories have the highest proportion of ads in the top third of GEM® scores. This could be due to the fact their products and advertisements are inherently targeted for women and, therefore, are more in touch with how women want to see themselves. Traditionally, male targeted categories are focused more on their gender needs and wants.
Indeed, for Grooming/Cosmetics (feminine products, hair color, lotion, makeup, toothpaste) and Baby Care (diapers, formula), two traditional female targeted categories, researchers discovered these categories have the most ads that fall in the top tertile for GEM®.
For traditional male targeted categories such as Durable Goods (cars, shavers, electronics, and home appliances), services (banks, financial, credit cards, retail) and Beverages (beer, soda, water and coffee,) most ads are falling into the bottom third of GEM® scores.
Researchers note that “regardless, traditional male categories need to consider how they use and portray female consumers in advertising, given females often make the purchasing decisions.”
Key Takeaway: To help shift social norms and drive gender equality, we need advertising and media to play a role by positively reflecting women in advertisements, movies, streaming content and television entertainment. Not only will this improve our society for the better, but brands will also see positive business outcomes.
“Brands have the power to drive change in our society, and we see in the data that doing good for society is also linked to doing good for brand growth,” Ipsos concludes in its report.
Moonshot News is an independent European news website for all IT, Media and Advertising professionals, powered by women and with a focus on driving the narrative for diversity, inclusion and gender equality in the industry.
Our mission is to provide top and unbiased information for all professionals and to make sure that women get their fair share of voice in the news and in the spotlight!
We produce original content, news articles, a curated calendar of industry events and a database of women IT, Media and Advertising associations.
