Advertisers need to be sensitive to wider gender identities

Corporates and advertisers need to look beyond the binary and to be sensitive to wider gender identities and it is imperative to start the change at the boardroom, said S Sambhu Prasad, Chairman & Managing Director, Amrutanjan Health Care Ltd. 

 The Amrutanjan board, he said, had ensured adequate female representation. The company, he mentioned, had always shown women in a very positive manner. Even their old advertisements had portrayed women working outside homes and as being confident and forward looking. 

He was speaking at a panel discussion hosted by ad agency RK Swamy and organised by the IAA, titled ‘Voice of Change – gender portrayal from 30 secs to three hours’.  

An industry initiative, IAA: Voice of Change focuses on diversity, inclusion and equity. It started as a behaviour change communication initiative aimed at addressing the skewed portrayal of gender in advertising and communication. The first of its kind summit held on 29^th of July in Mumbai took on the critical role to not only educate and inform, but also empower change through a powerful and meaningful dialogue that would span the entire creative spectrum from a 30 sec TVC to a 3-hour movie and everything in between.  

The panel was moderated by Megha Tata, CEO, Cosmos Maya & Co-Chairperson of Women Empowerment Company, India Chapter of International Advertising Association, with research insights on portrayal of women in Advertising presented by Geetanjali Master, partnership specialist, UNICEF. The discussion explored how advertising can play a key role in the portrayal and representation of women by marketers and advertising agencies. The aim was to debate and understand how all industry forces including advertisers, content creators, brand custodians and creative minds could drive palpable change. 

The panel included, apart from Sambhu Prasad, S Suresh, Managing Director, EID Parry (India) Ltd, Atul Pujar, Head of Marketing & Production Development (Matches and Agarbathi Division) ITC Ltd, Bala Manian, Co-Founder & Director, OPN Advertising & actor Siddharth. 

Suresh spoke about the need to be sensitive to women’s point of view and to be committed, even when bottomlines were taking a hit, as it would pay off in the longer run. Change could come about only when there is a clear vision. 

Pujar said ITC Mangaldeep had tried to break stereotypes ever since the brand had been introduced into the market. Speaking about the Bechdel Test, which is a measure of the representation of women in film and other fiction, he felt most movies may not pass the test. 

Speaking on the subject, Siddharth wondered if in pleasing the majority we were going wrong. He spoke about the need to change at the individual level, push to do what others have not done and what advertisers and marketers had also not done before. He said the need was to commit to a cause and follow through with it. As a simple example, he mentioned that he always encouraged more women to join the technical team. 

The International Advertising Association is the world’s only globally-focused integrated advertising trade association with membership representing advertising agencies and the media. The IAA comprises corporate members, organisational members, educational affiliates, as well as 56 chapters with individual members and young professionals from 76 countries including the top 10 economies in the world. IAA is over 80 years old and is headquartered in New York. 

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