Big Brands Are Finally Getting That Empowering Women Will Make Them Money

2014 may just be the year that Big Brands are finally figuring out that female empowerment is cool and that there’s lots wrong with messages we are sending women and girls in the media. The ads listed below are compelling because they cite statistics like 66% of Grade 4 girls say they enjoy math and science whereas only 18% of women major in those fields (Verizon, Pretty Brilliant) or show examples like in the interview conducted for the Always #LikeAGirl campaign. In addition, these ads do a great job of quantitatively and qualitatively demonstrating that gender inequality exists.  By appearing like they are aligning with women and fighting for equality, these brands can score some big wins in the eyes of equality-minded consumers.

Verizon

Verizon challenges parents, society, whomever, to stop focusing on women’s looks.  Instead of telling a girl she looks cute or pretty, we should be inspiring them to care about more about than just how they look.

Always #LikeAGirl

Always has just come out with the #LikeAGirl campaign to challenge why after puberty, kids interpret that activities such as running, punching and throwing “like a girl” take on a negative connotation. It’s great that Always is challenging stereotypes and making us think more deeply about how and why we’ve created certain gender stereotypes.

Pantene #SorryNotSorry

Here, Pantene asks women to stop apologizing. While this idea may have originated from personal observations, this ad takes a stance and convinces its audience to do the same. What I like about this ad is that it shows women in different settings, the home, office, etc and shows that our habits and the way we communicate can affect different aspects of our lives.

Misses

While I love me some Leslie Mann, the writers of this commercial could have done a much better job. Oh, look mom loves her appliances so much, more than her creepy husband. And of course she doesn’t seem to have a job or do anything aside from bake cookies and laundry. When her husband comes home from work for a supposed “nooner”, Mom cringes, because of course, women, especially chaste and virtuous married women don’t enjoy sex and just do it to please their husbands. * eye roll *

Dove Real Beauty Sketches

This ad earned Dove a ton of earned media (64 million video views and counting on YouTube) and while I think it’s great to challenge hwo we perceive ourselves. It’s almost like we’re trained to point out our flaws. The scene in Mean Girls, when Cady Herron is in Regina George’s bedroom and all the girls are pointing out their flaws “my cuticles sucks” and Cady just says “I have really bad breath in the morning” shows how some girls are socialized/taught to hate the way they look.  What bothered me about this is that absolutely none of the women thought they were beautiful, and this was treated as the norm.