WHY WE SHOULD CARE ABOUT WOMEN IN ADVERTISING

This is not an angry rant (75% true) but a brief slide deck. Last November I drafted a presentation for an interactive media class that touches on an issue very near and dear to my heart. I stumbled across it tonight while clearing out old documents and thought I should share, as I continue to dive deeper into this world of advertising. I provided some links to relevant video in the captions, as I couldn't upload them here, but pardon if any are faulty! Thanks to everyone who helped out with this, answering surveys and whatnot. Hope you enjoy and learn something.

(And here's looking at you, Carl's Jr....) 

Ah, Carl's Jr.... If only your ads were as tasteful as your burgers.

The average amount of viewers during primetime on TV's major networks.

Being exposed to so much advertising, let's ask a few questions.

I designed a survey to see what women thought of a few selected commercials. 

I showed the participants a mash-up of five different commercial clips currently airing on TV that had raised questions in forums.

A word map of the descriptions used for the ads: the largest word, "offensive," being the most frequent.

Notable quotes from participants. 

SheKnowsMedia did a large scale survey of this phenomenon.

"Onslaught," Dove

A spot specifically about the beauty industry, but a strong message on how sexualization and images affect girls and women alike.

Turns out, women share a lot more of the consumer market than many advertisers seem to anticipate.

Women also have significant reactions to commericals.

"Girls Can," Covergirl

"Voices" by Nike

An example of an ad that empowers women.

Still, perpetrators of continuously offensive ads such as Carl's Jr. are unwilling to budge on their strategy.

But they are not without their critics, both male and female. 

So what do we do?

TLDR: Women are rising, prominent consumers, and creating advertising that alienates and demeans women is detrimental to a brand's livelihood.

• 94% of women find advertising that portrays women as sex symbols to be harmful to the gender (SheKnowsMedia.)
• Women control 85% of household purchasing decisions (Nielsen.)
• Women will control 2/3 of U.S. consumer wealth within the next decade (Fleishman-Hillard Inc.)
• Women are more likely to retain advertising and interact online.
• SO: We can create a better advertising by having more women behind-the-scenes, utilizing positive and realistic portrayal of women in ads, and forming a relationship and dialogue between the brand and consumer.