Killing unconscious bias is the only way to solve advertising’s gender problem
Ahead of International Woman’s Day on Thursday, Kantar TNS’ Anne Rayner considers how drawing attention to unconscious bias is the only answer to finally solving the problem of gender in advertising.
Unconscious bias is – by its very nature – not normally visible when we look around us. When we ask people if they see gender bias, very few do, and even less can think of examples where they’ve experienced it. However, when pointed out through stories or studies, the ‘unconscious’ part is removed, and we can unpick how people feel about the issue.
Some see the bias and want to take action and ensure they don’t behave in this way, others see it but are ambivalent about whether they’d change their behaviour (‘political correctness’ or the loudest voice guiding behaviour but not a real commitment to change); and many deny its existence, finding excuses for the evidence in front of them.
76 percent of women and 71 percent of men believe advertising is not reflective of their gender, and the more that people are exposed to examples or evidence, the more pronounced their reaction becomes.
In one study, we let people read three short stories about mild gender bias, which led to some change in perceptions; and in another study we gave people videos to watch and reports to read that made the gender bias much more real and direct. Here we observed more polarisation of people to advocates for change or deniers of need for change.
One of the more useful ways of solving gender bias and one of the better articles on this topic – with tangible actions. Brilliant.
Maybe soon I will stop having people (men mostly) who call me sexist for having a 50% female crew hiring policy when possible?!
Keep up the good work Anne! You and companies like Energy Australia are providing the leadership that’s needed. You know the minute someone accuses ‘political correctness gone mad’ that you’re on the right track for positive change 🙂
You might forward this excellent article to the team that made that recent Westfield atrocity.
Excellent, comrade.
Lead us to the re-education camps.
We shall follow, with our toothbrush and work books, lemming like.
Thanks for playing ‘SPOT THE MIDDLE CLASS WHITE MAN OF DECIDEDLY MIDDLING INTELLECT AND UNRESOLVED CHILDHOOD ISSUES’.
Rick, you’ve won today’s prize!
The prize is:
See a counsellor, resolve those issues, stop making the world worse for other people, and enjoy the benefits that come of not being a miserable sack of flesh
or
Carry on as you are, knowing that pretty much everyone who meets you finds you objectionable, except for other miserable creatures, and die knowing you never had the courage to address your childhood insecurities.
It’s your call.
Apologies for the late reply, DEA.
Have been very busy on client matters.
Your next assignment, should you choose to accept it, is to lead a global campaign to stop dogs from licking their genitals.
Love it Rick!
Dame Edna – Spot the overly shrill, triggered female (sorry I assumed your gender).I suppose if someone doesnt agree with you, then they are obviously a psychopath?
“Won’t somebody please think of the children??!!”
> On a website devoted to an industry built on perceptions and how to change them
>Gets mad about someone trying to change perceptions
Rick please.
For every action there is an opposite reaction . It’s often wrong, frequently utterly inane and today Rick you’re it. One day you may in some way depend upon a woman for your survival. Sadly they will help even you.
‘Killing unconscious bias’ is the same as asking people to not be human. I don’t think you quite get how humans work.
Well actually, since you sound like you need a good mansplaining, allow me to correct you. Humans are not born with these unconscious biases. You did not hatch from whatever reptilian egg you started from with a fully fledge misogynistic bias good to go.
You LEARNED to be the way you are. And you can unlearn it.
Unless of course it profits you to keep that bias and you’re unpleasant enough to want to see others suffer so you keep that benefit.
Take a chill pill Dame. Gosh has a point, particularly when the Harvard IAT shows quite convincingly that both genders can present an attitude suggesting they associate men with work and women with family. Both genders.
I challenge anyone to take the test, and look at your results compared with the rest of the sample. Don’t be ashamed if you share the attitudes of the great majority; it’s only human.
https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/australia/takeatest.html
I’ve done the test and am strongly unconsciously biased towards ‘traditional’ gender roles. The whole point of the article is that you can’t change the bias, you can only make the unconscious conscious so you can adjust your behaviour for it.
That is true whether in the workplace or as a consumer.
In the concept of patriarchialist reality, it could be said that – and if dialectic discourse holds – the advertising gender pre-narrative is an example of self-fulfilling objectivism. The primary theme of any analysis of dialectic subcultural theory is the role of the participant as reader. However, the premise of dialectic discourse states that truth is part of the futility of language – but only if neocapitalist capitalism is invalid; otherwise, the purpose of the writer is significant form.
What about “Wild Irish Rose” ? Does that ” draw more women and acknowledge a broader push toward gender equality” ?
Or try explaining the Holden Equinox campaign. Its just a station wagon for crying out loud, what makes it “female” ?
Apart from the Bounty ad being crap, it seems to portray the father as pretty useless and only good for using junk food as a plaything with the male child. Then when there is the inevitable (but predictable for anyone with a scintilla of common sense) spill all over the immaculate benchtop (which clearly wasn’t a result of his work), he isn’t even capable of wiping the mess up with a paper towel.
Nice article, makes sense, and quite logical really.
Just one question regarding this:
“If the disconnect becomes too strong, consumers defect to a different brand, one that better aligns with their gender values. Not surprisingly, such disconnects can also result in reduced market share for offending brands.”
Curious to know if there’s any empirical evidence on gender stereotyping having a direct impact on market share as you’ve claimed?
Steven, great question.
Connect with me on LinkedIn and I can share the study that quantifies it.