Today is quite important for a couple of reasons. As this blog was being prepared the chancellor delivered this year’s long-awaited budget; but, most importantly, 8th March is also International Women’s Day.
Designed to raise awareness about gender (in)equality issues, activism groups have also opted to use this date for A Day Without A Woman, organising female-only strikes in a bid to show the world what things would be like if you took every non-male out of the equation (or forced them all to stay at home and look after the kids/cook dinner/do the cleaning).
It’s a bold move, but the truth is despite huge steps taken since the days of Manchester-born Emmeline Pankhurst (pictured above), the suffragette movement, and women being given the right to vote in the U.K., this country- and every other- has a long way to go before things can be judged as even remotely fair. With this in mind we had a think about some of the best social media and marketing campaigns that have taken shots at the patriarchy, sending home much-needed messages regarding this ongoing problem.
Bollocks To Poverty – 1950s Facebook Makeover
The youth arm of Action Aid, Bollocks To Poverty, launched a Facebook app a couple of years back with one intention; showing account holders what their Profile could look like if they lived in the extreme gender divide of the 1950s, thus highlighting how important ongoing efforts to protect and improve rights are.
Make It Fair
Featuring some of the brightest comedians from North America, the concept here is simple- use statistics that prove how unequal the world remains to argue for greater male representation. Those who do not understand sarcasm should probably skip this one.
Always – Like A Girl
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjJQBjWYDTs
This remarkably poignant branded advert does far more than promote Always products, placing the emphasis on how perceptions of what it means to be a boy or girl are taught, rather than based on instinct, with teenagers and adults asked to run or throw or fight ‘like a girl’, before posing the same challenge to children.
Dove – Real Beauty Sketches
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpaOjMXyJGk
With 67million YouTube views you know this one works. Dove asked women to describe themselves to an illustrator, who draws their portrait ‘blind’. The process is repeated using the same women, only this time other people describe them, showing how hyper-critical many women are about their own appearance, a trend some corners of the male-dominated media have actively promoted.
Audi – Daughter
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6u10YPk_34
The most recent example on our list is also our last, and hopefully finishes this post on a positive note. Audi of America has pledged to equal pay for equal work across all employees, and put together this advert to promote the decision, which was used during this year’s Superbowl- the most expensive commercial space on U.S. TV. Yes, it’s narrated by a man, but given the core American Football fan base, that’s exactly who it’s aimed at.
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