15133: This Bus Arrives Once A Month…?

 

Ladies, need to track your period? There’s an app for that.

14996: Midol Multicultural Makeover Misses Monthly Mark.

Adweek reported, “Midol Gets a Much-Needed Makeover to Appeal to a New Generation of Women—The Bayer-owned medication is taking to social to reach new customers.” Okay, but the accompanying image shows anti-social-distancing behavior. Sorry, ladies, but it’s that time of the month—and it might extend for several more months—where you need to follow stay-at-home orders. Period.

13810: Kari Traash.

Not convinced this annoying video really reflects the Kari Traa brand or resonates with its female audience. The responsible advertising agency—Wibroe, Duckert & Partners—is headquartered in Denmark and can probably best be defined by this video.

13200: Objecting To Objectification.

Adweek reported on the Naja “Nude for All” lingerie campaign that allegedly celebrates diversity and rejects gender stereotypes. The campaign was created by Badger & Winters, a shop that recently generated press when it “made a commitment to never objectify women in our work.” Um, does depicting beautiful models wearing nothing but lingerie really support the commitment? Give Naja founders Catalina Girald and Gina Rodriguez credit for not choosing a standard White advertising agency to handle the campaign. At the same time, how diverse and inclusive is Badger & Winters?

‘Nude for All’ Campaign Breaks Lingerie Ad Stereotypes

Work by Badger & Winters features a diverse cast of women

By Christine Birkner

When Catalina Girald saw Olympic gold medal-winning gymnast Gabby Douglas compete in the 2012 Summer Olympics, it sparked an interesting product idea. Girald, a former gymnast, herself, was taken aback by the fact that Douglas, who is African-American, was wearing a “nude” ankle wrap that didn’t match her skin tone.

“I wore ankle wraps many times and hadn’t ever thought about the fact that they don’t make them in other colors. It made me realize that ‘nude’ is not ‘nude’ for everyone,” Girald said.

Two years later, when Girald launched her lingerie company, Naja, she kept that idea in mind. Today, the company is debuting ads on New York’s subways for Nude for All, its new lingerie line that’s available in seven shades of nude for every skin tone. The ads feature 10 racially and ethnically diverse women who all have varied, and accomplished backgrounds, including a soloist for the San Francisco ballet, a software engineer and a Harvard Business School student. Naja plans to post the women’s stories on its website and social media channels later this summer, and expand the campaign to include more outdoor ads in other cities.

Also appearing in ads for the lingerie is Jane the Virgin star Gina Rodriguez, co-founder of Naja. How Girald and Rodriguez became business partners is a story in itself. Right after she started Naja, Girald was approached by Procter & Gamble to appear in a video series showcasing up-and-coming Latinas, where she met Rodriguez, who also appeared in the videos.

“At the time, Gina and I were the only two people who really weren’t up-and-coming,” Girald said. “I had just started the company, and she didn’t have the part on Jane the Virgin yet. We were both struggling artists, and we became friends. Eight months later, she won the Golden Globe, so I asked her to help me launch the nude lingerie, and she loved the idea.”

The campaign was directed by Badger & Winters, whose co-founder and chief creative officer Madonna Badger is fighting sexism in advertising through #WomenNotObjects, an effort to combat ads that objectify women.

“I’m still bothered by the fact that most lingerie portrays women as sexual objects, and I wanted to change the way that lingerie is advertised to women,” Girald said. “I saw an article in the New York Times about #WomenNotObjects, and it resonated with everything I was feeling, so I reached out to them.”

“They fell in love with my story, and when Madonna and her team got ahold of the campaign, it turned out incredibly well,” she said. “We initially had an image where the women were serious, but Madonna wanted the image where the women were jumping up and down. She wanted to show their personalities.”

“The happy creative helps to drive home a more serious message about diversity,” Girald said. “We wanted to make people smile, and then, make them realize that there’s a broader issue here. You see the race and ethnicity issue more than anything.”

12816: Baby Got Bic.

Adfreak reported Bic celebrated National Women’s Day in South Africa and wound up offending the audience with the message depicted above. It’s not the first time the pen maker has displayed cultural cluelessness or failed to woo women. Below is Bic’s Black-targeted message for National Women’s Day.

12693: Peeing On Poise.

Poise is patently pathetic. Possibly inspired by “Pee Happens” from Always Discreet, Poise invites women to recycle their period pads:

Why use period pads for pee when you could use Poise thin-shape pads with SAM (super absorbent material) and stay three times drier? We’re turning those extra period pads into something awesome with #RecycleYourPeriodPad. How would you recycle your period pad? Share your ideas using #RecycleYourPeriodPad or check out Poise.com for a free sample of Poise.

Somebody should have pissed all over this idea in the concept stage.

12018: Always Abnormal.

This Always Discreet video shows two women talking about the product “like normal”—but the end result is about as abnormal as it gets. Who the hell is responsible for this shit?

11935: AT&T Calls Up Stereotypes.

This AT&T commercial really supports the argument for rethinking marketing to women in order to end the perpetuation of stereotypes. The depiction of a clumsy, subservient male perpetuates the Stupid Man stereotype too.

11666: Period Pirouette.

Always classy, Always®.

11636: Shhhhit From Special K.

Special K produced this lame video that comes off as a poor woman’s Dove Real Beauty concept, examining how women “fat talk” about their figures. Um, if women are indeed obsessed about their bodies—and incidentally, there are different cultural attitudes about body image not being acknowledged by the Special K video—it’s mostly fueled by advertisers like Special K and Dove. After all, these brands have historically depicted female models reflecting ideal White beauty standards. Plus, The video feels forced and staged, with “real” women that resemble advertising agency account executives.

10985: Whatever Comes Next Is Shit.

Not sure what’s worse about the advertising for fresh + sexy™ by Playtex: the “Clean Where is Counts” tagline or the body copy stating, “The before and after intimate wipe that gets you ready for whatever comes next.” Did someone really approve this copy with a straight face? And it looks like the responsible copywriter must have been freelancing for Schick Quattro too. Whatever.

10944: Happy Vajayjay Day.

Will Summer’s Eve and The Richards Group please end this pathetic campaign already? Don’t forget to keep your vajayjay minty fresh on Valentine’s Day, ladies!

10890: Getting Played.

Playtex says, “Play On.” This concept was played out before it even started.

10847: Admen Don’t Get Women.

Advertising Age published a perspective on gender-based marketing missteps. Susan Dobscha, an associate professor of marketing at Bentley University, theorized that marketers don’t know how to properly depict or communicate to women due to ignorance. Gee, what a breakthrough discovery. Actually, the bulk of the blame lies with the marketers’ advertising agencies—where there is an underrepresentation of women and an overflowing of cultural cluelessness.

Why Most Marketers (Continue to) Get Gender So Wrong

Women’s Gender Roles Have Changed, But You’d Never Know It

By Susan Dobscha

Why do marketers continue to get gender wrong? While many women’s gender roles have changed in the past 50 years, you would never know it from the types of ad appeals and product innovations companies are rolling out in order to capture the lucrative women’s market.

My work on motherhood in particular has uncovered several difficult truths about women and the marketplace. Impending motherhood is a liminal state between identities where consumers are particularly vulnerable. Yet, marketers continue to market goods and services to these new mothers using fear appeals. What new mother will choose the cheaper, less-safe child car seat?

This multibillion-dollar industry feeds off the fears of new parents with buzzwords such as “safety,” “security” and “protection.” Yet fear is only one way in which marketers appeal to women. Marketers use self-esteem, motivation and values to appeal to all consumers. But it is women who are more negatively impacted by these appeals, as evidenced by the disproportionate amount of self-esteem-related conditions, such as eating disorders and getting excessive plastic surgery.

Three recent examples show that marketers continue to get gender-based targeting wrong. Honda recently revealed a pink car with special window tinting to combat wrinkles. Bic released Pens for Her, which were subsequently skewered by Ellen DeGeneres and clever commenters on Amazon. And an amazing array of Halloween costumes are themed for men and women, with the female version being “slutty” or “sexy,” everything from professional themes such as “sexy police officer” to the more obscure themes such as “sexy banana.”

There are many theories as to why marketers continue to get gender wrong. Pat Flynn—a trustee professor of economics and management at Bentley University and an expert on women and business—and her team would probably argue it’s because of the lack of women on corporate boards and the C-suite. Other scholars would point to the patriarchal nature of capitalism.

I have another theory: ignorance.

First, marketers are constantly conflating the separate constructs of sex, gender and sexuality. They assume female means feminine means heterosexual or male means masculine means heterosexual. They assume all women are feminine and would like a pink car. They assume women’s hands are daintier and would need an anatomically correct pen, and they assume women want to dress up as slutty versions of virtually anything for Halloween.

Second, marketers continue to drop gender stereotypes into ads because they fail to see that these stereotypes are, by and large, outdated and untrue (if they ever were true). While there are women who prefer pink, and it has become the official color of breast cancer, the NFL has since created more realistic jerseys for its female clientele.

Third, marketers are ignorant about the diversity of preferences among women because they have long used male and female as catchall categories for segmentation. While fashion marketers have further segmented the consumer using additional demographic categories, such as age and income, other industries have not followed suit. The automobile industry habitually misfires when it tries to use sex as a demographic category, but does much better when it uses lifestyle and social-class classifications.

The gender gap in the recent election, particularly among unmarried women, demonstrates that marketers aren’t the only ones getting gender wrong. To stay relevant, marketers, along with political parties, must learn to adapt to modern female consumer/citizens, whose wants and needs reflect a new set of gender roles.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Susan Dobscha is an associate professor of marketing at Bentley University in Waltham, Mass.

10827: Canada Dry.

Was this Canadian campaign for Mae by Damiva—a vaginal lubricant—inspired by the Summer’s Eve bullshit from The Richards Group?

From Ads of the World.

10353: Milking A Lame Concept.

Our Breast Issue Ever sounds like a headline better suited for Juggs magazine.

10317: Hail To The V Still Smells Bad.

After the disastrous launch of the Hail To The V campaign from Summer’s Eve and The Richards Group—featuring epic adventure imagery and talking vajayjays—the morons responsible for the mess have returned to the contrived crap that has historically defined the brand. This new commercial feels very 20th century. Plus, the gag with a woman sneakily swiping a vaginal wipe is pathetic. The awful tagline remains, and the Caucasian talking vajayay can still be viewed at the website. Somebody needs to have a face-to-vagina talk with Summer’s Eve Director of U.S. Marketing Angela Bryant and tell her to stop the madness already.

10242: Pantene Deserves Disqualification.

This Pantene campaign for the Olympics is a loser. The image starring U.S. athlete Natalie Coughlin is particularly ridiculous—the 11-time Olympic medalist is so amazing, she can swim without getting her hair wet. Canadian Annamay Pierse is doing likewise. The overall message seems to place appearances over athletic achievements. BTW, would the Pro-V vitamins be categorized as performance-enhancing drugs? And why are there no Black competitors?