March 8 is approaching, time to give gifts to your loved ones – and buy them accordingly. There’s a flurry building up in the market, and it’s vital for brands to ride the wave: products are flying around like hotcakes.
But unfortunately, it’s easy to get it wrong with the subtle matter of gender and gender relations. This is how inadequate advertising comes to be, which causes irritation and negativity.
By the way, there are other gender holidays:
- February 23 is Defender of the Fatherland Day;
- May 12 – Mother’s Day in Ukraine;
- June 19 is Father’s Day around the world;
- October 21 is Grandparents’ Day;
- November 19 is International Men’s Day;
- December 6 – Day of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
How do you make an ad that won’t become an excuse for social media heckling? Sharing our experiences.
Need to order design advertising posters, create an advertising concept? Contact KOLORO branding agency!
Advertising for March 8: How to fend off the holiday sexism
When thinking about the right congratulations, one should have a good understanding of the current ideological agenda – what beliefs are now considered valuable, and which ones will become a cause for public discontent. It is important to understand the message that will come from the advertisement and who you are making it for. The worldview of the CU and its alignment with your message ultimately determines the impression the brand will make on consumers.
Let’s go into more detail on the highlights of advertising for the holidays.
Positive emotion. Advertising needs to be positive – that’s understandable. But in what way? For example, on March 8, it could be:
- you’re doing better;
- you’re a strong person;
- you make a great contribution to society (art, science, professional field).
It’s important to praise without shaming. The message “you’ll get better with product X” = the message “you’re not good enough and you need to work on yourself”. It’s not the best idea for any ad campaign, but it’s especially inappropriate for a holiday.
Cosmo Network’s FB page ad is an example of marketing born in 2019
No to sexism. You don’t have to emphasize on beauty alone. Especially if the product you’re selling directly isn’t related to it.
Advertising to women or men is the wrong approach; good advertising appeals to everyone. There’s a financial interest in this as well. Both men and women buy gifts for March 8. The latter congratulate girlfriends, mothers, sisters, daughters, grandmothers, colleagues. Separately, Self Help and Self Care are the fashion for self-care. Such a message (“buy for yourself”, “make yourself happy”) has not had time to catch on and works well in the segment of goods, the majority of the target audience of which are women.
Read also – “Event marketing is an effective way to increase brand loyalty”
No to inequality. Implying that someone is not good enough / not fit for something is unacceptable. Verizon’s inspirational ad speaks to this problem – parents caring for girls hand them artificial limits: “you’ll get dirty,” “it’s dangerous,” “it’s not for you.” Marketers draw the public’s attention to this and associate the company with high values – intellectual development regardless of gender.
Read also – “Limited edition launch: a celebration every day”
Less forehead sex. Unfortunately, in some cases, ad creators can’t yet readjust from the rut of the “Sex can sell everything” belief. But it has become commonplace and familiar – which means that ads with overt eroticism are no longer effective. Sex still sells, but the pitch now needs to be less aggressive and straightforward.
The Pirelli calendar has been collecting huge profits on erotica for decades. But in 2016, the company did a release where most of the women were fully clothed. That Pirelli has abandoned sexual objectification is one pointer to shifts in public perceptions of gender, advertising and new values.
Kinder’s March 8 ad is an example of a sensitive appeal to traditional values
What else should you not do in advertising and greetings on March 8?
Emphasize a kitchen and household theme, especially if you are not a kitchen and household products manufacturer.
Congratulations on the day of femininity, spring and beauty, especially if you congratulate business colleagues, business women, female employees of the company. The message is still appropriate in communication with the older generation, but doesn’t sound good in offices and business environments. Women work side by side with men, they are in charge of projects rather than inspiring them. So why congratulate them and talk about “beautifying the team” and “inspiring them to accomplish”? This is especially true for B2B businesses and businesses.
Mailing list Work Ua – greetings from 2019
Describing a woman or man as a piece of jewelry or a sexual object. Creative on March 8 too often suffers from similar problems.
Soviet and post-Soviet stereotypes in advertising are clearly visible in Modulbank’s recent commercial about entrepreneurs. The company successfully builds away from patterns by offering support to “hard-core personalities.”
Contact KOLORO agency to order outdoor advertising design, develop advertising Key Visual! We specialize in breaking patterns and thinking outside of stereotypes.
The problem of advertising on Feb. 23, Dec. 6 and Oct. 14
The holidays from the headline are military in nature. But instead of congratulating the part of society that has a direct connection to it (the men and women who serve in the military), marketers and advertisers try to militarize the essence of the holiday and sell it through violence. An example is a commercial for the DNS chain of hardware stores.
The idea of knocking around standard gifts, socks and colognes, isn’t new, but it works. However, the pitch doesn’t hold up to scrutiny. Domestic violence is not something to joke about, but a serious problem.
What could the DNS have emphasized? For example, by working with statistics, store owners might learn that about a third of digital buyers are women. Which means that not only is advertising unethical, but it won’t help with increasing sales.
Demo version of the RBC report, without figures, but with gender ratio of consumers
Advertising for Mother’s and Father’s Day – honing the wording
Mother’s Day is not the day to congratulate all women – not all of them have children. For some it’s a personal choice, some can’t have children. It is not advisable to mention the “vocation of motherhood” as a significant proportion of women do not see it as their future.
A simple and open message of love and gratitude to moms will please those who are mothers and will not irritate the rest of the women. The situation in which the company talks about motherhood as a “woman’s destiny” generates negativity in part of the audience.
An example of a good message in advertising is a commercial for Procter & Gamble, the “proud sponsor of moms.” There is no sense of inferiority or dividing the audience into moms and non-moms. It only tells us about the high value of a mother’s love and helping children. Likewise, you can help any children, not just your own, right?
Read also – “How to create an effective advertising message”
Father’s Day is not celebrated as widely, but good advertising tells the same values as mothers. For example, the Metlife video, which tells about a dad who is ready to do anything for his beloved daughter. The value of “A child’s future is worthy of any sacrifice” is voiced here.
Conclusion: gender stereotypes are no longer in vogue. Good advertising appeals to everyone, without regard to gender. After all, there is no product that has 100 percent of its audience being of the same gender. We hope these examples will help you understand how to properly congratulate women and men, moms and dads, grandparents with holidays. May the power of smart marketing be with you!
And order advertising design should be in the agency KOLORO, we will help to reach the CA.
