Feature: Advertising To Women Misses The Mark
Recent moves to curtail sexism in advertising and protect against affronts to human dignity from EU commissioner, Anna Diamantopoulou, have met with fierce criticism from the advertising industry. The plans were universally condemned by leading industry figures and the Daily Mail responded by superimposing Diamantopoulou’s head on to the body of a scantily clad model.
Cultural commentators have lamented the ‘fit of hysterics’ over the question of sexism in advertising and argue it reflects a wider malaise in the industry, which appears to have airbrushed out the reality of women’s lives in the twentieth century and thus fails to connect with them effectively.
New research into advertising to women from global advertising agency, TBWA, suggests it is time for advertisers to readdress their approach to women in order to reflect their changing status and experience in modern society. It claims the idea of women as a homogeneous group no longer exists and that women simply do not behave in the “consistent” and “conformist” ways that marketers still adhere to.
The new research corroborates the findings of numerous other studies by claiming women are the primary decision makers for any purchase involving serious financial commitment, a fact advertisers simply cant afford to ignore. However TBWA says many agencies are missing the mark with ad campaigns directed at women and the research claims: “In a world in which they consider themselves equal partners with men, being picked on by marketers in an obvious way feels patronising to many women.”
The study shows that most women distinguish between advertising they like and advertising they think is aimed at them. Almost 80% of those surveyed claim to be able to identify advertising aimed at them and 60% think it can be patronising.
The strategy of marketing generic products, such as cars and computers, specifically to women relies on the assumption that women require different things from their products than men. This short-sightedness in marketing permeates much of today’s advertising and TBWA believes it harks back to the days when American car manufacturers tried to sell their products to women simply by painting them pink and offering women a matching parasol.
This idea may sound outdated but some creatives still receive briefs where the target audience is simply described as “women”. As one participate in the study, a 40 year old journalist from London, comments: “I always want to be appealed to as an intelligent person, not just a woman.”
However, this does not necessarily mean that advertisers should give up marketing to women altogether, as Charlotte Scales from strategic agency, Naked Communications, comments: “This research suggests that we are currently getting it wrong and more time and effort should be invested into understanding women in order to communicate the right message. There is nothing wrong in theory with marketing cleaning products to women. However, we shouldn’t suggest that women are the only ones doing the cleaning. Such misunderstandings will only succeed in further distancing women from your brand.”
The disjuncture between the reality of women’s lives and images in ads has often been attributed to the make-up of the industry itself, which continues to be dominated by men. The latest IPA census study shows that men monopolise the coveted creative positions, accounting for 86% of art directors and 62% of designers. Shockingly women account for only 10% of senior executive positions and this has undoubtedly had an impact on the output of ad agencies. A spokeswoman for the IPA says: “If we are missing out on 50% of the talent pool there are negative implications on creative output. You don’t necessarily have to be a woman to produce a good creative aimed at women, but less diversity undoubtedly equals less innovation.”
The research claims the majority of women over the age of 35 think they are getting a raw deal from advertisers, with almost 50% of respondents believing that TV ads are behind the times. The research particularly criticises the “phoney-feisty” Oxo mum and the Tampax ad featuring the “monumentally stupid” boyfriend who confuses a tampon for sweets or sugar. The research revealed many women find these ads annoying and as one participant comments: “What is the point of tampon advertising anyway? They must know we hate the ads, but it doesn’t matter really because we still buy the products, we have to.”
TBWA also points to the changing media consumption patterns of women and the problematic nature of marketing to a new generation whose “must see TV” includes Sex In The City, and who reads both Vogue and Heat magazine. The convention of marketing has always been to package consumers into neat segments in order to reflect their lives and aspirations, but this is simply not possible with the complex world of women. In order to address this problem, TBWA advocates addressing women not simply as a market, but the market.
The research reveals that TV advertising should not be used as the main medium for marketing to women, as changing lifestyle patterns mean that older women are spending less and less time watching prime time TV. TBWA claims that women’s ability to pick up on detail means outdoor ads, good PR and careful placement is the best way to reach the majority of women. As a 38 year old doctor who took part in the research comments: “I navigate my way round by shop windows, whether I’m driving or not, so I guess I tend to see more of what’s around from there, or on billboards, than I do from adverts on the telly.”
TBWA points to the success of on-the-ground localised activities, such as Persil sponsoring children’s sports days and Nike’s recent campaign in women’s changing rooms in gyms and health clubs. In addition to these new strategies, the advertising industry also appears to be taking steps to redress the lack of women in creative positions, which many believe exacerbates the ineffectuality of advertising.
According to Scales: “It is a global truth that men have difficulty understanding women, and why should we expect male advertisers to be any different? Until more women are employed to help brands understand the challenges of advertising and marketing to women, agencies will continue to make suggestions such as don’t talk to women. It will take more women in advertising to tackle the issue of understanding women, and consequently solve the source of the problem.”
Agencies must work to challenge the inequality in their own companies, with more women in senior creative positions and initiatives to encourage women into the marketplace in order to finally adapt to the changing experience of women in the twenty first century.
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