4 Ways to Promote Gender Equality in Your Advertising
Use these tips to equally represent your consumer base.
Gender equality is defined as equal rights, responsibilities, and opportunities between men and women. Gender-equal advertising expresses these equalities, and requires questioning gender stereotypes in order to enable mainstream gender equality.
If your company values equality, then your advertising should reflect that value! Gender-equal advertising will better represent your consumer base and take into consideration the diversity of the audience you’re serving. Adjusting your advertising might take some time, but it’s worth the effort to ensure your customers feel seen, heard, and that they belong in your community.
Here are 4 ways to promote gender equality in your advertising:
#1: Equally Portray Capabilities and Roles for All Genders
Advertising should portray both masculine and feminine presenting people in the full spectrum of diversity, and as equally competent in a wide range of activities both inside and outside the home. A female-focused ad campaign might generate press, but it won’t ensure representation in the long-term.
Gender-equal advertising:
Strives to provide an equal representation of women and men in roles of authority.
Portrays everyone equally as single decision makers for all purchases, including big-ticket items.
Avoids the inappropriate use or exploitation of sexuality
Assesses the ratio of masculine vs. feminine presenting people, the age of people being represented, the physical appearance and clothing of people in visual materials, and how their roles are being portrayed.
If you’re wanting to re-evaluate how gender equal your brand is, here are some questions to mull over:
What is the representation of masculine and feminine presenting people in your ads?
Are you testing your ads with an equal number of men and women?
What does your brand stand for that benefits all genders?
Tip: If you need help finding new imagery, check out one of our favorite stock image sites called Tonl.
#2: Choose Your Colors Carefully
Often unknowingly, colors reinforce gender stereotypes. The age old “pink is for girls and blue is for boys” is stereotyping, not to mention this actually used to be reversed!
Examining your brand colors and the colors you use in your ads, social media posts, emails, and more, can help your business avoid stereotyping masculine or feminine presenting people. A great question to ask yourself is, “What colors do my target audience resonate with?” This will help you create content that is more customized to your ideal audience.
#3: Mind Your Language
Language has the power to reinforce or subvert gender inequalities. Your advertising should avoid language that misrepresents, offends, or excludes women or men. Keep in mind that your audience may identify as male, female, nonbinary, genderfluid, or gender nonconforming. Using the same pronouns all the time can exclude people who don’t identify with binary pronouns, so switch it up when you’re writing social copy, emails, ads, or blogs! Gender-responsive language is inclusionary and easy to use—the pronouns “they/them/theirs” can be used for people who identify as neither female or male. Instead of saying “He went to the store” or “She went to the store,” you’d say “They went to the store.” Easy switch!
#4: Check Your Text with a Decoder
It’s easy to use language that’s gender-coded if you aren’t looking out for it. Language is a part of culture, and all cultures have expectations of how people should think, act, and dress.
We like this gender decoder because it searches for masculine and feminine-coded words that may go unnoticed. Running any ads, social copy, or blog posts through it may not be a bad idea. It’s also good practice to have someone look at your content before it goes live. The more sets of eyes you have, the more likely you are to catch gender-coded language that could potentially cause you to lose a customer.
If you need help creating a gender-equal advertising strategy, reach out to us! Our diverse team of creatives are experts at ensuring equality in marketing.