Gender Equality in Advertising

SUMMARY

ACCURATE PORTRAYALS OF WOMEN AND GIRLS IN MEDIA: PROVEN TO BE GOOD FOR BUSINESS

By IRI’s Media Center of Excellence and SeeHer, a division of ANA

Women influence more than 85% of consumer goods purchases. With their consumer power, today’s advertising should align with the real world. There is substantial proof that doing so increases a company's bottom line.

In 2016, the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) launched SEEHER, a movement for increasing accurate portrayals of women and girls in marketing, advertising, media and entertainment. SEEHER developed GEM™ (Gender Equality Measure™) to uncover unconscious gender bias in advertising and programming.

SEEHER partnered with IRI to analyze layers of shopper, panel and store sales data, along with viewership data, to learn the sales impact of GEM-scored ad campaigns. The research has shown that depicting women accurately in advertising is not only the right thing to do for gender equality but has a proven and measurable impact on sales.

• GEM (Gender Equality Measure™) scores are the gold standard in determining whether advertising is accurately portraying females and how it can be used to boost sales
• Six leading CPG brands have been able to substantiate the link between sales and the accurate portrayal of women in their campaigns.
• Campaigns that accurately portray women and girls garner 2-5x sales lift.

Download the Full Report