Sometime in 2013, Population First’s Director Dr AL Sharada, who views almost everything instinctively with a gender lens, started reviewing ads and rating them on gender sensitivity for a trade publication. It was only apt that as she presented nuggets from her analysis of ads over a decade at an event on gender representation in communication, ad veteran Ramesh Narayan, who had initiated the reviews, was awarded for championing gender.
For anyone viewing or reviewing ads, Dr. Sharada’s perspective has, on more than one occasion, proved to be an eye opener.
At the event organised by the International Advertising Association’s India chapter. Dr. Sharada presented some statistics based on analysis of the ads. They are rated Gender Offensive (score 0-1), Gender Insensitive (1-2), Gender Neutral (2-3), Gender Non-stereotypical (3-4) and Gender Transformative (4-5). The analysis covered ads reviewed from 2016 to H1 2022.
It seemed logical that the lockdown year of 2020, when men did in fact share household duties more than ever before, the average gender sensitivity score (GSS) shot up to 3.24.
Some of the work showcased by Dr. Sharada personifies each element of the framework used for analysing positive changes. According to an industry research carried out in January 2016, creative professionals from advertising credited Population First’s reviews, awards and advocacy initiatives for ushering in some of these changes.
The four buckets of the framework are:
Gender Qualities & Identities
Dove | #StopTheBeautyTest (2021)
Titan Raga | #WhatYouFeelIsWhoYouAre (2020)
Gender Roles
Horlicks | #TumKabItneBadeHoGaye (2020)
Vivo | #JoyOfEquality (2022)
Gender Equations
Ariel | #SeeEqual | #ShareTheLoad
Bharat Matrimony | #BeChoosy
Gender Entitlements
P&G Shiksha | #TheStoryOfSushila
Nanhi Kali & Nestle India | #EducateTheGirlChild
While the majority of the over 800 ads reviewed fell in the categories of gender neutral and non-stereotypical, it is those at the two ends of the spectrum that we must pay particular attention to.
What the graph above doesn’t capture is five ads that were rated 0-1, or ‘Gender Offensive’.
Dr Sharada has been overly kind, some would say, to the likes of the Layer’r Shot commercial that attempted humour with ‘rape jokes’ and was subsequently banned. She had scored it 1 and it fell in the ‘Gender Insensitive’ category. That commercial was aired in 2022.
The total number of spots that were either offensive or insensitive by this ranking for the evaluation period was 24, including some from 2022. So while the average score has gone up and the number of ‘Gender Transformative’ ads has risen aided by the spike of 2020, there is a need to continue to look at advertisements from a gender lens and weed out those pulling down the score. Contrary to the notion that we are too obsessed about gender sensitivity, there is still a long way to go.
When we talk of women’s empowerment, it is those from the weakest economic segments who are worst affected by inequality and lack of opportunity. In the advertising context, it is the most offensive and insensitive work that reflects the need for change in mindset among brand custodians and creators. For that reason, we must continue to keep a vigilant watch.
