In recent years, the Internet and social networks have driven a gigantic step in society\u2019s militancy in global causes such as gender equality, climate change, sustainability or fair trade, just to name a few. In this context of global social activism, advertising agencies as well as business and organizations marketing and communication managers, face the challenge and, at the same time, have the responsibility to update themselves and understand how their society evolves, discarding old stereotypes and paradigms that might have been right at another time in history, but today may be offensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A good\nexample is the El Corte Ingl\u00e9s campaign for Mother’s Day developed by the\ncompany’s Creativity and Marketing department. The campaign included a TV spot premiered\non May 1 in two versions, 30 seconds and 45 seconds and a poster showing a\nwoman accompanied by the text “97% dedication, 3% selfishness, 0%\ncomplaints, 100% mother “. The message, that some years ago would have\ngone unnoticed by most people, in today\u2019s Spain has aroused many phobias and very\nfew philias. So much so, that the Generalitat Valenciana has opened an\ninvestigation to the company on the grounds that the campaign can “promote\nthe stereotype of a mother that subdues women to fulfill their role as good\nmothers based on dedication, above all other identities”. Reactions on\nTwitter have been quick, and the campaign has received all kinds of adjectives,\nsuch as old-fashioned, macho, patriarchal and anachronistic, and the brand has\nbeen accused of promoting the stereotype of a submissive mother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Representatives\nof the company point out that the campaign\u2019s intention was “to pay homage\nto mothers and highlight their key role in society”, which evidences that\nnobody gave a thought at the different interpretations that the campaign\u2019s\nmessage could have in a society so sensitized towards gender equality as the Spanish.\nIn the release statement of the campaign, El Corte Ingl\u00e9s explained that it\nreferred to “the mother who works at home taking care of her family; the\none that goes out to work every day; the one that tries to make time for her\nwhen the children have fallen asleep; the one that goes running or has dinner with\nfriends; and the one that makes true juggling to pick up children from school,\neven if she has professional commitments. All are “100% mothers”, but\nthey are also women of today, who contribute a lot to society with their effort\nand work at home, “reports Europa Press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But El\nCorte Ingl\u00e9s is not the only brand whose advertising has unwittingly aroused\ncritics. Carrefour launched a campaign for Children’s Day in Argentina in\nAugust 2018. The promotional poster showed a child in a racing car and a girl\nwith a toy kitchen, while the slogan read: “With ‘C’ of Champion”,\nhe; on a blue background, and “With ‘C’ of Cook”, she; on pink\nbackground. The French supermarkets chain received a barrage of criticism via social\nnetworks, including those of organizations such as the Inter-American Institute\nof Human Rights; Casa del Encuentro, an association that works against violence\nagainst women; UN Women, the United Nations agency for gender equality and the\nempowerment of women and the National Institute against Discrimination,\nXenophobia and Racism. In the face of sexism accusations, the company was\nforced to apologize publicly and withdraw the campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hershey’s\nMexico also messed up when, in August 2018, it launched on Instagram the #HacerElBienSabeBien\n(“Doing good, tastes good”) campaign, as part of the brand\u2019s\nanniversary celebrations. The campaign showed Mexican influencers (mostly white)\nwho gave chocolates or food to people of limited resources (mostly non-whites) and,\nof course, immortalized the moment with a photograph to share it in their\nnetworks. Criticism, dismissing the campaign as racist and classist, made the\nbrand to apologize and withdraw it. The campaign was nominated as the most racist\nin the Mexican advertising anti-awards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Opposite to\nthese ads are, for example, Nike\u2019s controversial campaign with Colin\nKaepernick, or Gillette\u2019s against “toxic machismo”, that also\nprovoked irritation in a part of society and of the brands\u2019 consumers. In both\ncases the messages were intentional and clearly spoke of these companies\u2019 position\non controversial issues such as racial or sexual discrimination. Both, Nike and\nGillette, remained firm despite the threats of boycott by a segment of their\nusers, demonstrating that their position was not due to temporary circumstances\nand showing that what separates companies that do things by conviction of those\nwho are forced due to circumstances, it is that the former will remain firm\ndespite the financial costs of their decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In any\ncase, for companies, agencies and consumers, it is the time of learnong. The\nadvertising industry and the marketing and communication departments, as\nstrategists of the brand’s storytelling and the dialogue established between it\nand the consumer, must revise their prevailing stereotypes, and permanently\nupdate their understanding of their users\u2019 demands. All this, of course, embracing\nlocal markets particularities and tuning up with their targeted society, to\ncorrectly transfer the purpose and commitment of the brand through all channels\nand media.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Whiplash Team, May 2019 The challenges of advertising in times of social activism The fiery reaction of Spanish consumers to El Corte Ingl\u00e9s\u2019 Mother\u2019s Day campaign, or that of Argentinian clients who forced Carrefour Argentina to withdraw their Children’s Day campaign in 2018, shows that…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31104,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[30,23,24,31,26,27,32],"yoast_head":"\n