Is the End of Sexist Advertising In Sight?

For me, it can’t come soon enough.

I remember it clearly. During a sleepover at my friend Suzanna’s house, we watched tv when the Fa* shower gel ad came on. Out of nowhere, a topless blonde burst on the screen, frolicking in a meadow before showering outside while us nine-year-olds squirmed on the sofa, trying to avoid eye contact with Suzanna’s parents.

To give you a bit of context, I grew up in the late eighties in the Netherlands, where ads like these did not raise many parents’ eyebrows, being as they were pretty commonplace. When it came to advertising, the primary messaging was that women were either young, blonde, pretty, and hung out on the beach, took showers, or mingled with their equally beautiful (white) friends. Or else they were mothers, busy and humourlessly taking on laundry, hoovering, cooking, or nagging their husband and kids.

While men were possibly older, handsome, white, often witty, but always captured working, driving the family car, or wearing a white coat and explaining something important to the viewer. When I grew up, advertising rarely showed men in a caring role or a woman as an expert on something other than cleaning or cooking.

Watching ads with bouncy blonde girls taking showers or showing off their perfect blonde locks in a sun-drenched meadow (Remember the Timotei shampoo ads?) was part of my childhood. We didn’t question it until we were older.

In those days, serial cliches were the backbone of advertising content, perpetuating outdated stereotypes to a new generation.

Fast forward to now, and it certainly seems like the most harmful cliches have been busted, but have ads changed enough to reflect our modern world?

Kiona de Vries and Geerke Catshoek, founders of alternative advertising agency Calamity Jane, don’t think so. They set up their company in response to stereotypical advertising and argue that cliches in ads are still there, albeit more subtle. Even now women are mainly portrayed as doing the lion’s share of housework, needing beauty products to feel confident, or unable to park their (inevitably tiny) car properly.

The mission of their agency-staffed by females from diverse ethnic backgrounds- is to rewrite advertising content to reflect modern women going about their lives, working, driving big cars, and providing commentary on topics other than cleaning or bringing up children.

As a mum of two daughters and a son, I’m delighted with their initiative, and I hope it sets a precedent. Stereotypes are harmful. The Fawcett Society literary review suggests stereotyping can lead to broader gender inequality. And an international World Health Organisation study concluded that addressing childhood experiences and tackling gender norms is crucial to reducing violence against women.

So if we want our children to grow up with ads and media reflecting women and men in roles they can aspire to, we need to make changes urgently. It’s high time boys and girls see men taking on caring positions and women portraying experts. Also, people of all ethnic backgrounds need to feature in ads, so kids with a BAME background feel they belong.

But why do ad-makers rely on cliches? Anyone who has watched Madmen can probably hazard a guess. Creatives only have 30 seconds or so to deliver a message. By using stereotypes, you can use handy shortcuts. Also, advertising is still a male-dominated profession, with only 27% of UK women working in the top positions. And with white staff representing over 80% of employees working in US advertising, pr, and related industries, it’s easy to see why fair representation still has a long way to go.

Nevertheless, replacing stereotypes with new narratives is not just a moral duty to our children; it also seems sensible from a financial perspective. Considering 70–80% of US women driving consumer spending, fair representation makes good business sense.

I can only hope that initiatives like Calamity Jane are the start of a more significant movement.

For the sake of our children, let’s make it happen. Let them see that women can do so much more than prancing about in a meadow.

• Fa is a German brand of shower gel, and still available in the Netherlands.

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