Advertising That Overturns Long-Held Gender
Stereotypes and Accurately Represents Women is Critical to
Unlocking Purchase Power Among Younger Generations & People of
Color
NEW
YORK, May 2, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Accurate
gender representation in advertising is driving measurable business
outcomes for brands—such as heightened consumer trust, loyalty and,
most importantly, improved sales performance—according to SeeHer's
latest Gender Equality Measure (GEM®) Lift
research. SeeHer is a global movement, within the Association of
National Advertisers (ANA), to accurately portray women and girls
in marketing, advertising, media and entertainment. SeeHer
spearheaded GEM®, the global gold standard of measuring
gender bias in advertising and content.
Starting in 2019, SeeHer's GEM® Lift analysis has
been conducted biennially in partnership with Circana, the leading
advisor on the complexity of consumer behavior. It measures the
impact on business growth when gender equality principles are
embedded in advertising campaigns.
"Our research clearly demonstrates that—apart from contributing
to a more inclusive media and marketing landscape—advancing gender
equality in advertising is a business imperative for any brand that
wants to not only thrive today but also survive in the future,"
said Christine Guilfoyle, President
of SeeHer. "Younger consumers have higher expectations when it
comes to accurate portrayals of women in advertising and lower
tolerance for gender stereotypes. Considering the economic
purchasing power of women and long-term purchasing power of younger
generations, the time is now for brands and marketers to prioritize
gender equity best practices in their marketing strategies for real
economic impact."
Partnering with L'Oréal, Kellogg, Kellanova, Nestlé, and
Georgia Pacific, SeeHer and Circana
analyzed 24 creatives across eight brands. The GEM® Lift
Study 2024 is featured in SeeHer's report, "Unlocking Purchase
Power Across Ethnicities and Generations Through the Accurate
Portrayal of Women and Girls," which highlights the value that
brands have been capturing over the last five years by investing in
gender equality in their advertising campaigns.
Results from the new GEM® Lift Study build on and
surpass prior research. Based on the GEM® analysis,
creative advertising that overturns long-held stereotypes and
accurately represents women can drive incremental sales lifts of up
to 10X, a notable increase compared to a 5X sales lift seen in the
2019 analysis. The stronger uplift in sales from exposure to
higher-GEM®-scoring creatives is also seen among men and
consumers of different races, ethnicities and generations.
"Brands are starting to appreciate how gender equality in
advertising can drive sales growth," said Erika Digirolamo, Director of Media and
Marketing Solutions for Circana. "Our research continues to prove
that accurately representing women of different ethnicities and
ages can boost sales. Equality starts with cultural perceptions and
media plays a key role in both furthering and combating cultural
perceptions, and quantitative evaluation is key to moving the
industry in an upward direction."
YOUNGER GENERATIONS HAVE HIGHER EXPECTATIONS
Younger generations have been characterized as the most diverse
in U.S. history. They desire narratives of personal growth,
self-realization and female empowerment, aligning with the key
performance drivers of GEM®. SeeHer's latest round of
GEM® Lift research offers new insights on how generational
disparities factor into creative preference. When these narratives
are prioritized, the increase in sales lift among Gen Z and younger
millennials exceeds that of older age groups with a 9X sales lift
with higher-GEM®-scoring creatives.
THE BENEFITS OF HIGHER GEM® SCORES EXTEND TO
DIVERSE AUDIENCES AND REVEAL THE IMPACT OF ALLYSHIP
The latest GEM® Lift findings broken down by race and
ethnicity underscore the need for brands to consider not just
representation of gender but also of race and ethnicity to
recognize optimal value. The GEM® Lift Study 2024 shows notable
increases in sales lift among African-American and Hispanic
consumers. Additionally, findings suggest that featuring ethnically
diverse women on screen leads to improved return on advertising
investment among all households regardless of race or
ethnicity.
Latha Sarathy, Chief Research
Officer for the ANA and SeeHer noted that, "The majority of
consumers understand the immense power that advertising and media
have in challenging stereotypes and shaping gender roles. Yet, we
have seen portrayals of women take a step backward with an 18%
decline in women shown in leadership roles over the past two years.
Advertising and media need to be a force for change to unlock the
$10 trillion purchasing power of
women in the U.S. and meet rising consumer expectations of how
women and girls are depicted in creative and content with
intentionality across different audience segments."
ABOUT THE GENDER EQUALITY MEASURE
(GEM®)
GEM® stands as the global benchmark for assessing
gender equality, particularly within advertising and content.
Notably, GEM®, developed in partnership with ABX,
pioneered the ability to quantify gender bias embedded in
advertising and content.
Awarded the prestigious ESOMAR Award for its effectiveness in ad
measurement, GEM® boasts the largest database of tested
advertisements, exceeding 300,000 samples worldwide, with 73,000
spanning global markets. Operating in 14 countries that
collectively represent close to 90% of global ad spending.
Benefiting from seven years of global multi-platform normative
data and benchmarks, the GEM® methodology facilitates
correlations between brand health, sales, and factors such as
gender, race/ethnicity, and language. GEM® evaluates
consumer reactions to four key statements regarding the portrayal
of women and girls in ads and programming. Expressed as an index, a
GEM® score of 100 is on par with the baseline for all
tested ads. Scores above 100 indicate an increase in the
representation, presentation, appropriateness, and role model
status of women in the advertisement or programming.
GEM® LIFT METHODOLOGY
Marrying the GEM® methodology, which measures
detailed consumer reaction to gender portrayals, to Circana TV
Lift™ created a unique solution wherein the GEM® Lift methodology
gauges the equality of ads, provides campaign reads for TV, and
layers these inputs with shopper and sales data, including more
than 500 million frequent shopper loyalty cards from multiple
national retailers. GEM® Lift examines the relationship of ad
exposure to offline sales by combining frequent shopper and
omnichannel store sales data with macroeconomic factors and TV
advertising viewership exposure data, supported by iSpot
technology.
MEDIA CONTACT
DiGennaro
Communications
Naylet
Aguayo
naylet.aguayo@digennaro-usa.com
ABOUT SEEHER
SeeHer is the global initiative to champion the
positive representation of women and the leading global movement to
eliminate gender bias in marketing, media, and entertainment.
Launched in 2016 by the Association of National Advertisers (ANA)
SeeHer's coalition of leaders is committed to setting the gender
equality agenda for the industry and driving growth for their
businesses. To help its members benchmark success and become
catalysts for change, SeeHer spearheaded the development of the
Gender Equality Measure® (GEM®), the first research methodology
that quantifies gender bias in ads and programming. Winning the
prestigious ESOMAR Research Effectiveness Award, GEM® is the global
measurement standard, proving that content accurately portraying
women and girls dramatically increases purchase intent and brand
reputation. SeeHer's suite of training and resources, including
GEM®, enables marketers to prioritize best practices as part of an
always-on approach to driving growth. The movement includes the
following vertical expertise: SeeHer in Sports, SeeHer
Entertainment, SeeHer Health, and the SeeHer Media Task Force.
Visit SeeHer.com to join the movement and follow
SeeHer on LinkedIn and Instagram.
ABOUT ANA
The ANA's mission is to drive growth for marketing
professionals, for brands and businesses, and for the industry.
Growth is foundational for all participants in the ecosystem. The
ANA seeks to align those interests by leveraging the 12-point ANA
Growth Agenda, which has been endorsed and embraced by the ANA
Board of Directors and the Global CMO Growth Council. The ANA's
membership consists of over 1,400 domestic and international
companies, including more than 900 client-side marketers and
nonprofit fundraisers and 500 marketing solutions providers (data
science and technology companies, ad agencies, publishers, media
companies, suppliers, and vendors). Collectively, ANA member
companies represent 20,000 brands, engage 50,000 industry
professionals, and invest more than $400
billion in marketing and advertising annually.
ABOUT CIRCANA
Circana is the leading adviser on the complexity of consumer
behavior. Through unparalleled technology, advanced analytics,
cross-industry data, and deep expertise, we provide clarity that
helps almost 7,000 of the world's leading brands and retailers take
action and unlock business growth. We understand more about the
complete consumer, the complete store, and the complete wallet so
our clients can go beyond the data to apply insights, ignite
innovation, meet consumer demand, and outpace the
competition. Learn more at circana.com. Check us out
on our social
channels: LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, X,
YouTube
ABOUT ABX
ABX is a techno-research company focused on driving ROAS &
Profits through their Global Integrated Single Solution. Marketers
through the ABX Global Multimedia/Multi Channel Platform can
evaluate the effectiveness of all their creative and copy across
all media types and channels, and against their competitors' and
other ads, representing approximately 90% of global ad spend. Other
valuable consumer data is also available for making informed,
time-sensitive business decisions. Designed by the visionaries,
pioneers and inventors who helped create the methodologies used by
legacy marketing research firms.
ABOUT iSPOT
iSpot helps advertisers drive ad effectiveness with unified TV
and video measurement, from creative to audience to outcomes. Our
fast, accurate, and actionable measurement solutions enable
advertisers to assess creative effectiveness, improve media plans,
and drive business outcomes from TV and streaming advertising.
iSpot solutions are purpose-built to measure the performance of
every ad on TV with digital-like precision and granularity.
Empowered with always-on cross-platform performance insights,
advertisers can take quick and confident action to cut wasted ad
spend. With currency-grade measurement, large-scale verified
insights, and deep competitive intelligence, iSpot gives
advertisers control and confidence amid the chaos of the new media
landscape.
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SOURCE SeeHer