Co-Author of Brandsplaining, Jane Cunningham, says that you need to reinvent marketing to women if you want to be fit for purpose in the new normal
myself and my Co-Founder, Philippa Roberts, had no idea just how dramatic the subsequent fifteen years would be for female identity. Our business was predicated on an insight that marketing was not connecting with women and had an out of date idea about how women lived and what they prioritised, but we certainly weren’t expecting the entire subject to blow up in quite the way that it did. It has been amazing to be at the heart of the action, researching amongst women as we have almost constantly over that period. Fourth wave Feminism, #MeToo and TimesUP have rocked ideas about women to their roots; Unstereotyping and Femvertising have challenged ideas about communicating with women. There’s no doubt that the early pioneers of the ‘femvertising’ model – the wonderful work of Dove in changing the dial on beauty standards; the brilliance of Always in creating boldness and interest in a category dogged by denial narratives; the power of Nike in building up female sport; the campaigning work of Ariel with 'Share The Load' – genuinely achieved great things (for themselves, for their customers, and for the wider world).
But as others mimicked the model, and Fempowerment and Femvertising became A Thing, we began to pick up a practice that has now become widespread – a phenomenon that we describe as ‘sneaky sexism’ - where brands play an empowerment tune, but continue with old sexist ideas now presented in ways that are faintly disguised or sub-textual or implicit rather than explicit. So, for example, we see a lot of token appearances - a BAME woman, or an older woman, or a plus sized model included but only for their exceptionalism.
Or where obvious binary Pink and Blue is replaced by coded versions (pastel floral decorative ‘for her’; dark strong powerful for ‘him’). Or where the brand replaces the old narrative of ‘you need to fix your body’ with a new narrative that says ‘you now need to fix your behaviour’: be strong, be bold, don’t be sorry’.
in terms of job losses, additional demands on their time in schooling and caring for children (and their own parents), brands and businesses jumping aboard the bandwagon to tell their female customers that they can Will What They Want or are empowered To Be The Best Version of Themselves or that The Future is Female feels (at best) tone-deaf and (at worse) completely disingenuous. The easy promises of the Go Girl propositions have never sounded more hollow or less up to the task.
As the lockdowns end a reset of the relationship between brands and their female audiences will be needed. For most of the twentieth century, brands operated as if they were masters in their relationship with the female audience: holding the authority, telling them how to look and how to be, explaining what they needed to do in order to achieve an ideal. In the last decade – as Fempowerment has held sway - brands have moved from Master to operate as if they are the ‘Patrons’ of women – supporters, advocates, sponsors but still the ones holding the power and still telling women how to be and how to behave. Now, they need to shift again to meet the needs of the post-covid context and to do this they need to be not Masters, or Patrons but Servants.
Nike Women - Nike+ Training Club
Ariel India - Share The Load
They need to properly listen to their female audiences, understand the very genuine hardships and needs that they face, and work out what usefully and helpfully they can do to serve them and alleviate those needs.
