Why we need 'rebel women' to change the advertising industry
In 2017, feminist discourse has consumed the advertising industry. From movements for campaigns such as the Always #LikeAGirl movement in 2014 and Rebel Sport’s ‘Rebel Women’ series in late 2016, there has been a progression into more female empowered advertising campaigns.
Rebel Women, Bastion Stadium
Pamela Katakouzinos, producer for Bastion Stadium, worked on the ‘Rebel Women’ series and said: “It’s essential to give women accurate representation in advertising, a lot of what you see now is not necessarily an accurate representation of reality or of what any woman is like.”
“I think that it’s become commonplace that women are misrepresented in advertising, everything is highly polished and photo shopped."
Bastion Group Offices, Surry Hills
A 2017 study released by J. Walter Thompson’s Female Tribes initiative found that 85% of women believe film and advertising need to catch up to the real world when depicting women.
Dr Susie Khamis, Senior Lecturer in Public Communication at the University of Technology Sydney, said in regards to representing women in advertising: “(women are) at least 50% of the population obviously it’s very important, so it’s inevitable. It’s not really a decision it’s something they have to do.”
Dr Susie Khamis continued to talk about how advertisements cater to specific needs, she said: “It really depends on what we aspire to and the extent to which that advertisement speaks faithfully or truthfully to that aspiration in a way that would endear us to what’s being advertised.”
Whilst the advertising industry’s endgame is to sell or promote a product, the consideration of the message they are displaying is a necessity in society today.
Ms Katakouzinos says: “Advertising definitely shapes the way that we talk about women, we need to show that there’s more depth and more background to women than just what we look like … that’s a lot of what society has placed a lot of value on.”
Rebel: WBBL rebel women, Bastion Stadium
