Investing time and effort to eliminate stereotypes has its rewards. Marco Casarin, CEO of Facebook Mexico, explained that brands that speak openly about diversity and inclusion are more considered by consumers in future purchases.
In addition, five out of 10 people positively change their perception of firms that promote gender equality and that include the LGBT + community in their advertising.
“Many brands are successfully betting on campaigns where women are presented in a more realistic way,” said the manager during his participation in the second day of the Effie Awards Mexico. “It is time to challenge ourselves around the status quo. Acceleration is urgent and brands have to lead it ”.
To help make this happen, Facebook and the Alliance for the Strategic Value of Brands (AVE) – an association that organizes the Effies in Mexico – came together to launch the ‘Diversity and Inclusion’ category. As of the 2021 edition of the contest, the campaigns that give voice and space to the least represented groups in advertising will be awarded.
“At the AVE we have the purpose of promoting these issues beyond the mission or vision of the companies, it is about promoting the value that brands can give to the economy and people. But also that it becomes efficient for companies ”, added Sergio López, executive president of the association.
In this sense, Casarin said that diverse teams are more capable of carrying out radical innovations in companies, anticipating changes in consumer needs and finding new purchasing patterns, but also of achieving positive financial results.
Data from the consulting firm McKinsey & Company ensure that companies with diverse teams in management positions are 25% more likely to have an above-average profitability.
Women in advertising
Although both experts agree that attitudes in the industry have changed considerably, there are still brands that continue to replicate gender stereotypes, mainly in sectors such as automotive, financial and technology.
A study carried out by Facebook reveals that 82% of the people who appear in car ads, 75% in financial services commercials and 66% in the advertising pieces of technology firms are men.
“In these and other areas, the male character is the main one, implying that they are the ones who make the decisions to buy products of greater value and satisfaction,” said Marco Casarin. Women have a greater presence in advertisements for retail (53%), consumer goods (51%) and e-commerce (51%).
Despite this, Mexicans have a different perception of advertising. In Kantar’s ‘What Women Want’ study, 73% of domestic consumers think that fashion and tech brands drive gender equality, while 72% say banks do too.
What they do agree on is that car brands feature very few women in their communications. “Mexicans want to see more plausibility in advertising. Brands must understand that the role of women is no longer linear, “said Ana Valdespino, director of marketing for Latin America and Brazil at Kantar.
