If you ever watched Mad Men, that is the quintessential serial tv drama centered on the ad industry which objectified and disrespected women — then from reading the headline you can already tell where this article is going, but for the lucky ones who cannot be bothered to hold a remote, please continue reading.
The conversation around harmful gender stereotypes in the media, marketing, and communications industries has been raging since the second wave of the feminist movement hit in the 60s. Before this, men had the advantage of being the center of attention when it came to issues of job opportunities, professional courtesy, and basic human regard.
A recent Gender Equality Attitudes study by UN Women in Nigeria revealed that 54% of respondents believe media in Nigeria (television, advertisements, or public communication) only portrays women and men in certain roles, and on the flip side, almost 40% of people believe that for the same job, men are paid more than women.
That’s why it is important that UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women recently launched the Nigeria chapter of the Unstereotype Alliance – a global coalition committed to ending harmful stereotypes in media and advertising.
In actualising this goal, Nigeria’s number one ad agency X3M Ideas will play a major role in establishing the UN Women Nigerian chapter alongside other notable names such as Guinness Nigeria, First Bank of Nigeria, SO&U LTD, and Unilever Nigeria.
X3M Ideas will leverage its wealth of influence and reach to use advertising as a force for progress by depicting positive portrayals of women and girls, and ensure the industry rejects all harmful stereotypes, including gender stereotypes.