Conveying the message through ads

At RTL AdAlliance, we would like to highlight the power that ads have. As it is Women’s History Month, we thought we would show you some ads and campaigns from media companies that demonstrate exactly how powerfully ads can convey important messages, specifically surrounding the fights which women face.  The advertising industry is a powerful platform that can evoke change and help better the problems of inequality and bias which subconsciously surrounds us all in today’s society. 

We hope you find these ads and campaigns as inspiring as we did: 

Consentis and HandsAway, are both associations wanting to eradicate the sexism and sexual violence that occurs towards women. So, they have decoded women in only 2000 pages! Women are such complicated beings… or are they. The ad is simple, it is not necessary to read 2000 pages on how to treat or act around a woman. Consentis and Handsaway remind us in this ad that consent is simple, women can be decoded in a few simple words: If it’s not yes, it’s no. 

We love to see the highlighting of women on the 8th of March, but what happens after that? On the 9th of march do we just carry on as before and forget our good intentions from the day before? The Portuguese sports newspaper Raparigas de Bola decided to highlight the unbalanced publications between women and men athletes as soon as International Women’s Day is over. Editing Portuguese newspapers by colouring in the parts with publications of men in one colour and another for women’s publications. The result’s are quite eye-opening… 

In order to change the narrative, our words need to change. CPB exposes how the world subconsciously views men and women differently by the words we use to describe one another and the connotations associated with these words. In business, a man is ambitious and assertive whereas a woman is pushy or bossy. CPB London placed ads around London to bring the difference to the surface.

Have you ever wondered why men’s sports are just called sports, whereas when women play the same sport, it must be clarified as women’s sports? NFL – WNFL, NBA – WNBA, and so on and so forth. YWCA Metro Vancouver’s ad encourages us to add the M, sports should be equal as well! 

We thought we would highlight the different ways men and women can be approached in interview circumstances. SISTA x Mirova Forward asked men of high importance in their respective industries, questions that have been asked to their women counterparts. If the men feel ridiculous in this one interview, how do you think women feel the majority of the time? (ad in French)