Why can't we move past bookmark brand campaigns?

opinion
category - female futures
category - campaign
category - gender
category - society
type - opinion
Opinion
The idea of apportioning one part of the calendar to the celebration of women in fact serves the opposite purpose, defining a finite period of time to ‘deal’ with the issues at hand before returning to business as usual.

For some, International Women’s Day (IWD) operates as necessary annual reminder to wider society that gender inequality remains deeply entrenched. It acts like a bookmark, bringing focus back to a discussion that too easily slips from the mind of 50% of the population. Brands increasingly attempt to help in this endeavour, utilising their massive marketing reach and cultural influence to help assert the need for change.

For many others, however, the idea of apportioning one part of the calendar – be that Women’s History Month, IWD or the increasingly incongruous Women’s Hour – serves the opposite purpose, defining a finite period of time to ‘deal’ with the issues at hand before returning to business as usual…quite literally.

Two brands quick to demonstrate their support for this year’s event were fast food chains McDonalds and KFC. The former marked the occasion by flipping its signature M logo into a W, updating the marque across all its social media channels and even replacing the signage outside one of its franchises in California. Speaking to Business Insider, McDonald’s global chief diversity officer Wendy Lewis explained that the brand wanted to ‘honour of the extraordinary accomplishments of women everywhere, and especially in our restaurants.’

KFC made a similar gesture by swapping their avuncular figurehead for Mrs Claudia Sanders, apparently the real Colonel’s wife. ‘To all women of KFC and the world out there, we would like to say that your future is always bright, equal, safe and rewarding,’ expounded Merrill Pereyra, chief executive officer for the Restaurant Division of QSR Brand. ‘Keep inspiring us and impacting lives, and thank you for all your hard work and contribution to our community, family and this organisation.’

Published by:

12 March 2018

Author: Peter Maxwell

Image: McDonald's International Womens Day Campaign

Share

The thing about bookmarks is that they’re less a means of remembering something than they are a mechanism by which you can afford to forget it. So it has proved for the fast-food giants, who by creating campaigns around IWD have only served to highlight how their industry fails women. Labour’s Momentum faction went as far as releasing a retaliatory video explaining how McDonald’s zero-hour contracts and meagre wages had forced some of its female employees into homelessness. In the US the burger chain has long fought against minimum wage increases, something that disproportionately affects women.

Meanwhile KFC’s declaration that women’s future is ‘always bright, equal, safe and rewarding’ seems particularly tone deaf at a time when the #metoo movement continues to lay bare how the majority of today’s workplaces are none of these things. Perhaps the most painfully resonant statement was that posted on the brands Malaysian site, informing customers that Claudia was ‘the 12th ingredient to the Colonel’s 11 secret herbs and spices.’ KFC were clearly making an important point about how women’s contributions in the workplace are systematically concealed and co-opted by their male counterparts…right?

As former BBH president Cindy Gallop has spent years reiterating to brands and agencies alike (most recently with reference to pay inequality at WPP): ‘Don’t create campaigns or stunts about diversity. Don’t make compelling content about diversity. Be diverse.’ Rather than celebrating IWD, businesses need to take the structural steps to make it obsolete. If the social imperative isn’t enough (and sadly it seems that it isn’t), they should at least consider the impact on their bottom lines. A recent McKinsey Global Institute report finds that $12 trillion could be added to global GDP by 2025 by advancing women’s equality, something that’s more than likely to make up for the shortfall in opportunistic marketing campaigns.

For more on how to fight gender inequality in the workplace, check out our Female Futures channel on LS:N Global.

"The thing about bookmarks is that they’re less a means of remembering something than they are a mechanism by which you can afford to forget it."
 

Want to read more?
Become a member today!

Sign up to one of our subscribtion packages and get unlimited access to a hive of insights - from microtrends and macro trends to market reports, daily news, research across eight industry sectors and much more.


Discover our memberships

Already a member? Click here to login