Alex Ritson

Here's Lynne Deeson from Canter.

We're seeing a drop in the proportion of adverts that feature women in non-traditional roles this year versus last year.

So it was 8% in 2024 and that's now halved down to 4% of ads this year.

You know, to an extent, culture does vary a lot across the globe and there are specific places where you have to make sure you're getting that right.

But I think progressive marketing, when you portray people positively, it works everywhere in the world.

When you show stereotypes, they do alienate audiences and they reduce relatability.

And that meaningful connection, seeing yourself or people like you or people who you aspire to be like in advertising is really key from an effectiveness point of view.

What you're doing is you're positively shaping what people think about your brand and predisposing them to choose you.

I think people might be surprised to hear that in India, there's a campaign that's really shifted things from the brand Ariel.

This campaign started a few years back.

It showed a dad and his daughter who's grown up now, and he hadn't realised the load that she was bearing.

She had a demanding job, but she was also trying to look after the family and the home, and it was a wake-up call for him.

So he realised that actually he needed to start sharing the load, and so did the rest of the family, and it shouldn't all be on her.

Ads like that, that more directly challenge stereotypes, can be really good.

The other ad that I think is really positive is Amazon's what we call Joyride ads.

Three older ladies watching young children sledging down the slope.

They're reflecting back on their own childhood.

And one of the friends buys the insert from Amazon so they can enjoy doing that.

And we don't often see older generations portrayed in advertising, but that resonates with everybody.

Lynne Deeson.