Redefining Women’s Roles in Advertising Narratives

Women-centric advertising campaigns has become increasingly common, with a recent study revealing that women make up 57.3% of those featured in ads.

An Overview of Women and Advertising

In recent years, a remarkable shift has occurred in the world of advertising, particularly in how women are portrayed. According to research by PrettyLittleHeads and Mindshare about women’s attitudes toward feminity and advertising, the last fifteen years can be divided into three main stages, starting with “The Good Girl”, “The Rebellion” and “The New Normal”.

The research reveals that nowadays, women aspire more to qualities such as intelligence, strength, kindness, and confidence rather than identifying as “Good Girls” or “Rebels”. Therefore, the ads world ultimately settles into what is aptly termed “The New Normal.” This transformation is a reflection of evolving societal norms and tends to be a more steady state and sustainable narrative than the previous ones.

Kantar’s Link ad testing database shows that there are minor differences in advertising preferences between genders worldwide. Women generally favor advertisements with emotionally resonant messaging, well-known music linked to the brand, content involving children, slice-of-life scenarios, and seasonal-themed ads. Additionally, women show a preference for ads featuring empathetic characters, diverse representations of female body types, men in unconventional roles, and commercials that include people with disabilities.

People of all genders’ preferences on different types of advertising (Source: Kantar Link database)

The progress in women’s portrayal in advertising

Dove, Always, and Nike are trailblazers in challenging beauty standards, breaking gender stereotypes, and empowering women to redefine their self-worth through advertising. Brands often chooses Women’s holidays as the most common occasion to introduce women-centric campaigns.

Here are some remarkable works from well-known brands that made a certain impact on inspiring women on both global and local scales. 

1. Dove, “Cùng Dove yêu tóc như ngày bé”, 2023

As one of the leading brands in the personal care sector and the pioneer in empowering women in advertising, Dove has launched many outstanding global women-centric campaigns to encourage women to believe in their true beauty, such as “True Beauty”, “#ShowUs”,… In Vietnam, Dove consistently emphasizes messages that celebrate, instill pride in, and illuminate the value of hair.

Following 2022’s successful “Mái tóc của tôi, lựa chọn của tôi” campaign (My hair, My choice), in 2023, Dove launched another campaign named “Cùng Dove yêu tóc như ngày bé” (Love your hair like when you were a child with Dove).

The campaign also encourages women to neglect social prejudice of “Fit” – ”Non-fit” kind of hairstyle, but instead, be confident with any hairstyles that they like. This also reminds them of their childhood, which increases the positive emotional reaction towards the advertisement. 

2. L’oreal Paris, “Chính Nữ”, 2021 

While Vietnam is a relatively advanced country in the region in terms of women’s rights, there still exist hidden biases and implicit standards that affect women.

As a beauty brand for women, L’oreal Paris recognized the need to change their target audience’s perspective on the role of women. That is where the new definition “Chính Nữ” came from with “Chính” standing for “Main”, contrary to the traditional “Phụ Nữ” where “Phụ” is often associated with a secondary supporting role. It signifies that “Women are not supporting characters in anyone else’s story but the MAIN character in their own story”. 

Realizing the need to feature groups of women from diverse backgrounds who also hold a certain level of influence in society, the campaign chose Pham Quynh Anh, Giang Oi, and Lynk Lee as the campaign representatives. Pham Quynh Anh, a brave single mom, returned to the spotlight after years of supporting her husband; Giang Oi, a Youtuber, is well-known for fearlessly sharing her unique opinions; Lynk Lee gained public attention after the brave transgender journey; all are well-suited with their genuinely inspiring stories.

The campaign’s success led the “Chính Nữ” to become part of the brand’s pillar and is still developed regularly with other women influencers like Thuy Minh, Helly Tong, Thao Nhi Le.

3. Bitis, “Girls’ Steps: Bước về phía mặt trời”, 2019

Continuing the success of the MV “Đi để trở về”, Biti’s takes a distinctive approach to advocate for women’s rights, focusing on mothers and daughters through the MV “Bước về phía mặt trời” (Walk towards the Sun) featuring H’Hen Niê, Van Mai Huong and Tien Cookie. The brand highlights the importance of educating young girls within the confines of certain Asian stereotypes about women’s roles and competency in society and sees it as an opportunity to impact future generations positively. The message is a call-to-action for modern mothers to instill early confidence and self-belief in their daughters, emphasizing that one can only truly love others when they first love and trust themselves to shape a generation described as ‘beautiful, intelligent, brave, strong, resilient, and confident.’

4. Generali, “Sống như Ý”, 2020

Life insurance company Generali launched a campaign called “Sống Như Ý“, which means “Live satisfactorily as you wish”, on International Women’s Day in 2020. The women-centric campaign’s video showcases the diverse lives of women in modern society with the central character, despite her academic success, choosing to leave her job after having a child. Importantly, she doesn’t regret her decision or envy her friends; instead, she values her role in her child’s life. It promoted the idea that women should embrace their unique paths without having to be like anyone else. 

5. Hershey’s, HerShe, 2021 

Source: Hershey’s

Due to the limited opportunities for women, particularly post-COVID-19, Women’s Day lost its celebratory significance, leading Hershey’s to initiate an extensive global campaign built around a significant concept to showcase the brand’s dedication to global women’s support. Hershey launched a campaign called “HerShe” to highlight underappreciated women in the arts. They cleverly incorporated “HER” and “SHE” within the brand name “Hershey’s” to draw attention to the cause. Later, it became “Her for She”, a worldwide sorority movement dedicated to empowering and championing the talents of women across various domains, including sports, science, entrepreneurship, music.

In 2021, the real package turned into a canvas to showcase the work in which each artist invited the audience to know more about her. From 2022, “the canvas” has got a high-tech upgrade so that people can use their cameras to interact with and watch more testimonial videos.

The Influence of Women-Empowering Advertisements

The portrayal of women in advertisements has a significant impact not only on brand perception and consumer behavior but also on shaping social attitudes. Studies by IPSOS and SeeHer show that positive and realistic portrayals of women lead to two things: stronger long-term brand relationships and a 12% increase in household spending by women.

Despite the rise of women-empowering advertisements, Marketers should take into account that women tend to find intrusive advertising more bothersome. This issue remains consistent regardless of the target audience, but when brands aim to reach women online, it’s crucial to be especially mindful of creating contextually relevant content that doesn’t come across as invasive.