#unstereotype

Unilever believes that DNA tests can help marketers eliminate stereotypes from ads. They believe that by understanding their personal diversity, they can eliminate stereotypes from ads. To test out and prove their theory, the brand conducted a unique experiment. The brand offered its marketers and agency partners a chance to undergo DNA tests. By undergoing these tests, the brand is hoping to give the participants a better understanding of their own diversity. The experiment and its overall goal fall in line with the brand’s mission to banish stereotypes from its ads.

About Unilever’s DNA Experiment

Unilever partnered with the University College London (UCL) to run the experiment. They worked with business and experimental psychologists. They worked together to prove that by letting execs discover their own genetic makeup and ancestry, they can reduce “stereotypical thinking” and unconscious bias. Their experiment is part of the brand’s “Unstereotype” initiative. The initiative aims to banish biases that relate to gender, background, age or orientation from advertising. As part of the DNA experiment, Unilever tested 63 people in the U.S., U.K. and Netherlands. They tested 12 brand teams and people from MullenLowe and Ogilvy.  The brand still plans to roll out the experiment to marketers and agency teams globally. These 63 people submitted their DNA for analysis, the DNA data was anonymous to Unilever. They worked with an external partner to collect it. After the participants were given the results, they underwent a workshop conducted by UCL professors. The workshop focused on how to unlearn stereotypical thought patterns. After the workshop, they were then tested on their likelihood to stereotype people via a series of images. Unilever’s goal was to find out whether a deeper understanding of heritage had any impact on their creative thinking. They also wanted to see if it will challenge them to think about their own sense of identity.

Results for Unilever’s DNA Experiment

http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/qa-unilevers-global-marketing-chief-busting-gender-stereotypes-advertising-174242

Unilever is a multinational corporation responsible for housing some of the world’s most recognizable brands.  Most of the brands they own are firmly segmented in either consumer or household goods.  As of June 2016 Unilever has committed to busting gender stereotypes with their #Unstereotype initiative.  With a long list of household goods under their name, Unilever has also has a long history of promoting gender stereotypes.

-AXE body spray (also known as LYNX)

-Magnum Ice Cream

-Dove: Find Your Beauty Campaign

-AXE shower gel

As can be seen through various examples, Unilever is very much guilty of promoting gender stereotypes.  At least they admit to it.  In an article from adweek.com, Aline Santos, Unilever’s evp of global marketing, admits that the real world has evolved in its views concerning gender and that the advertising industry still continues to view gender in a stereotyped way.  It is this point of view, she believes, is responsible for creating a gap between consumers and advertising.  Consumers are not relating to the ads. In an effort to be much closer to the reality of gender and of people to day, Unilever has committed to #unstereotyping its ad campaigns.  Aline Santos and Unilever, want to focus on creating much more progressive and inspiring advertising content. 

Social Currency:  By stating that consumers have evolved and changed their views on gender while the advertising industry is essentially playing catchup to the consumers’ viewpoint, is there any social currency that can be mined from Unilever’s #Unstereotype campaign?  Instead of making consumer’s feel like they’re insiders, it seems as if the consumer’s are already ahead of the curve and are in the know.  Unilever vows to focus on creating female characters in leadership roles.  In my opinion, that is a very broad statement Leadership roles can still play to stereotypes.  Is not the stereotypical image of a house-wife technically in a leadership role at least when it comes to household affairs? Haven’t we as consumers already been bombarded by images of women in passive aggressive leadership roles?

Where does the consumer feel like they’re onto something new or different in this #Unstereotype campaign?  It seems as if old habits are hard to break, since the response of focusing on portraying female characters assuming leadership roles seems like a stereotypical one.

AXE - Find your Magic

I’m not trying to discredit Unilever’s efforts so far, there’s plenty left to be seen as to what this campaign can do.  There’s some inkling that they’re headed in the right direction to a certain extent. For example, Dove’s find your beauty campaign focuses female expectations of beauty versus reality.  The ad does well to uplift women’s views on beauty, but at the same time plays to the stereotype of women focusing only on beauty.  Doesn’t this perspective pretty much insinuate that women are superficial? 

At least in the AXE - “Find your Magic” campaign, Unilever’s efforts under the #Unstereotype campaign is much more evident.  The ad calls into question gender expectations of male masculinity.  Instead of reverting to the over-sexualized hyper-macho campaigns that is often associated with the AXE brand of products, the ad focuses mainly on the individuality of masculinity.  There’s no overt push to buy into the typical testosterone fueled portrayal of masculinity.  

The consumers are very much aware that gender stereotypes perhaps no longer apply in the same way that they used to.  Beauty may be stereotypical when applied to women, but can be taken as something completely different when applied to men.  Once again, if the consumers are already aware of the reality of gender, then how can the advertising industry play the role of the informant to the already informed?  How can we the consumers become excited by something we’re already aware off? What’s there to share, if everyone seems to already be aware of it?  So what if Unilever focuses on associating household products with stay-at home dads? For some of us that’s already a reality, there’s nothing new there.  In my opinion, Unilever’s #Unstereotype campaign opens up many doors, but the point of entry has to be carefully calculated.