Purpose Hive Co-Founder & Co-CEO | Marketing Reformer helping brands prosper from good growth | Author of the forthcoming book: People | Purpose | Progress | Planet | Prosperity - reshaping the 5P's of commerce.
Spot on insight here and a pet peeve of mine. We all know that it’s driven by creative briefs/clients AND agencies! It’s why you find a lot of sameness in ads, be it use/sense of humor, tropes, subjects vs objects - as there is factually a lack of diversity on: 👉🏾who gets to brief, commission, 👉🏾 who gets to write, 👉🏾 who gets to produce, direct and edit the visuals AND audio …that makes it onto TV! That’s why the creator and influencer space is running rings around the ‘30 / 60 sec tv spot’ In my NOT so humble opinion cc Dr. Anastasia Kārkliņa Gabriel, PhD your expertise/knowledge on this would be appreciated (vs my above rant !!) #Isaiidwhatisaid #marketing #advertising #branding
'Agencies used to tell jokes just for him, why are they now hesitant to tell jokes just for her? Because, yes, women have a sense of humor, too...' McCann New York Global ECDs Cinzia Crociani and Jim Curtis on advertising's gender gag gap: https://cont.gs/496TQp1
You won't be shocked that I'll suggest here that we place this within the cultural context, with an eye toward gender politics. Culturally, men's humor has been valued more publicly - it's treated as universal. Consider the percentage of women who are actually comedians in comparison - it's all deeply rooted in misogyny, as women are stereotypically seen as "unfunny." Women entering spaces of humor-making have had to ensure their humor caters to the dominant (male) audience or at least addresses "female" topics in a way that is palatable to men. Within heteropatriarchy, what women find "funny"—so-called 'feminine topics'—are not something "real men" are supposed to laugh about; enter cisheteronormativity that also teases out existential fears related to toxic masculinity -- the need to affirm oneself away from the feminine. Historically, then, humor has been constructed as a "masculine trait," signifying assertiveness, dominance, and social power—qualities traditionally discouraged in women who are socialized to express themselves in more reserved and subtle, "polite" ways. And so, you see here, too, feminity is very obviously relegated to cause and purpose-driven marketing that hinges on emotionality. It all tracks.
Great example of how lack of diversity within creative teams (and brand client teams) impact one of the most powerful drivers of ad effectiveness (humour! ) I have worked with many creative agencies, and because the teams tended to be predominantly white men (based in the coolest parts of London ), you often received scripts that had a particular ‘macho east London banter’ bias to their copywriting - and it was impossible to ask for a ‘different kind of humour’ ! So yes- who gets to brief, who gets to write, who gets to produce and direct- all matters. Would be so interesting to analyse a bunch of the best ads in the past few decades through the lens of humour and see how many appeal to all genders vs those that only made HIM laugh .
Samuel Monnie, can disrupting the traditional ad-making process amplify authenticity and inclusivity?
Purpose Hive Co-Founder & Co-CEO | Marketing Reformer helping brands prosper from good growth | Author of the forthcoming book: People | Purpose | Progress | Planet | Prosperity - reshaping the 5P's of commerce.
6moLola Bakare ripe for #inclusivemarketing