Ads harm women’s careers: poll

New Zealand women believe they are inaccurately represented in ads and fear it could harm their careers, an online poll has found.

The survey of 400 New Zealand women found 89 per cent of respondents found the way women were represented in advertising and marketing harmed their ability to be taken seriously in the workplace.

Eighty-six per cent said campaigns portrayed women as “unequal in society” and 79 per cent said “real women” were not used.

But industry heavyweight David Walden dubbed the findings “predictably anti-advertising”. Ads tended to reflect the society in which they were shown.

“It’s not our job to try to impose standards on society, it’s not our job to try and give impressions of what is not there,” said the Communications Agencies Association chairman and chief executive of ad agency TBWA\Whybin.

“If you’re advertising a household product and you want to have a person using the product, you would have to say it makes more sense to use a woman – not many blokes are at home cleaning the toilet.”

The survey was carried out by Splash Consulting Group.

It’s managing director Amanda Stevens said there was a “disconnect” between many advertisers and the female market.

“Women tell us 80 per cent of advertising just doesn’t connect with them yet they make 80 per cent of purchase decisions,” she said. “Rather than engaging women, it’s actually enraging them”.

Of the 400 New Zealand women who answered an online survey:

• 94 per cent say portrayal of women in advertising and marketing encourages the sexualisation of girls from a young age.
• 86 per cent say advertising and marketing campaigns portray women as unequal in society.
• 81 per cent say the way women are represented is cause for resentment.
• 79 per cent say advertisers and marketers do not use real women in campaigns.

SOURCE: Splash Consulting Group

NZ Herald - Hawkes Bay Today Thursday 7^th August 2008