Pinkwashing, Pandering and a Call to Arms for Retail Marketers

Celebrated on March 8 every year, International Women’s Day is dedicated to honoring women’s achievements throughout history, and forging connections between women worldwide as they work toward greater equality in the workplace and in the world. With a rich history that dates back more than 100 years, the holiday has transformed into a marketing phenomenon over the past five years, particularly as #MeToo and #TimesUp have dominated social conversations.

The impact goes well beyond one month of the year. Although gender-based advertising and the use of feminist messaging to engage women consumers is certainly not new, it has clearly reached a tipping point. As a result, there’s a new term to describe it: femvertising.

“In the last five years we have seen a deluge of ads featuring feminist ideals,” said Katie Martell, author and producer of the forthcoming documentary and book, Pandermonium, which explores the collision of social movements and marketing. “It is fast becoming the ‘new normal’ and marketers are wise to see this as a powerful business opportunity.”

While it may be the new normal, I came into writing a recent feature for Retail TouchPoints saying, "Great, new normal. But are people doing it well?"

Sure, as a woman, I have my own assumptions about how marketers are doing. But, what are the experts saying, who analyze campaigns and consumer response every day?

Well, a few things came up:

1. Over-saturation of similar messaging and visuals is one reason consumers are growing increasingly jaded by International Women’s Day marketing. Authenticity (or lack thereof) is at the core of waning consumer response, according to experts. Consumers are increasingly skeptical of brands’ intentions, especially if a marketing campaign doesn’t accurately represent a business’ values. “In a world where 96% of consumers don’t trust ads already, hypocrisy will only make matters worse,” said Katie Martell, author and producer of the forthcoming documentary and book, Pandermonium, which explores the collision of social movements and marketing. “Trust is the number-on charter for marketers, as no meaningful relationship is built without it. We may be well-intentioned, but we’re making it worse.”
2. Many brands are following a similar model -- buy an item to contribute to a cause. Though well-intentioned, these initiatives fall into a sea of "same-ness" and lack the powerful community attribute that is at the heart of International Women's Day. “I think what we’re seeing is just brand noise,” said author and consumer behavioralist Ken Hughes. “Every brand is jumping on a bandwagon, without anything really genuine to say. When you use any kind of [current event or cause] in a standalone campaign, that’s not really connection, it’s just communication. It’s just a brand awareness and marketing communication strategy and consumers see through it.”
3. Consumers are taking a closer look at how organizations operate -- their board makeup, their executive leadership and whether they actually support gender equality -- to determine whether marketing activities hold weight. “International Women’s Day is the platform for companies to authentically share their commitment to female advancement with consumers," said Alex Fitzgerald, who is manager of the consumer practice of Kearney. "To achieve this authenticity, companies must transform their entire organization — from R&D and product innovation to the board room — to support the advancement of women and cater to the unique needs of females in the category.”

I was lucky enough to get great insights from my sources, who were extremely transparent and thoughtful in their responses, and even included a few examples of brands attempting to shatter the status-quo. Click here to read the full feature and please let me know if there are any other great examples we should spotlight!