Tis’ the time of the year for all things inclusion, only this year things are different. It’s rather quiet.
Mardi Gras is running out of funding, partially due to Meta & Google cancelling sponsorships.
The always on point “satirical” Betoota Advocate nailed it, “The whole performative rainbow capitalism thing is kinda done now, unfortunately”.
In general, we’re seeing a pretty aggressive decoupling of marketing and social policy at a global level, in line with exec orders by the US government to dismantle DEI about a year ago.
That doesn’t mean that purpose led marketing doesn’t exist anymore; the values still exist within businesses, but it’s gotten quieter. Many businesses are maintaining gender equality programs "in-house" but there is no external marketing or media on the issue.
The work is entirely behind the scenes, if at all. Pink-hushing, Green-hushing, Rainbow-hushing is now an actual thing.
Geographic allyship is on the rise with multinational corporations now running progressive purpose-led campaigns in some regions and conservative, product-focused ones in others.
I mean, a business that only supports equality where it’s safe and profitable was never an ally to begin with, but maybe I’m too cynical.
So while I was expecting things to be incredibly quiet on the marketing front in the lead up to IWD and Pride, I couldn’t believe what I came across last week.
And I’ve never felt more conflicted to talk about an ad that I find incredibly problematic than this one.
The new global Maltesers ad, apparently created to celebrate their 90th anniversary, is asking women to look at the light side, by showing the long history of BS women have had to put up with, and often lose their lives to, and encouraging them to just have some chocolate.
That’ll make us all feel better, you know.
I’ve spoken about this at length in the past, but here it goes again: Wading into gendered conversations is risky business and requires a lot of nuance and understanding of the social context to avoid the traps of femvertising , but there are huge upsides when it’s done right and the brand has the licence to engage on the topic.
I couldn’t help but think how a brand with a great track record of getting the tone right in previous campaigns - supporting mothers with mums’ mental health and motherlovers - could get this one so wrong. The prior campaigns felt genuine, which is not easy for a brand that flogs chocolates, and connected with their audience.
So this ad really caught me by surprise. We see scenes that are somewhat reminiscent of Monty Python-style humour, but they are also incredibly tone deaf and reductive of women’s experiences.
The press release says that “this is a creative campaign that celebrates the everyday ways women support one another, to overcome daily annoyances in a world not always made for them.
I don’t know about you, but forgetting my sports bra when heading to the gym is an annoyance I could relate to. Or not having milk in the fridge. Medical misogyny, erm that’s not really annoying, that has been costing lives. And so did the witch trials.
The jokes remind me of dark and sarcastic insider jokes in a women only what’s app group.
I mean we are all aware of the daily ongoing misogyny in our lives, but we’re not even joking at that level in private anymore.
Empowerment is a myth, peddled by billionaires and the patriarchy, and worst of all coming with the white capitalist stench of the likes of Sheryl Sandberg. It is and has always been absolute nonsense.
But women banding together is survival; it’s essential. And it’s not cute or funny. And it’s not laughable. I mean this ad is airing while women around the world are watching what’s going with the Epstein files.
Systemic misogyny is costing women’s lives in complex ways, such as the underfunding of women’s health. And in times where DEI is being dismantled, women’s rights are being repealed to show women being burned at the stake and to say look on the light side feels wildly tone deaf.
And I really wanted to like it.
I wanted to like it not only because there is a long credit list of women who were involved in the production; and we’re talking millions of pounds of investment here. I do think that I understand the intention.
But I couldn’t help being so very disappointed with it so much that I had to do a LinkedIn post about it. The comments from mainly women, express disbelief and profound sadness.
So I’m not alone in feeling like this, but maybe the capable people at Mars know something that I don’t.
We all need a bit of light-heartedness in our lives, and I’m personally a massive fan of chocolate and ads that make me giggle. This one unfortunately, just feels like the opposite.
It leaves us with a darkness that doesn't feel like a joke we're in on, but a history we’re being told to just swallow with a piece of chocolate.