WACL (Women in Communications London) has launched its first ever advertising campaign to highlight the power of advertising to change the narrative.

The campaign is part of a range of activity across the year to celebrate the 100th anniversary of WACL. 

Running across print, outdoor and digital channels the campaign has been created to galvanise both the industry and the public at large to recognise the power of advertising as a force for positive female representation. The campaign marks the first time that WACL has created a campaign targeting consumers about the importance of representation of women and girls in the work the ad industry creates; a message it plans to continue to focus on.

While progress is being made, men still outnumber women in finance and home adverts, even though women account for 85% of all consumer purchases. 

With the campaign, WACL aim to celebrate and recognise the power of advertising in influencing and shaping beliefs or social norms and attitudes. The creative focuses on young girls and the importance of positive representation in building self-esteem and confidence under the creative idea of #RepresentMe.

The integrated campaign features a 30 second TV spot which will also be shown on TV and online. It features a diverse cast of young girls who are shown looking at advertising on TV, on mobile and in the cinema, with a voiceover that describes issues that audiences know can sometimes affect women’s confidence and self-esteem as they grow up.

As the voiceover states: “This girl won’t be embarrassed when her period arrives. This girl will love her wrinkles someday. This girl will feel great doing the sport she loves. This girl will fall in love with her natural hair… How women are portrayed in advertising could impact their self esteem. Real positive representation matters”. 

Meanwhile, print executions read ‘This girl will feel body-confident playing sport’ and ‘This girl will finally embrace her natural hair’, pointing out that advertising is everywhere and can help influence confident behaviours, shape beliefs, and encourage more progressive social attitudes.

Representation matters

WACL believes that it is still critically important to champion positive representation of women in adverts. 

As part of the campaign, WACL is conducting research among focus groups of women and girls, visiting schools starting with Kensington Aldridge Academy in London. The vast majority of the girls aged 12 to 17 in these groups reported that they don’t need ads to make them feel empowered or good about themselves but are more concerned about how advertising affects how society - and how men in particular - sees and treats them.

Claire Sadler, WACL member and WACL 100 Campaign Lead, and Chief Marketing & Fundraising Officer, British Heart Foundation, explains: “As a WACL member you walk in the footsteps of the trailblazing women who came before us, and for our 100th year we wanted to build on the change they created.

She continued: “We wanted to recognise the role and influence we have in championing positive representation of women in advertising. And look ahead to amplify the voices of the next generation of women and girls to make sure advertising is fit for their future.”

The campaign runs for six weeks on ITV, C4, Sky, Guardian and Metro as well as across outdoor advertising sites and in digital media channels. All the media space has been donated and the work was created on a limited budget in partnership with Dove.