Our brands reach billions of people every day. The way we develop, design and market our products has the power to influence society and culture.
Breaking down barriers
As the owner of 400+ brands that are sold in over 190 countries and used by 3.4 billion people a day, and as one of the world’s biggest advertisers, we want to use our influence to shape a more diverse, inclusive and unstereotypical society.
Harmful social norms and stereotypes limit expectations of what people can be and what they can do. They reinforce inequality and foster discrimination. They’re barriers to a fairer world – but we believe they can be taken down. We’re driving change on a number of fronts.
A more representative picture of a changing world
Covid-19 has exacerbated existing inequalities and deepened divides. The pandemic has brought gender inequality more sharply into focus as more women have carried the responsibilities of childcare and home-schooling. And the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement has exposed deeply entrenched racial injustice, sparking discussions and protests about systemic racism the world over.
74%Of consumers expect brands to take a stand on issues
74% of consumers globally expect brands to take a stand on issues such as racial discrimination, equal rights and social justice. Now more than ever, it’s important our brands strive for greater inclusion. That means portraying a diverse set of characters and creating unstereotypical images and progressive stories that help to normalise more inclusive values and behaviours.
We’ve been on a mission to Unstereotype our advertising since 2016 – eradicating outdated stereotypes and advancing more progressive portrayals of people. When we set out on this path, we looked at our own advertising as well as industry advertising. This analysis showed that 40% of women did not relate at all to the women they saw in adverts, just 3% of industry advertising featured women in leadership roles, and only 2% showed women as intelligent. Fast forward to 2020 and 98% of our global advertisements that we tested were unstereotypical and 60% were strongly progressive.
However, despite the progress made, the advertising industry is still under-representing many communities, both on screen and behind the camera, including people with disabilities, people in the LGBTQI+ community and people from black or ethnic minority backgrounds. And for too long, our own ads were part of a culture that reinforced tired ideas, showing a different society to the one we all really live in.
Our latest research with Kantar shows that people are increasingly disconnected from advertising with less than one in five people believing that ads are representative of wider society, fuelling concerns that advertising could consign itself to history if it doesn’t rebuild its own image.
We found that nearly one in two people from marginalised communities feel they have been stereotyped in some way through advertising. And it isn’t just marginalised people who feel the impact: 71% believe stereotypes in the media are harming the younger generation. The research showed that 66% of consumers also believe ads can change our view of the world and want to see stereotypes removed.
The power our industry holds and the influence we have on billions of people every day is a privilege and we must use it well. By unstereotyping our communications, we’re not only creating more effective campaigns but also helping to rid the world of the entrenched norms that are holding people back.
We’re tackling the lack of representation of certain audiences in the advertising industry with our Unilever Compass goal to increase the purposeful inclusion of diverse groups both on screen and behind the camera.
Increase representation of diverse groups in our advertising.
This is one of our Equity, diversity and inclusion goals
Our goal means we need to challenge ourselves to create marketing, not just advertising, that will help influence the next generation of people to be free from prejudice. Act 2 Unstereotype is our new commitment to drive systemic change.
By serving more diverse people in a progressive way, we believe our brands can be at the forefront of shaping a fairer and more inclusive world.
When we unstereotype our advertising, our audiences respond. We’re seeing data that proves that ads with more progressive, modern and empowered characters create better business results – such as greater branded impact, enjoyment of ads and relevance. Our research shows that more progressive advertising has the potential to deliver 74% better brand power – a key measure of consumer attraction for brands. And our 2020 research with Kantar tells us that progressive ads deliver a 13% uplift in purchase intent and increase credibility by around a third.
We’re continuing to accelerate change in Unilever – and by acting together, across the industry as a whole.
If we want to see systemic change in society, we need to see systemic change in our industry. Inclusive marketing is not a choice any more; we must act now.
