Channel 4’s £1 million Diversity in Advertising Award 2018 has chosen its shortlist of six entries from 50 submissions. This year’s award focuses on the portrayal of women in advertising.
The shortlist is:
- Cadbury Milk Tray and Elvis Communications
- eBay and 72andSunny Amsterdam
- Flybe and McCann Bristol
- HSBC and Grey London
- Jaguar and Spark44
- Royal Air Force and Engine
The winning creative idea will receive £1 million (AU$1.8m) worth of commercial airtime to develop a campaign which explores both the proportion of representation and how women are represented in adverts, campaigns that challenge ingrained stereotypes, objectification and sexualisation of women. This is in response to a year which has brought to the fore gender pay gaps, the flourishing of the #MeToo movement, and 100 years since women won the right to vote.
Studies have revealed a wide range of issues, such as prominence, objectification and intelligence, when it comes to the representation of women in the media. Unpacking Gender Bias in Advertising by The Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media and J. Walter Thompson New York, for example, revealed that there are twice as many male characters in adverts than female characters, that 25% of ads feature men only, while only 5% of ads feature women only and that 18% feature only male voices while less than 3% of ads feature female voices only.
It also showed that women in ads are mostly in their 20s whereas men are in their 20s, 30s and 40s, one in ten female characters are shown in sexually revealing clothing – six times the number of men and women are more likely to the shown in the kitchen while men are more likely to be shown at a sporting event.
Finalists will now pitch their ideas to a judging panel chaired by Channel 4’s chief commercial officer, Jonathan Allan. On it are:
- Claire Beale, Global Editor-In-Chief, Campaign
- Dan Brooke, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, Channel 4
- Lindsey Clay, CEO, Thinkbox
- Jane English, Business Director, 4Creative
- Karen Fraser, Director Credos & Head of Strategy, Advertising Association
- Gemma Greaves, CEO The Marketing Society
- Leila Siddiqi, Head of Diversity at the IPA.
The winner will be revealed on September 28 after the finalists present their campaign ideas to the judging panel at Channel 4’s Plannertarium event on September 20. The winning campaign will go to air in early 2019. The competition’s runners-up will have the opportunity to take up an offer of match-funded commercial airtime.
The Channel 4 Diversity in Advertising Award is a commitment to help improve diversity in advertising each year until 2020. The award focuses on a different area of diversity each year and aims to encourage the advertising industry to take on board in its campaigns. Last year’s award focus was non-visible diversity, 2016’s was the representation of diversity.
Matt Salmon, the broadcaster’s head of agency and client sales and commercial marketing, said: “Diversity and inclusion are at the heart of everything we do at Channel 4 and 4Sales is determined to lead change within the advertising industry. We’ve been blown away by the quantity and quality of entries with some fantastic campaign ideas from a really eclectic range of brands.”
Last year’s award was won by adam & eveDDB and Lylods Bank for Get the Inside Out.
adam&eve DDB & Lloyds Bank win £1m of free Channel 4 airtime
Transport for London has also announced its own prize focusing on the diversity of women. Its Women We See award contest offers a first prize of £500k worth of free space on digital screens and static bus shelter poster sites on the London transport network. Its deadline is October 22, with results announced early in 2019 and the winning ads appearing from January 2019.
