Madonna Badger: How the Ads We Create Affect Society and Brands

I was recently in Mexico over the holiday break and came across a Carl’s Jr. hamburger advertisement. The copy read: “She’ll tell you that size doesn’t matter. She’s lying.” When we stop and think about it, it should be obvious that the advertising choices we make reflect the brands we represent. And the future Labor Secretary of the United States, how he feels about women, and the impact he will have on our country is also brought to mind.

Whether on television, print ads or at promotional events. Andy Puzder has said that this type of advertising is “American”.

Equality is American.

It’s shameful that Puzder could be confirmed as the representative of our labor force when women make up 50 percent of our country’s employees.

Women are not props to be portrayed as scantily-clad, burger-eating sex toys for anyone’s viewing pleasure. Nor should women be costumed as maids and used for promotional tours to be groped and assaulted. Women should never be used as objects to represent brands.

Women deserve respect.

Portraying women as whole, human and strong has been shown in research to increase purchase intent as well as a brand’s overall reputation, while degradation in advertising has been shown to harm brands.

Research has also shown the enormous harm objectification causes in society; for example, when it’s recognized that 80 percent of 10-year-old girls would rather get cancer than be fat, as presented in blogger Jes Baker’s now viral Tedx Talk.

We’re learning that this objectification affects boys, too. Boys may feel it necessary to squash their emotions, or risk being perceived as not “manly” enough.

So, why is this still happening?

The leadership of companies and advertising agencies should be to act as stewards of a brand’s message and tone. Equality and the respectful portrayal of women is crucial—and it is advertising’s responsibility to set a positive example.

People who argue that women shouldn’t participate in advertising in which they’re objectified, that is like saying a rape victim was somehow “asking for it”. I would no more blame the model in an ad than I would blame a factory worker who made a gun that later killed someone.

I hold marketers like Puzder responsible and am sickened by Donald Trump’s choice. But Trump is, after all, the man who was on the bus with his pal, Billy Bush, objectifying the woman waiting he was about to meet.

Until women are portrayed as equal, we will not be treated as such.

We are #womennotobjects.

Want to hear more from Madonna Badger? Join her January 27 for her upcoming Glass Ladder Series webinar on Tapping Into the $20 Trillion Misunderstood Consumer where she will share the purpose of her agency’s social campaign #WomenNotObjects and four filters for identifying objectification in advertising.