October 2017
Breaking the Stereotype:
Empowering women in advertising in developing markets
Pinaki Banerjee
Given the role that they play in deciding on the everyday
brands used in households, women are central
characters in many advertisements. Traditionally in
many developing markets, stereotypes were often used
to portray the role women played. Most advertisements
were centered around activities performed by women
at home to make the family happy, portraying their
dependency and not making any important decisions.
While growing up, when TV was the most dominant
media, every commercial break out would show
advertisements with women either doing laundry or
other household chores to ensure family confidence.
For example, Nirma, a laundry powder brand in India,
showcased the importance of clean clothes for family to
stand out in a crowd 1 .
Fortunately, a couple of decades have passed, and some
of the old stereotypes are giving way to new approaches to
advertising in developing markets. Ariel launched their “Is
laundry only a woman’s job” campaign which challenges the
typical stereotype that was predominant for years. This was
followed by their Cannes Lions winning “Share the Load”
campaign which not only achieved results for the brand,
but also led to a broader cultural change in behavior 2 .
1