Ad campaign puts spotlight on photography's gender imbalance
Why are so few advertising images captured by women and non-binary photographers? It’s a question being asked by Women’s Work, a New Zealand-based collective of women and non-binary photographers, through a series of billboard advertisements showing in Auckland and Wellington this week.
The campaign coincides with International Women’s Week and was created in partnership with ad agency Ogilvy NZ and outdoor ad company Lumo.
The ads include tag lines such as: “If more fashion ads are aimed at women than men, why are more fashion ads shot by men than women?” “If women buy more activewear than men, why do men shoot more activewear ads than women?” and,“If we’re seeing more women in sport, whose lens are we seeing them through?”
“Women influence over 85% of consumer goods purchases," said Kristal Knight, executive creative director at Ogilvy NZ. "Across many categories, women are the primary targets and the biggest spenders. But the proportion of advertising imagery shot by women is still less than 20%. With this year's International Women's Day theme being 'Embrace Equity', it’s a fitting moment to pose the question to the advertising industry – why?
“It’s incredible to think how much money the industry aims to make from selling to women, without giving them an equal opportunity to earn it by shooting the ads. I know from my own experience of being art director for 20 odd years that this probably comes from unconscious bias – of typecasting the work of photographers, making selections based on what the photographer has done in the past, not by what they are capable of doing. So some categories have become more male dominated, like car photography for example, and it’s become harder and harder for women to get a foot in the door to these jobs. We wanted to challenge the industry to take a moment and think about the role we play in these stats.”
Victoria Baldwin, founder of Women’s Work added: “Equality means each individual or group of people is given the same resources or opportunities. But equity recognises that each person has different circumstances and allocates the exact resources and opportunities needed to reach an equal outcome. Which is why it’s so important we use International Women’s Day as a platform to help get female photographers the exposure they need for a level playing field.”
The campaign accompanies a new exhibition by Women’s Work members, ‘The Shape of Things,’ which is showing at the Ellen Melville Centre in Auckland until 12 March 2023.
Credits: Ogilvy NZ
CEO: Kelly-Ann Maxwell
Managing Partner: Megan Clark Cook
Executive Creative Director: Kristal Knight
Senior Art Director: Glenn Chapman
Senior Art Director: Diana Winter
Resource Manager: Ellie Walker-Huizing
Studio: Ian Wood
Women’s Work
Founder/Producer: Briar Pacey
Founder/Photographer ‘Car ads’: Victoria Baldwin
Photographer ‘Fashion’: Mara Sommer
Photographer ‘Activewear’: Michelle Hyslop
Photographer ‘Women in sport (beam)’: Sacha Stejko
Photographer ‘Women in sport (rock climber) / ‘Holidays’: Virginia Woolf
Lumo:
Chief Marketing Officer: Hamish Smith
GM – Programmatic: Jack Plowright