Some industry leaders in the marketing and communications industry have advocated for an inclusive global media environment as they shed more light on the harmful stereotypes in media and advertising at this year’s Unstereotype Alliance Global Member Summit at the UN Headquarters in New York.
Themed ‘Raising the bar,’ the two-day signature event saw leading voices from a broad spectrum of industries including film, advertising, business, and government come together to discuss how to tackle systemic stereotyping.
Convened by UN Women, the Unstereotype Alliance is a thought and action platform that engages the global advertising industry to eradicate all harmful stereotypes from advertising and media content.
Leading the advocacy was Nigeria’s Steve Babaeko, founder of X3M Ideas Group and President of the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN); Danai Gurira, playwright and actress; Anita Bhatia, the deputy executive director UN Women; Mark Getty, co-founder and chairman Getty Images, and twelve other industry leaders within the marketing and communications
The Summit brought together leaders of over 230 companies from the US, UK, Japan, Europe, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, India, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, South Africa, Türkiye, and the UAE to discuss the influence of the advertising, media, and marketing community as a force for transformative change.
Following a successful release of the latest Black Panther movie, Wakanda Forever, Danai Gurira, the American-Zimbabwean actress and Black Panther star, spoke on the need for communicators to raise the bar to rid the world of the usual norms.
She encouraged the industry to prioritise diversity and inclusion to ensure harmful stereotypes in media and advertising are a thing of the past.
“It is inspiring to join some of the world’s most committed change makers at the United Nations Headquarters for the Unstereotype Alliance Global Member Summit. It is very important work as we continue to steer the global marketing communications industry in the right direction,” Steve Babaeko.
In highlighting the need to eliminate negative stereotypes of women in television commercials and advertising generally, Babaeko stated that communications plays a pivotal role in creating social change.
“This is one of the reasons why I proudly support the Unstereotype Alliance in the fight to eliminate negative stereotypes of women in Television commercials and advertising generally,” Babaeko said.
Munroe Bergdorf, English model and activist, who came to public attention in August 2017 when she was employed as the first transgender model to front a L’Oreal campaign in the United Kingdom, also spoke on how important representation is in the media.
“Images of marginalized groups are now being pushed – people are questioning why they haven’t seen this before,” Munroe stated
Daniel Seymour, the director of strategic partnerships, UN Women, while speaking on why the industry must prioritise the advocacy stated that media spending and budget can hugely influence public outcomes.
“More than a trillion dollars is spent on advertising every year; think of the power of that to change minds and what people believe. This is important work,” Seymour stated.
