When Brands Take On Social Causes
Increasingly brands are taking a stand on social causes in an effort to make their brand not only more relevant, but to be a catalyst for change in their communities. Brands are taking a stand on large social issues and in the process, are hoping to connect better to their target audiences.
Brands have long embraced environmental causes. Taking on a social cause feels a bit riskier for Brands because of fear of perceived potential backlash. But it can have a big pay-off when it strikes a cord with consumers. The decade-long Dove Campaign for Real Beauty took on a social cause when it decided to change the conversation about beauty and the unrealistic images of women in media. This year we saw an unprecedented move from the iconic Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition when it featured plus-sized model Ashley Graham on one of its three covers. Would Sports Illustrated have featured a plus-sized woman on the cover today if Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty didn't exist? Would the ‘industry’ have changed on its own? Perhaps. We’ll never know. But a brand spending ad dollars on a message of change probably didn’t hurt the cause.
Recently Sheryl Sandberg posted an ad on Facebook from Ariel, a laundry detergent brand from India, and applauded its positive message. The campaign from Ariel encourages people to 'Share the Load.' In the 2 minute video, a father visiting his grown daughter watches as she multitasks to take care of the needs of her child and husband. The father leaves her a letter and narrates it over the scenes, “I am so proud of you and I am sorry.” He goes on to apologize for raising her to take on the household work alone. When he returns to his own wife, he decides to ‘share the load’ and help with the laundry.
I like this campaign because the brand's goals are to both become an ally to women and to challenge gender inequality at home. According to Ariel, the brunt of housework falls on the shoulders of Indian women and more than 2/3 of Indian women feel there exists inequality at home between men and women. So Ariel created a campaign to get others to #SharetheLoad which is a great play on words. It feels credible coming from a laundry brand (rather than a cleaning brand) because let’s be real – laundry is one of the easiest jobs in household.
The ultimate goal of this ad campaign is to sell more detergent - which it did. According to a video about the impact of this grass-roots campaign, the brand experienced 60% greater sales since the campaign launched. But beyond that, the social message that went along with the brand message lead to much more than generating impressions. It resulted in starting a dialogue about the inequity at home and helped to create a social movement. Sandberg’s post has gone viral (as of this writing, it has already received 11 million views) so now many more outside of India have been impacted by its message.
Always is another brand that is taking on a social cause to help teenage girls be ‘Unstoppable.’ According to Always, 72% of girls feel that society limits them, and during puberty a girls confidence plummets, which makes them more likely to accept limitations. Always’ Youtube channel features girls talking about some of the limitations that they encounter.
Another video highlights the difference between how little girls and teenager depict “running like a girl.” When asked to demonstrate "running like a girl" the teenagers ran with their hands flailing and swaying daintily in the air. But when little girls ran, they ran with vigor. Always questions "When did doing something #LikeAGirl become an insult?" One teenager,asks, “Why can’t 'run like a girl' also mean 'win the race'?” The brand is engaging with girls to share how they are unstoppable and how they can help rewrite the rules.
This campaign is excellent for several reasons. First, Always chose to target those they can be most relevant to instead of the broad target of “women who menstruate.” This is smart because it attempts to gain brand loyalty early from a core target, while also still connecting with women, all of whom were once teenagers. Second, it taps into a true and relevant insight about teenage girls and the vulnerability they feel at a time in their life when their bodies are changing. And finally, Always' positioning on helping girls stay confident in this vulnerable stage in life feels genuine and believable. Because its a brand that is first introduced at this age, it has the ability to be a brand that helps teenager girls remain confident during this rocky time in life. The campaign also challenges social convention; as one little girl says, “it's always the boys who rescue the girls in the stories.” The brand has even recently taken on the sexist limitations found in emojis – a popular way teenage girls communicate:
That brings me to my last example of a brand that is taking on a social cause - though arguably not as successfully. And it comes from Mattel, the makers of Barbie. Mattel launched this ad in late 2015 which features little girls in front of adults, pretending to be a teacher, a veterinarian, a business woman, and a coach. The ad ends with, “When a girl plays with Barbie, she imagines everything she can become.” Mattel’s message of “you can be anything” is to encourage little girls to dream that they could be anything in life.
Early this year, Mattel launched three new Barbie body types (Curvy, Tall and Petite) that feature more ‘realistic’ proportions for their dolls. After suffering from four consecutive years of declining sales, Mattel is trying to make the 57-year-old toy relevant again.
I am glad that Barbie is finally making the move to more accurately reflect the different shapes and sizes of women. But I also can’t help but feel that it's a desperate move from a brand that has pretty much ignored criticisms of Barbie’s unrealistic body proportions over the decades. Barbie was also slow to react to racial diversity. When Mattel launched their first black Barbie Francie in 1967, the doll had white facial features. It wasn’t until 2009 that Mattel attempted to create a more realistic depiction of black women. The first Asian doll (of non-specific decent) was introduced in 1980 under the problematic name “Oriental Barbie.”
Because of the years of baggage that the brand has carried for promoting an unrealistic and White ideal of women, Barbie’s recent attempts of promoting diversity and promising possibility feels disingenuous. Mattel has done too little too late. It’s not enough for Barbie to change their dolls and hope that consumers will connect with their new message. As a brand, Barbie has to do a lot more if it’s ever going to live up to a brand promise as lofty and inclusive as: ‘you can be anything.’
So can brands take on social causes? Absolutely. Can brands change the dialogue around social issues? Yes. Can anyone take on a social cause? No, I'm afraid. Not every brand can. It’s got to come from the core of a brand, it has to be genuine and it has to believable. I love the fact that brands are trying to take on these long-standing social issues. I’d like to see more brands do it. There are a lot of great organizations taking on these social issues and they are doing a great job. But they can be helped by brands taking a stand alongside them to make change happen quicker.