When Camey O’Keefe landed her first job as a creative in advertising almost 25 years ago, the casting brief called for “a blonde with biggies”.
“I kid you not. That was the wording, verbatim,” she says.
“This was also the mentality of many of the men in charge – bosses were predominantly men back then – when it came to female representation.”
“It was, at times, sexist and demeaning.”
With over two decades of experience in advertising and marketing, fellow panellist on ABC’s Gruen, Emily Taylor has a similar story to tell.
“Once upon a time women were only cast in supporting roles or, if the lead role, only as one-dimensional hygiene-obsessed Stepford Wives in household cleaning ads,” she says.
So have advertisements changed the way they portray women? And if they have, has it been for the better?
Diversity, representation improving
In the decades since her first brief, Camey is pleased to see most ads have improved.
“We’ve absolutely made progress in how women are represented throughout ad campaigns,” she says.
“[It’s] far from perfect for sure, but I can say with confidence you would never receive an overtly sexist brief like that anymore.”
Karen Ferry, another regular on Gruen with extensive experience as an advertising creative, points out that diversity in ads has also improved over her almost two decades in the advertising business.
“Right now, we are seeing a more diverse representation of women in casting in age, appearance and cultural background,” she says.
Emily’s expectations when it comes to ads today are much simpler.
“[You] can’t really pinpoint the moment it felt better, but the fact I am no longer offended on a daily basis is an excellent sign!” she says.
Who is doing the housework in our ads?
With overtly sexist casting gradually becoming a thing of the past, progress can be seen in the way advertising now tackles household chores.
“Brands are making moves to depict more balanced gender roles in their advertising, knowing that the tired tropes of mum in the kitchen [and] dad in the shed just won’t cut it these days,” Camey says.
“You can see this in all the little executional choices being made, down to male hands loading the dishwasher.
“[They’re] small but important details that get considered when making an ad to make sure a brand meets community expectations.”
More recently, the car industry has recognised women as major purchasers and decision-makers when it comes to buying cars.
“Most brands have shifted to represent women more accurately,” Emily says.
“Showing that women don’t only do school drop-offs, [but] also like a car with a bit of zoom and are also content behind the wheel of a 4×4.”
But it’s ads for feminine hygiene products – remember the blue dye? – that have seen the biggest change.
Tackling taboos
Karen believes advertising for menstrual products, such as this one from Sweden’s Essity, is often the only time we see a wider portrayal of how women live, feel and experience life.
“It seems that only when it deals with the parts of being a woman that men don’t want to be involved in can we talk about the female experience,” she says.
Yet these ads also haven’t been without their critics.
In 2019, Asaleo Care’s advertisement for Libra period pads was the first to show blood in a feminine hygiene ad.
Ad Standards, which handles complaints against the advertising industry, went on to receive more than 600 objections about it.
The following year, a Frida Mom ad for a postpartum product was rejected by the ABC network in the US for being too graphic to screen during the Academy Awards.
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Room for more progress
Emily, Karen and Camey all agree that despite the progress that’s been made, women still often play the supporting role.
“[Women] are a mother, a daughter, a wife, a girlfriend, an employee – and that role is often played in the universe of a man,” Karen says.
“A male trope is a group of blokes together but if we do the reverse … you’ll realise how rare it is to have two women talking to one another in a scenario when they aren’t talking about their husbands, son [or] men in their lives, or the tasks they do to serve them.”
According to Camey, tech and finance are both categories where this lack of significant representation remains commonplace.
And, Emily points out that you still see stereotypes resurface, with women often portrayed as the “frantic busy working mum”.
She says gambling ads also persist in including women as an afterthought.
“Given we make up about a third of regular punters in Australia, it’s a weird choice,” she says.
Reshaping the advertising narrative
For Camey, a crucial part of improving women’s portrayal and representation is including them in the creative process of making ads.
“More women having a greater say in what stories are told, then shaping how we tell them, will lead to better, more balanced representation in ads,” she says.
On this front, the Australian advertising industry has some way to go.
Advertising Council Australia’s recent census found that the leadership of creative departments in advertising agencies skewed towards men by almost 70 per cent.
For Karen, changing the narrative around women in ads is also key.
“Recognise that women aren’t a role, they’re people with feelings,” she says.
“Only when we can stop saying ‘a woman has to be this, this and this’ can we start to accurately reflect them.”
Stream Gruen anytime on ABC iview or watch on ABC TV, Wednesdays at 8:30pm.