When he started his career in advertising two decades ago, Rethink partner and global COO Caleb Goodman never envisioned that it would one day see him invited to speak at the United Nations headquarters in Manhattan.
Even stranger, he was wearing a suit. “It was very off-brand for me, or even most people in advertising,” he said. “Every time I put a suit or tux on, I do have to make sure it still fits.”
Goodman was speaking in the UN’s Economic and Social Council Chamber as part of a panel discussion entitled “Catalysts for change: breaking down gender stereotypes in media and advertising,” a side event to the 68th Commission on the Status of Women held earlier this week.
“I moved to New York just over a year ago, and sitting next to the UN Security Council Chamber on a panel was definitely not on my New York bingo card,” he told Campaign this week. “It was a very cool experience.”
Goodman's fellow panelists included Sarah Macharia, a feminist political economist with several years of work as a gender specialist in international media development; Alejandro Fiecconi, global brand director, Dove Men+Care at Unilever; and Bjørn Erik Thon, the first man to be Equality and Anti-Discrimination Ombud of Norway.
The panel was deliberately comprised mostly of men, since they carry what Goodman called “the bulk of the burden” when it comes to addressing the stereotypes and lack of representation in advertising and media.
“We feel [advertising and media] have huge potential to make a social change,” said panel moderator Marja Ruotanen, director general of democracy and human dignity with the Council of Europe, in her introductory remarks. “They are part of our everyday life, but can also reinforce gender inequality.”
In his remarks, Goodman outlined some of the ways Rethink is working to address stereotyping in advertising, from ensuring that women are among the agency's key decision-makers, as well as peer reviews of all the work that goes to market.
“We rely on the 400 people we have working at Rethink to provide input, to help avoid a really small group of individuals, who, while they may be experts on the product and service, there are things obscured from their view,” he said.
“In its simplest form it ensures there’s support for the idea, but sometimes we find that someone will have a suggestion, like ‘Does that businessperson in the TV commercial need to be a man? Why can’t it be a woman?’ Peer review is probably the thing that [helps us] avoid disasters and contributes good into the world.”
Goodman told Campaign that Rethink’s senior leadership team has been “actively evolving” the agency in recent years in order to strike a better gender balance in its leadership.
The Vancouver office is led by partner and ECD Leia Rogers and partner, GM Karen Pearce, supported by a management team comprised of four women and one man, while the Toronto office is led by partner, managing director Marie Lunny and partner, CCO Mike Dubrick, supported by a five-person management team that includes three women.
The agency also follows the principle of “radical candour” espoused by author and workplace expert Kim Scott, which is described as a “communication framework for specific and sincere praise,” coupled with “kind clear criticism.”
“So often the difference between something going into the world that could be perpetuating stereotypes or not, is somebody speaking up and having the comfort and safety to do that,” Goodman told the panel.
In her presentation, Macharia cited findings from the Global Media Monitoring Project, the world’s largest and longest-running research on gender in the world’s news media, with data from 116 countries in 2020.
Women account for one-quarter of the people seen, heard, or read about in the news media today, up from 17% in 1995. Macharia said that without improvements, it will take 67 years to close the gender equality gap in traditional news media.
“This is progress,” said Macharia. “However, the news media are only halfway to reflecting the reality of our world—women as half of humanity. News media remain far from being inclusive spaces, not just for women, but especially for vulnerable women and historically marginalized groups.”
Unilever’s Fiecconi said that Dove Men+Care brand has been actively striving to redefine masculinity since launching in 2010. “For decades, the advertising industry has been building masculinity as toughness, strength, and even violence,” he said. “Our position was to redefine masculinity…[with] care, compassion and emotions as key values that make a man.”
While there has been something of a broader awakening within the advertising industry about the need for greater diversity and representation, Goodman said it’s important that those efforts are maintained.
“In our experience, it needs ongoing attention and needs to be considered in your general business strategy,” he said. “I would say [the industry] is moving forward cautiously.”
