International Women’s Day is an opportunity for brands to show what they are doing to promote equality – and no doubt to raise their profile and sell more too.
CNBC takes a look at what some companies are doing to mark the occasion on Sunday, from Betty Crocker’s response to an eight-year-old boy who realized his instructions on cakes were for women, in the campaign ‘Absolute on sexual consent.
Apple
“We teach girls to shrink, to make themselves smaller. We tell girls that you can have ambition, but not too much,” added the soundtrack of Apple’s “Behind the Mac” ad on YouTube, published Tuesday.
It is a compilation of photos of women, including activist Malala Yousafzai, football star Megan Rapinoe and founder of the #MeToo movement, Tarana Burke. They are shown working on Mac, and the song uses words from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s TEDx speech, “We Should All Be Feminists”, which was sampled by Beyonce in her song “Flawless”. The company also organizes in-store events highlighting creative women.
An image of Apple’s “She Creates” initiative for International Women’s Day 2020
Apple
Betty Crocker
Despite some advancements for women in the Middle East, Betty Crocker’s cake mix packs still used stereotypes, targeting only women in their instructions. That changed when the eight-year-old sultan, living in Ras al Khaimah, tweeted Betty Crocker to ask, “Why are your cooking instructions only for women?” The brand owned by General Mills updated the Arabic instructions for more than 100 products in gender-neutral nouns and verbs and launched its advertising campaign “Cooking is for everyone”, by the agency VMLY & R, on Tuesday, which will be broadcast on social networks in the Region.
Bakery company Betty Crocker changed its pack instructions to Arabic to be gender neutral, rather than feminine, after a boy in the United Arab Emirates tweeted the brand.
Betty Crocker | VMLY & R
Catalyst
Words create stereotypes and adjectives like “cold”, “arrogant” and “aggressive” are labels that are often used to describe women at work, while “affirmative” can be used instead of “aggressive” for a man exhibiting behavior, according to nonprofit Catalyst. He seeks to combat unconscious bias with a software plug-in for Slack that suggests alternative adjectives, and also encourages men and women to tweet photos of themselves with words that have been used to describe them.
Non-profit organization Catalyst leads campaign to unconscious prejudices for International Women’s Day 2020
Catalyst
Absolut
The Swedish liquor brand launched a campaign “Drink responsibly. #SexResponsibly” on Valentine’s Day with ads saying “Buy someone a drink doesn’t buy you a yes”, and it aims to continue the conversation before International Women’s Day. He works with influencers to share stories on social media labeled #StillNotAYes and is hosting an event on March 12 where actress and producer Olivia Wilde and others will discuss consent. He launched the campaign with RAINN, the national rape, abuse and incest network.
Before Valentine’s Day 2020, Absolut vodka launched a series of advertisements promoting sexual consent.
Absolut
Intrepid Tourist attractions
When tour operator Intrepid Travel realized that most of its tour operators were men, it sought to even out the imbalance, noting that 65% of its customers were women. Zina Bencheikh, director general of the Moroccan office of Intrepid Travel, has successfully lobbied for the country to allow more female tour guides and this week the company launched female-only tours to Pakistan, Israel and the Palestinian territories. It plans to report on its progress towards equality by 2022.
Intrepid Travel has launched women-only trips to Pakistan.
Intrepid Tourist attractions
Procter & Gamble and Time Magazine
Time magazine was “created by men for” busy men “”, and he named his “Man of the Year” in 1927, not changing him to “Person of the Year” in 1999, according to his executive editor, Kelly Conniff. Now Procter & Gamble is supporting Time’s release of 100 influential “Women of the Year” profiles, including activist Greta Thunberg, author Toni Morrison and chemist Rosalind Franklin, and has sponsored a documentary on how women have been selected. P&G brands that will advertise in the print issue include Pampers, Olay and SKII.
Time Magazine published the covers of 100 “women of the year” for International Women’s Day 2020. Scientist Tu Youyou was the first woman in China to win a Nobel prize.
Time
Kind
According to Euromonitor, Kind held around 10% of the market share in the United States in 2019, and this year, it decided to become political for International Women’s Day. He is launching a petition to campaign for Equal Rights (ERA) to be implemented – a change to the constitution that was proposed in 1972 and is now back before Congress. He will also donate the profits from his limited edition “Equality” bar to the Alice Paul Institute, which is campaigning for the ratification of the ERA. Bars can be purchased through his website, where he sells multi-boxes and subscriptions.
Kind equality bar
Healthy Kind Snacks
Reebok
“It’s a Man’s World” may seem like a counterintuitive name for a range of women’s products, but Reebok did it by launching a collection designed by women, with the phrase crossed out on their shoes. Reebok, owned by Adidas, has just deposited its 2020 collection “It’s a Man’s World” before International Women’s Day.
An image of a Reebok x Array event celebrating women in the movie at the Array Creative Campus on February 08, 2020 in Los Angeles, California.
Joe Scarnici / Getty Images for Reebok
Care
Anti-Poverty Nonprofit Care created a public service announcement style ad featuring “Scandal” creator Shonda Rhimes. Rhimes and its stars, Kerry Washington, Bellamy Young and Katie Lowes, describe the ways in which women are marginalized. The goal is for people to sign a petition to support the Safe From The Start Act, a law that would force U.S. humanitarian programs abroad to prioritize the needs of women and girls.
“Scandal” creator Shonda Rhimes and star Kerry Washington pose as part of a non-profit Care campaign for International Women’s Day.
Care
Narendra Modi
It’s not exactly a brand, but the Indian Prime Minister tweeted that he would “give” his social media accounts to women who inspire and ask people to enter a contest to manage his Twitter, Facebook, Instagram accounts. and YouTube Sunday.