The Digital Marketing Association of the Philippines (DMAP) this year cemented its leadership in addressing stereotyping in advertising and marketing campaigns, with the Purple Boomerang Award for Diversity, Equality, and Inclusivity seeing a record number of submissions and the Digital Young Creators Competition generating dozens of ideas to prompt industry action against gender stereotypes. Both initiatives were supported by Investing in Women (IW), an initiative of the Australian Government.
A total of 19 entries competed for the Purple Boomerang Award for Diversity, Equality, and Inclusivity, which recognises digital campaigns that challenge inequalities based on gender, disability, religion, ethnic group, and other social factors. This is the highest number of submissions for the Purple Boomerang since DMAP and IW established the award in 2021.
DMAP and IW’s partnership this year also included the Digital Young Creators Competition, wherein 48 pairs of young advertising and marketing industry professionals came up with digital solutions to prompt industry stakeholders to be more deliberate about addressing gender stereotyping.
Winners of the Purple Boomerang Award celebrate their groundbreaking work to challenge gender stereotypes in advertising and marketing, supported by Investing in Women and DMAP.
Business case for ‘unstereotyping’ advertising and marketing campaigns
IW Campaigns and Communities of Practice Director Kim Patria said that together, the Purple Boomerang and the Digital Young Creators Competition highlight why and how the advertising and marketing industry needs to address gender stereotypes.
“To be considered for and to win a Boomerang, entries need to be not only creative and innovative, but they also need to be effective in achieving business objectives. The record number of entries for the Purple Boomerang therefore demonstrates that an increasing number of brands are disrupting stereotypes through their campaigns and are achieving intended results,” Patria said.
This bolsters the business case for addressing stereotypes in campaigns. “A common justification we hear for the persistent use of stereotypes is that they work—so why should that industry stop using them? The entries for the Purple Boomerang show that ‘unstereotyping’ works, too, and offers advertisers opportunities to set themselves apart from their competitors,” Patria added.
The power of changing social perceptions
Business effectiveness includes increased broad campaign reach, which links to IW’s rationale for supporting the Purple Boomerang. IW recognises that advertising and marketing campaigns are some of the most ubiquitous and convincing messages, so if they carry with them messages of equality, they can change what people see others do and what they think others expect them to do.
“There is mounting evidence that more and more people are adopting gender-equal attitudes, but that not all of them are able to translate those attitudes into behaviour because they think they are deviating from the perceived norm. Campaigns can correct this misperception, enabling people to make their behaviours consistent with their attitudes,” Patria said.
The winner of the 2024 Purple Boomerang, the “Right to Care” campaign by MullenLowe Treyna and the Quezon City Government takes this further by demonstrating the interplay between norm change and policy reform. The campaign collected evidence of non-heteronormative care arrangements by offering the Right to Care Card, a digital solution that enables holders prove they are another person’s legally nominated carer, even when they are not deemed under Philippine law to be next of kin. The high uptake of the Right to Care Card then prompted the Quezon City council to pass an ordinance that required all hospitals within the city to recognise the Right to Care Card.
“On one hand, the Right to Care Campaign demonstrated that evidence of change in social norms can catalyse policy change. On the other, it also shows the need for policy change to validate and further support social norm change,” said Patria, who sat on the Purple Boomerang jury this year.
Building a community of industry advocates
Patria added, however, that there needs to be broader and more sustained industry recognition of their power to change social norms. This is why IW is seeking through its partnership with DMAP to support a community of advertising and marketing professionals who can advocate for addressing gender stereotypes within the industry.
This year, IW supported DMAP’s Digital Young Creators Competition, wherein participants were asked to develop digital solutions for prompting industry stakeholders to “unstereotype” gender in their campaigns. Competitors proposed a broad range of interventions, ranging from awareness campaigns to artificial intelligence-powered prompts for disrupting stereotypes in creative work.
The winning idea was for StereoCritical.com, an online platform that enables public and industry reviewers to critique gender portrayals in advertisements, pitched by Kimberly Shane Fuller and Ernest John Snyder of advertising and marketing firm HAKUHODO/BCi.
“The Digital Young Creators Competition proves that young advertising and marketing professionals recognise stereotyping as a challenge, understand the factors that influence the persistence of stereotypes, and have ideas for addressing them,” Patria said.
IW’s ongoing engagement with DMAP complements its broader work on Campaigns and Communities of Practice, which highlights examples of gender equality and supports advocates for the broader adoption of progressive attitudes and behaviours. For further insight on IW’s support for locally led campaigns and Communities of Practice, read here: Investing in Women Campaigns and Communities of Practice Brochure