Marketers Beware Of The #notbuyingit Campaign
Many avid Twitter users may have noticed an influx of a certain hashtag making its way throughout the Twittersphere. That hashtag looks like this: #notbuyingit. What it refers to is people – mostly women so far – challenging ads and marketing campaigns that promote sexism. Here’s what you need to know:
[success]Who:[/success]
MissRepresentation is an organization and name of an award-winning documentary exposing the contribution mainstream media – from tv commercials to children’s toys – is failing to portray women in a light of independence influence and power. They were highly successful during the 2013 Superbowl by blasting tweets that tore apart the commercials that were chosen to be shown during an event that over 100 million people watch simultaneously.
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[success]Why:[/success]
It’s time to transform our culture and how we look at gender roles. Currently, 80% of the North American market is focused on selling products to women. With the female population in control of what does and doesn’t work with ads and marketing, the #notbuyingit campaign is really focused on using that control for a greater good. They want to encourage marketers to stop taking the easy way out and start coming up with sales strategies that are smart and engaging.
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[success]Where:[/success]
Along with using Twitter as a major platform, MissRepresentation has a website (www.missrepresentation.org) and boasts nearly 95,000 likes on their Facebook fan page. Some partners of the MissRepresentation movement are The International Women’s Museum, The Healthy Media Commission, and The Women’s Media Center. There are even talks of a NotBuyingIt app in which users can document ads or products that promote sexist stereotypes while praising ones that do not, getting the attention of major companies to change their standards for marketing, and most importantly to spread media literacy.
So now what?
[error]The goal behind the #notbuyingit campaign is simple: offer the boys and girls of today a better world to live in, by any and all means possible. One of the major ways we must do this is to break gender stereotypes. We as a society need to encourage critical thinking for ourselves and our kids when we look at ads, commercials, toys, music videos, and nearly every other form of media. Marketers and Advertisers shouldn’t see this as a bad thing, they should see it as a challenge to be better and more socially aware of how their contributions to media can truly shape the world we live in.[/error]
I absolutely love this article. I’m telling missrep right now about it!