Accenture joins new alliance tackling media gender stereotypes
A new platform has launched in Australia which seeks to combat harmful media portrayals, with professional services firm Accenture among its founding members.
Professional services firm Accenture has signed up as a founding member of the newly launched Australian chapter of the Unstereotype Alliance, a UN Women platform which seeks to address harmful stereotypes promoted in the media and through advertising. Australia becomes the tenth country to launch the platform, with a number of advertising giants also on board as local members and allies.
“Representation of our community in advertising and media content is critical to creating an equal and open society,” commented Simone Clarke, CEO of UN Women Australia. “One of the best ways to ensure that is to have representation across the advertising, marketing, tech and media industry. This group of leaders is coming together to enact real, meaningful change that will impact Australia for the better.”
Noting the 200,000 people employed in the Australian advertising industry and its $40 billion contribution to the economy, the Unstereotype Alliance states that its overarching strategic intent is to tap in to the power of advertising to depict progressive portrayals of all people across gender, race, ability and ethnic lines, and to ensure that diversity is considered a priority throughout the entire creative process.
Accenture has previously been working with UN Women Australia via Accenture Interactive and its advertising subsidiary The Monkeys. Earlier this year, the firm launched the “When Will She Be Right?” campaign, a confronting riff on the Australian phrase ‘she’ll be right’ which seeks to highlight ongoing gender inequality and violence. More recently, it created a TikTok dance for women made up of self-defence moves.
“Gender inequality is the biggest human right’s issue of our time. It impacts all of us,” said Sunita Gloster, who serves as both a UN Women Australia advisor and senior advisor for Accenture and previously PwC. “This work enables UN Women Australia to sustain the campaign that is raging on this issue and call for accelerated action for the empowerment of women and girls, every day. That’s what it’s going to take.”
First launching in 2017, Australia becomes the tenth international chapter of the Unstereotype Alliance, following other nations such as India, Brazil, Turkey, Japan and the UAE. Meanwhile, alongside Accenture, prominent agencies Omnicom, WPP AUNZ, and Publicis Groupe are among the 20+ local founding members together with market research and consultancy Ipsos and a number of influential Australian corporates.
“We reach so many people every day, with our brands, through our products and our communication,” commented Nicole Sparshott, the CEO Unilever for Australia & New Zealand, which is one of the local signatories. “We have both a responsibility and an opportunity to dismantle the stereotypes that perpetuate bias and cap potential, creativity and agency. We must be a voice for all individuals, not just a few.”
