Founder of X3M Ideas Group and President of the Association of Advertising Agencies of Nigeria (AAAN), Steve Babaeko; award-winning playwright and actress, Danai Gurira; Deputy Executive Director UN Women, Anita Bhatia; Co-Founder & Chairman Getty Images, Mark Getty; and twelve other leaders in marketing and communications joined the global industry shed more light on the harmful stereotypes in media and advertising at this year’s Unstereotype Alliance Global Member Summit at the UN Headquarters in New York.
The Summit brought together leaders of over 230 companies from the US, UK, Japan and Europe, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, India, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, South Africa, Türkiye, and the UAE to discuss the influence of the advertising, media, and marketing community as a force for transformative change.
Following the successful release of the latest Black Panther movie, Wakanda Forever, award-winning American-Zimbabwean actress and Black Panther star, Danai Gurira spoke on the need for communicators to raise the bar and rid the world of the usual norms. She encouraged the industry to prioritise diversity and inclusion to ensure harmful stereotypes in media and advertising are a thing of the past.
Steve Babaeko, a world-renowned expert on creative advertising and marketing communications, shared the African perspective on the evolution of global body positivity highlighting the need to eliminate negative stereotypes of women in television commercials and advertising generally.
“It is inspiring to join some of the world’s most committed change makers at the United Nations Headquarters for the Unstereotype Alliance Global Member Summit. It is very important to work as we continue to steer the global marketing communications industry in the right direction.
Communication plays a pivotal role in creating social change. This is one of the reasons why I proudly support the UNstereotype Alliance in the fight to eliminate negative stereotypes of women in Television commercials and advertising generally,” Steve said.
English model and activist, Munroe Bergdorf, who came to public attention in August 2017 when she was employed as the first transgender model to front a L’Oréal campaign in the United Kingdom, also spoke on how important representation is in the media. “Images of marginalized groups are now being pushed – people are questioning why they haven’t seen this before?” remarked Munroe.
Themed “Raising the bar,” the two-day signature event saw leading voices from a broad spectrum of industries including film, advertising, business, and government come together to discuss how they are tackling systemic stereotyping.
Speaking on why the industry must prioritise this, the Director of Strategic Partnerships, UN Women, Daniel Seymour, said “more than a trillion dollars is spent on advertising every year, think of the power of that to change minds and what people believe. This is important work.”
Convened by UN Women, the Unstereotype Alliance is a thought and action platform that engages the global advertising industry to eradicate all harmful stereotypes from advertising and media content. The Global Member Summit is a signature event that brings together our membership of major advertisers, creative agencies, and media platforms to hear leading voices from a broad spectrum of industries including film, advertising, business, and government on how they are tackling systemic stereotyping.
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