On the last awards ceremony of Cannes Lions on Friday, June 21, company and advertising and marketing professionals from around the globe took the stage to honor a few of promoting’s finest work. However except for the glittering trophies and celebrations, one thing else was on show that night time: the trade’s gender imbalance.
Alltold, a man-made intelligence firm with instruments that measure inclusion in promoting and media, analyzed 24 photographs of winners accepting awards on the final night time of Cannes by means of an AI-powered program that identifies gender expression. Apart from three winners—WPP, Coca-Cola and Ogilvy—the pictures ADWEEK and Alltold analyzed contained the complete group of people that went on stage.
The consequence: 69% of people that accepted awards on stage have been recognized as males. The evaluation discovered that in 19 of the 24 photographs, extra males than ladies went on stage. Eight of the successful teams that despatched no less than eight individuals on stage featured a make-up of no less than 75% males.
A variety of trade sources conversant in the chaos that occurs whereas shepherding massive teams of individuals from successful companies or manufacturers onto the stage cautioned that the pictures aren’t all the time one of the best gauge of particular person corporations’ efforts to be inclusive on stage. They cited elements out of an company’s management that embody inviting shoppers, the place the make-up of these shoppers can’t be managed, on stage; which staff stick round by means of Friday night time; and who truly decides to return on stage when given the chance.
That mentioned, companies needs to be reviewing their total Cannes planning course of from the early discussions about who will go, by means of who will stick round to probably take the stage and characterize the company. One supply, who wished to stay nameless, informed ADWEEK that if an company plans correctly, it will probably counteract any elements out of its management to make sure it doesn’t put a particularly imbalanced group on stage.
The sources additionally added that the broader development is notable because the evaluation is reflective of the trade’s gender make-up as a complete. Girls, who earlier than the pandemic comprised half of promoting, media and adtech staff, now make up solely 37%, based on 2023 knowledge from nonprofit group She Runs It. Moreover, the newest knowledge from the three% Motion reveals solely 29% of the trade’s artistic administrators are ladies.
“Based on The 4A’s Range survey—we’re seeing a rise in feminine illustration total, accounting for 61.22% of all surveyed final 12 months. The trade is continuous to make inroads in diversifying the expertise combine however we are able to all the time do higher,” Marla Kaplowitz, CEO of the 4A’s informed ADWEEK.
A wider downside
Although Alltold’s evaluation is just one indicator of the demographics in promoting’s workforce, the pictures of individuals accepting awards in Cannes are symbolic of a wider difficulty of gender inequality that has plagued the trade for a very long time, mentioned Cindy Gallop, marketing consultant and founder and CEO of MakeLoveNotPorn.
“It doesn’t take AI for anybody to go searching us and go, ‘Nothing’s altering within the trade on this entrance,’” Gallop informed ADWEEK. “Total, ladies’s experiences at Cannes Lions exhibit how a lot our trade nonetheless doesn’t characteristic gender equality in management and artistic departments.”
