If somebody said to me, “Hey, Julija, how would you like to be in charge of all of the advertising directed at children?” I would be ecstatic. There is a lot of good advertising out there, but there’s also a lot of bad stuff, too. The biggest problem that I see, and that honestly makes no sense to me, is an extreme gendering of toy advertising directed at children. When I was a kid there was gendering, of course, but there was also a lot of middle ground. There were toys that were for both boys and girls and I liked that. I have thought a lot about this phenomenon and the only thing I can think of as the cause is this: as the internet pushes more and more targeted marketing the toy/cereal/childhood industries are trying to do so as well. But, here’s the deal, kids are much more impressionable than adults. They don’t know what they like or dislike. So, targeted marketing for children has this strange side effect of actually creating the targeting it targets.
“Why is that such a big deal?” You’re probably asking. Well, think about the ads that have come out recently that your kid is probably watching, specifically toy ads. Do you really want you little girl to think that all she can play with are dolls and fairy princesses? Do you want your little boy to think that trucks and tools are the only things he should like? There have been quite a few backlashes to the female side of this, see goldieblox and this interview with Rachel Giordano. However, I have seen a startling lack of backlash in the boys department. Yes, products for girls tend to be sexist in an overt way, but products for boys are too. They may have much more variety in the types of toys, but they still send a message that is not entirely positive. I’m not saying that the focus should move towards backlash for young boys; I’m saying that the backlash should be for children in general.
So, I have been given control of all the advertising and what do I do? First, I don’t allow stores to separate toys by gender. Put all the Disney toys together, I say! Second, I would start a new trend in commercials where no matter if the toy is a ‘boy toy’ or a ‘girl toy’, it shows both boys and girls playing with it and enjoying it. Girls can enjoy laser shooting, color changing, bad guy fighting toys as much as boys; and boys can like sparkly, outfit changing, soft and cuddly toys as much as girls. Lastly, I would encourage toy companies to educate parents and their children about advertising. “Raise your kids as cynics,” says this New York Times article. Parents are starting to respond to transparency in companies, and if we can change the way parents think about their kids/gender maybe we can raise an awesome new generation!
The first campaign comes from the agency AMV BBDO and is a print ad. The copy reads, “Feeding your cat’s instincts.” I love this campaign because it is such a simple concept and image but it sells the product incredibly well. You’ll notice from this list that I tend to gravitate towards simple and clean ads. That isn’t to say that simple and clean is always the best option, but I think that it works best most of the time.
Next is a print ad from Publicis, Singapore. The copy reads, “Liking isn’t helping.” This ad campaign is another very simple idea with a powerful message. It causes the consumer to rethink their social media use and how it affects the greater world. I included it because it shows that advertising can do more than just sell things. It can make people reevaluate their actions. This power should not be used lightly.
This next advertisement is a series of ads on a billboard and is ambient. It was brought to us by Y&R Not Just Film. This campaign is humorous and eye catching. It is also, again, a simple idea. Put something unappealing on a billboard so that someone buys the space. Y&R Not Just Film ran a few campaigns with similar themes but this one was by far the most successful.
This ad is produced by Jung von Matt for a horror/mystery/thriller channel. Another simple idea that speaks volumes. I like this ad because it legitimately scares me, but I don’t really know why. I know it is horror movie trope, but the simplicity of the images makes me question everything about them and create my own scenarios. These ads work, in my opinion, because they subtly engage the viewer and pique their interest.
Ogilvy Group UK brings us the last item on our list. This campaign’s goal was to get people to look up more as well as promote British Airways. The really spectacular thing about this billboard was that the little boy stood up and pointed whenever a BA plane flew over it. Not only is this simple idea incredibly cute and memorable, it also shows an innovative new way technological advancements can be used in conjunction with traditional media.
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