How Individuals and Groups are Represented?
Olay unveiled its #MakeSpaceForWomen campaign at Super Bowl LIV in February 2020. Katie Couric, Taraji P. Henson, Busy Phillips, Lilly Singh, and real-life former astronaut Nicole Stott starred in the all-female Super Bowl profitable. Whenever someone tweeted using the hashtag #MakeSpaceForWomen and tagged @OlaySkin in the two weeks leading up to the Super Bowl, Olay contributed 1$ to Girls Who Code. Olay has set three targets for 2030, including attaining gender parity in STEM education, doubling the number of women working in the sector, and tripling the number of multicultural women in STEM to increase diversity and inclusion (Ilyas and Nayan, 2020). The Procter & Gamble-owned brand will provide $520,000 to the United Negro College Fund throughout a 10-year $1 million promise to support women in the field (UNCF). Olay’s current ad expands on the brand’s STEM-focused language, which it initially launched during the 2020 Super Bowl.
The video features women exclusively, one of whom is a former astronaut. I think that Olay’s “Make Space for Women” advertisement appeals to young ladies who are afraid to try STEM careers. In addition, this video is also aimed at a wider audience, including men and women who think the gender gap problem does not exist. I think this video definitely has an implicit message, which is that women should be given space everywhere. That is why the ad uses the multiple-meaning word “space.”
The advertising firm Bager&Winters created a campaign based on the tagline “Make Space for Women” and starring only women, in which Olay launches successful women into space as a symbol. There are various aspects of this campaign that stand out. First and foremost, the advertising will be shown on television during the Super Bowl (Braithwaite, 2019). As a result, Olay may be attempting to broaden its reach and rebrand while simultaneously appealing to loyal clients.
Stereotyped Group Behavior
The commercial shows women as independent, brave, and successful astronauts. However, Olay uses the stereotype that women are inherently forgetful. In the video, the main character asks who has the keys, and the girls realize that they forgot to take them. As I see it, the hidden message to Olay’s audience is that girls can sometimes act in a way that confirms stereotypes about them. Thus, this part of the video, even though it is made as a joke, seems slightly sexist.
Representation of Different Cultures
All three women depicted in the ad are American, the makers of the video do not put much emphasis on the nationality of the actresses. However, the hidden message is the fight against the male-dominated culture that keeps women in the shadows. The creators of the video should not have used the stereotype that women cannot control the mechanisms, and if they press the wrong button, they will fly into outer space. Such a narrative supports patriarchal cultural attitudes that the STEM sphere belongs to men.
Ethical Issues in the Social Sciences
As I noted in the previous paragraphs, I think this video supports stereotypes about women. Indeed, the purpose of the video is to create the conditions for social change. However, one cannot simultaneously joke about the alleged foolishness of women and donate a dollar to bridge the gender gap in STEM. I think Olay could collaborate with other social movements. In general, companies should evaluate the presence of stereotypes in their videos to ensure that they are unbiased.
A Finalized Social Science Research Question
The ads emphasize the idea of the importance of women getting STEM majors. It is also noted that there is a broader problem: the lack of presence of women as a social group in society. In addition, indirect mention is made of the fact that this patriarchal system is emphasized through a variety of institutions. These factors form my research question: how has Olay’s “Make Space for Women” ad changed the feminist perspective of STEM? I think the main significance of the ad is that even in 2020, when women’s rights seem to be taken for granted, there are still limitations to the development of women’s potential.
A Social Science Perspective
Within the social sciences, I would analyze such concepts as relationship advertising, consumer-generated advertising, the hierarchy of effects, and the role of memory in advertising. I would also examine how culture is arranged in a male-dominated world and establish the importance of representation. In addition, I would find out how Olay’s ads were perceived from the perspective of men and women.
One Major Development in the Social Sciences
I think a key finding that would be applicable to my research is the discovered effects of promotional videos on the human psyche. Scientists have found that as a quick form of communication, video allows for a collective experience (Pateman, 2020). People can watch the same video at the same time, even from different continents. Like any social content, video has the ability to inspire a sense of deep community and kinship, that is, to promote word-of-mouth marketing and expand the audience of the message. These facts will help me in faithfully analyzing what impact video has had on changing feminist perspectives in STEM. In general, due to the knowledge I have now, I can assume that the impact of advertising has been different for men and for women.
Assumptions and Beliefs
My research aims to analyze the commercial from a feminist perspective. Therefore, it would be appropriate to take into account studies that assess the impact of objects of culture, including contemporary culture, with a particular focus on women’s rights. I think the very format of how the commercial is made is explained by who it was directed at. Because the video is meant to appeal to young female students to realize themselves in STEM careers, the actresses are shown as strong and inspired individuals. The short length of the commercial is necessary because the point is not the video itself but the goal of the project: to donate money.
Social Science Perspective
If the information people receive every day is analyzed from the perspective of the social sciences, many interesting patterns and cause-and-effect relationships can be discovered. To a person who has watched this video and does not have specific knowledge, the hidden messages of the advertisement will not be obvious. Moreover, such a person will not understand how stereotypes about women are portrayed in the video. Thus, social science skills allow a person to think critically about the information he or she receives every day.
Personal Life
There are often situations where psychology skills have helped me to thin out life situations in my personal life. For example, in a conflict, I could behave more calmly, knowing what explains my interlocutor’s aggression. Or, this knowledge came to me when I read about global news, because I will understand the mechanisms behind certain phenomena. The scope of social science knowledge application is extremely broad, and there is no reason to refuse to use this research in my personal life.
Community Relationships
In my community, there are apparent problems concerning the position of women in society. In addition, there is a very low percentage of female students in technical fields. Accordingly, using knowledge of the social sciences, it would be possible to create projects aimed at overcoming inequality, including advertising campaigns. In addition, it will be possible to find out the sources of stereotypical perceptions of the position of women.
Global Contemporary Issues
The whole of Olay’s 2020 marketing emphasizes the importance of representation. Young women acquire the courage to explore occupations they may not have considered before when they see themselves reflected in technological and science-based careers (Block, 2020). According to an announcement shared with Marketing Dive, Olay has launched a campaign to encourage more women to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). #FaceTheSTEMGap is a follow-up to Olay’s February 2020 messaging about women in science (Braithwaite, 2019). The P&G cosmetics company is taking actual actions that coincide with its ongoing attempts to promote female empowerment via marketing by making a financial commitment to advance marginalized groups in a historically male-dominated sector. The issue of women’s education is a global problem for the entire human race. Analysis by social scientists of how advertising presents attempts to change the current state of affairs can reveal previously unnoticed cause-and-effect relationships.
References
Block, N. (2020). Advertisement for semantics for psychology. Midwest Studies in Philosophy, 10, 615-678.
Braithwaite, D. (2019). The economic effects of advertisement. The Economic Journal, 38(149), 16-37.
Ilyas, N. A., & Nayan, S. M. (2020). Advertisement for growing business. Journal of Undergraduate Social Science and Technology, 2(2), 1-5.
Pateman, T. (2020). How is understanding an advertisement possible? Basil Blackwell.