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Five years ago, after decades of portraying unflattering stereotypes in its ads, FMCG behemoth Unilever committed to “Unstereotype” it’s advertising. One of the apparent successes of this drive for inclusivity was the Knorr “Love at First Taste” campaign which, in Unilever’s words “[Shows] that food and cooking are pleasures everyone can enjoy, regardless of gender.”
I’m sure that was a great relief to the many male, non-binary and trans individuals circling a Knorr stock pot like a caged lion, not bringing themselves to cook as that’s “for girls.” And now—five years later—Unilever has announced its commitment to the second stage in this strategy—cunningly entitled “Act 2 Unstereotype.”
This next phase apparently challenges Unilever to “create marketing, not just advertising, that will help influence the next generation of people to be free from prejudice.” To the more cynically minded, it could be seen as a tacit admission that it is still trying not to convey damaging stereotypes in its ads.
To succeed, this can’t just be about Dove
Dove led the Unilever pack when it came to “unstereotyping” beauty. But even its “Campaign for Real Beauty” centered on drawing attention to perceived “flaws” from grey hair to small breasts (oh, reader—the shame).
The Dove “Real Beauty” campaign may have promoted women of all shapes and sizes, however you’ll have noticed the stature of the women cast in the Lynx ads didn’t change.
Unilever has ridden the wave of Dove and its successes (if we overlook that infamous ad which portrayed a Black woman turning into a white woman who then became Asian or the ill-fated “woman-shaped bottles”) for too long.
Just where was the equivalent of “Campaign for Real Beauty” for Magnum, Tigi or Lipton?
Had a thorough diversity initiative been rolled out at a global, all-encompassing level we would have seen Unilever approaching body diversity in an ad for Lynx, witnessed women of varying sizes and hair types in TRESemmé ads (not just sultry, long-haired beauties) and marveled at how even folks with significant skin conditions can use Comfort without issue.
What is to come?
And so, on to “Act 2 Unstereotype.” If Unilever—and any brand—is serious about avoiding stereotypes and reflecting the whole population in all its diverse glory, it needs to do a much more thorough job than avoiding showing just women cooking or looking after kids, or only having thin white girls as the epitome of society’s current beauty ideals.
There must be representation of disabled people, people from the LBGTQ+ community, faces of all colors, people with different levels of wealth, a variety of accents and much more—but not just to hit the quotas or make up the numbers.
Unilever needs to give each brand that start-up freedom of finding its own inclusive voice, free from the weight of the past, and not just improve the odd element here and there to proclaim “Progress!”
It’s not just about advertising
Brands today are expected to live and breathe their purported values; if a load of plastic packaging was to be found in the commercial bins at a Lush store, consumers would be appalled that the brand which claims to be so socially conscious was diddling the environment behind everyone’s backs. This is especially a snagging point for multi-brand businesses—a company that sells both fast fashion and eco-fashion should steer clear of preaching about sustainability unless it wants to explain how the other side of the business is supporting the eco-agenda.
“Act 2 Unstereotype” promises real structural change to the entire marketing process, with more inclusive thinking across every brand from product development all the way through to advertising.
Promoting a public image for a brand that is not supported or championed behind the scenes is shallow at best and duplicitous at worst. Unilever is right to nail its rainbow flag to the mast of DEI across the board, however for these tokens to be meaningful, its on-screen and off-screen talent must be truly representative of the population and built by a team as diverse as the myriad of consumers purchasing Unilever’s products.
It must be applauded that a company with the heft of Unilever is talking about diversity in its broadest of forms, and we all hope that conversations such as this spark similar initiatives for other brands.
The real test will be if we can see genuine and long-term change. Hopefully, we won’t need an Act 3 to witness it.
