Through the use of hard-hitting footage, imagery and language we forced people to take notice of how women are portrayed in advertising, and that we should no longer accept it. Our video shows real women sarcastically speaking about ads in which women are objectified, and goes on to demonstrate the significant harm that objectification causes. Our call-to-action of standing up encouraged people all over the world to stand up for the ones they love and to hold the advertising industry to a higher, more just standard. By engaging a global audience and encouraging them to participate in our movement, we believe that companies and advertisers would take notice. Our goal was to shift the cultural paradigm within advertising.

On January 11, our agency released our video on YouTube. The message took not just the ad industry, but also the public, by storm, resonating broadly and quickly going viral. In just over two weeks, we reached over 1 million views. The wave of earned media followed as our chief creative officer was invited to promote the message on major broadcast shows, including an exclusive appearance on the Today Show with Matt Lauer as well as a feature by the Wall Street Journal. The message continued to spread as key influencers started to engage in conversation on their own, amongst them: Ashton Kutcher, Alanis Morissette, World Economic Forum, UN Women, George Takei, and Ashley Judd. Publications in over 40 countries also picked up on our campaign, furthering disseminating our movement globally.

Over 31 million views

Over 1 billion media impressions

Reached over 175 countries

Generated $17 million in earned media value

#WomenNotObjects began as a digital campaign that leveraged the power of social media to produce broad and viral results. The provocative nature of the content, coupled with the call-to-action of standing up against objectification, encouraged social media users to actively participate in the conversation. In order to enhance this engagement, we held pop-ups at industry events such as SXSW, and mailed out collateral to movement ambassadors. This collateral included physical stickers that they could use to “tag” objectifying out-of-home ads across the country. At every touchpoint, we have encouraged people to share their experiences on social media.

When we originally released #WomenNotObjects on YouTube, we did so anonymously because we believed the provocative and breakthrough content needed to stand on its own without the context of its creator. Our goal was to connect with and enlist passionate advocates to spread our message, including everyone from young students to the older generation. Once we revealed that our agency was the creator, we leveraged native advertising and social media boosting to further promote awareness and authenticity. We were also able to leverage high-profile media exclusives, and subsequently enlist ambassadors and alliances to make our message even more actionable.

Studies prove the objectification of women in advertising has greatly increased since the ‘80s. Over the years, society has become desensitized to objectification and the widespread harm it causes, an epidemic that is harming women physically, mentally and emotionally. Young girls are growing up thinking that how they look is more important than how they feel, what they have to say and what they can do. As one of the few female-led creative agencies in the business, we set out to change the conversation by creating a video exposing the extent to which women are objectified in advertising using real-life examples. Our goal was to remind the world that we are #WomenNotObjects and to change how we portray and speak to women in advertising by asking people to stand up against it.