Our world is in flux, becoming increasingly fragmented each day. Our sense of belonging is crumbling with the ‘loneliness epidemic’ affecting millions. Discriminatory policies accompany different aspects of everyday life, from education to healthcare. The pandemic shook individual and collective identities further as people have become more socially conscious. Consumers’ expectations are rising and businesses need to keep up. One of those expectations is inclusivity.
The gender taboo
Too often gender inequalities and biases are muted in our everyday conversations, including conversations around brands. Too often we are silent accomplices. Gender stereotypes are reinforced through social and media institutions, and even within the language — France is still struggling to make its masculine-leaning language more inclusive. But we shouldn’t shy away from tough conversations if the intention is to create a world informed by a range of lived experiences.
Consumers and brands have a reciprocal relationship. Brands tell stories, while we as consumers deconstruct their meanings. Not long ago, those stories had a single theme, excluding the diversity of gender identities. Now, brands that are homogenous risk being marginalised themselves.
Fixed on the unfixed
Too many products and services are embedded with binary gender identity. Gendering is everywhere — 80% of the goods we consume are gender-targeted. However, more brands have started seeing beyond the usual categorisation, exploring more universal appeal. Aesop, operating in the highly gender-polarised industry, shows how cosmetic products can be inclusive. A year ago, Lego vowed to remove gender bias, and has recently launched its first gender-neutral toy range.
The global population no longer feels the need to align with a specific gender identity. They’re fixed on the unfixed. If we assume brands are ingrained with emotional promises flowing from lived experiences, why are so many of them short-sighted when it comes to reflecting truly diverse experiences?
Everyone says the world is changing, but maybe the thing that is changing is our vocabulary for rationalising it? Gender-fluid psychologist Liz Powell explains there are as many definitions of gender-fluidity as there are gender-fluid people. And yet, the gender concept is often simplified to the bathroom question.
We keep talking about achievement pressure, work pressure, and even peer pressure, ignoring gender identity pressure. In a world where major narratives are constructed and shifted by activist Millennials and Gen Z, there is no space for strictly binary concepts. Gender-neutral branding is expected as the bare minimum.
Beyond the sky
Ensuring inclusivity in brand image is tricky. But not impossible. Everyone’s favourite denim brand Levi’s defines gender as “being confident in who you are”. What if more brands had attempted to reframe something so restricted to something universal, applicable to each and every one?
Generally, consumers have more positive responses to brands that reflect their identity, says psychologist M. Joseph Sirgy. A strong drive towards familiarity and positivity is in our nature. Brands communicate symbolic meanings that resonate or oppose our self-image. Unsurprisingly, almost half of LGBTQ+ consumers often feel like they need to suppress their identity.
Even brands with supposedly female-centric narratives reinforce the outdated patriarchal views. Take the gradual death of Victoria’s Secret, a brand led by the male gaze since inception in the 1970s. It was too slow to respond to the changing world, the ongoing #MeToo and body-positivity movements. The brand lost its desirability status by continuously exploiting women’s insecurities, responding to the fictitious needs and ignoring inclusion. Their recent rebrand is supposed to remove the oversexualized, airbrushed images from consumers’ minds, but its success is yet to be seen.
Some brands do lead by example. The swimwear brand Chromat is widening the conversation on inclusivity through its communication strategy, creating for those “who don’t tuck, trans femmes, non-binary people, and intersex bodies”. The brand broke all conventions in the category and is continuing to create more space for marginalised communities. Chromat doesn’t sit and clap — it’s not another ’look at me!’ brand. It walks the talk and helps people feel like they belong.
Authenticity makes great brands greater. Proven efforts to become gender-inclusive can significantly improve brand reputation, leaving more time to focus on what matters — brand’s purpose and function. And that is exactly what British Airways and Virgin Atlantic have done.
Historically, airlines have been overly-protective over their uniform policies in which any unique form of self-expression was removed. Bright nail polish or a small tattoo one got as a teenager classified aspiring flight attendants as unfit. Now, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic are leading the way, ditching outdated rules and going gender-neutral. They’ve already removed the requirement for gendered uniforms and offered pronoun badges. But the sky is not the limit. Or at least, it shouldn’t be.
The demographics trap
The thing with pre-set rules and standards is they are nothing but habits which can be challenged and replaced. Take the colour pink, a gender role association that can be traced to the 1950s and the First Lady Mamie Eisenhower. Mamie loved pink. The colour dominated her fashion and decor choices. The trending colour was quickly cemented as having ‘girly’ associations, maintaining its status quo for decades and becoming a part of the pink tax, gender-based price disparity. Gillette is one of the brands that has been capitalising on colour stereotypes. Its products targeted at women still cost more than the ones for men, bringing into question brand’s attempts (e.g. #MyBestSelf campaign) to tackle gender bias and stereotypes.
Challenger brands are shifting established narratives, rejecting differentiation based on gender. Telfar, a brand beloved by fashionistas around the world, proved that any clothing or accessory piece can be gender inclusive. “Designed for all and available to all”, says Nicopanda, a brand of the creative powerhouse Nicola Formichetti. Less mainstream creators are also joining the effort to make branding more diverse. Native American-owned denim line Ginew embodies the philosophies of their tribes — ‘living in a good way’ — as opposed to prevalent gender narratives.
Marketeers are often faced with a challenge to create brands with limited budgets, so demographics are used as a shortcut to reach target audiences. That leads to perpetuating stereotypes further. There is no universal playbook. We should have learnt by now that gender doesn’t tell anything about an individual’s behaviour, nor their passions in life. Breaking away from gender stereotypes is a complex process. Targeting needs is the starting point.
Being more inclusive means being more conscious about one’s influence on society. And yet, brands often approach gender conversation with extra caution, fearing it may water down their character and personality. Reverse the thinking. If the brand is genuinely trying to make a difference, bold communication can be one of the most effective means to do so.
Inventing new futures
What if we start asking consumers what is acceptable for them and amplifying their voices instead of leading the narrative? Otherwise, brands risk appearing to profit from gender inclusivity without genuinely trying to adapt, resorting to mere virtue signalling.
Organisations must take full responsibility for their communication, be honest about the impact they make and areas that require more work. After all, major changes start from within. Shifting to gender-inclusive branding can also start internally, by abolishing discriminatory hiring processes. Mixed teams bring mixed views, helping brands attract consumers who represent the diversity of the world.
Alan Kay, Apple’s Chief Scientist said that “the best way to predict the future is to invent it.” Could we maybe invent ours? The one without unnecessary segmentation and differentiation.
Megana Mikuciauskaite
Brand Strategist
OPX Studio
