November 2006 Propeller

By Jasmine Montgomery, FutureBrand

Are women who work in marketing making things better for female consumers? FutureBrand’s research found that they are not.

When asked if they recognize themselves in the way women are portrayed in ads, more than half of the women we spoke to said no.

Women make 80 percent of purchasing decisions, yet we still treat marketing to women as though we were marketing to a niche. “Marketing to women” should actually just be “marketing.” But most advertising is aimed at housewives. Drill down to some more specific types of women, as we did, and the brands targeting these women are so niche they cease to be household names.

In a study published in full at the “Rethink Pink! Marketing to Women” conference in October 2005, FutureBrand presented the results of interviews with professional working women, women over size 16, women over age 50, gay women, and women who work in the marketing industry itself in advertising, branding, communications, or design.

The group that felt the most disconnected from conventional marketing was the gay group, and size 16+s felt almost as disconnected as lesbians. It is noteworthy that a group that constitutes around 50 percent of the female population should feel as alienated as a group that constitutes an estimated 5 percent.

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