Are manufacturers the brand new Mansplainer?
While the concept of mansplaining has now become obsolete, a new book by Penguin Business examines how, despite apparent advances, an incarnation of the phenomenon exists within brands.
Brandsplaining was written by Philippa Roberts (previously Client Services Director at DDB London and Ogilvy London) and Jane Cunningham (former Head of Planning at Ogilvy London and MD of Tribal DDB) who jointly founded Pretty Little Head, their own research consultancy specializing in women has audience.
After 15 years of researching this audience, the book is said to be a “State of the Nation study”. It is during this time that brands have apparently discovered feminism and “femvertising” has increased. Brandsplaining is the result of thousands of hours of discussion groups, a survey of 14,000 women, and extensive marketing analysis that found that while sexism is more covert, it is still frustrated with how it is both represented and addressed in marketing and advertising.
"In the research we did for a variety of female audiences, we heard frustrations about how women are represented," says Cunningham. That motherhood was idealized and did not represent the complicated, challenging job it is or how it is valuable beyond that. Mother's Day campaigns to say thank you. And then younger women obviously felt that they were always presented in such a way that they were only interested in their looks and that they were often presented through a male gaze lens. "