How advertising got ‘woke’: The institutional role of advertising in the emergence of gender progressive market logics and practices

Abstract

The use of gender stereotypes has long been a common creative strategy used by practitioners in advertising portrayals, leading to concern over the individual and societal effects of such representations of women. However, a recent decline in this institutionalized practice has provided the stimulus for our research. As such, we explore the influences that have led to meso-level market actors working in advertising and marketing actively avoiding the use of gender stereotypes of women in advertising depictions. We consider the role of advertising in a dynamic market system and the influences upon advertising practitioners leading to the emergence of gender progressive market logics. Linking the experiences of an expert sample of advertising professionals with the extant literature, our study broadens understanding of the central role of advertising in shaping markets. While previous research has examined the impact of advertising on society and cultural meaning, we highlight the recursive nature of this interaction. We find that emergent gender progressive logics have been dependent upon support in public discourses, shifts in professionals’ moral conscience, voiced consumer opinion and the market success of trailblazing, gender progressive advertising campaigns. We advance empirical analysis of market system influences that have led to more socially responsible advertising practices. This study has important implications for understanding advertising’s potential to address institutional problems in society.

Woke Culture Syndrome: Is Research in Management Under Threat?

“…In the United States, the possibility of open debate on certain sensitive issues is no longer assured, so McMahan et al (2021) have launched in 2021 the Journal of Controversial Ideas in order to host articles rejected from a wokist perspective. The editorial of the first issue is explicit about the current climate: "Some students have demanded that speakers holding views they consider offensive be prevented from speaking at their university, and that professors holding views the students consider objectionable should be sanctioned or even dismissed" (McMahan et al, 2021, p. 2) For the moment, the management research community does not seem to be suffering from such extremities, even if it recognizes that management practices are influenced by wokism (Middleton & Turnbull, 2021). But it is not impossible that tomorrow, textbooks by reputable professors will have to be completely rewritten, to erase theories deemed discriminatory, verifying the terrible prophecy of George Orwell in his novel 1984 (Orwell, 1949(Orwell, /2021.…”

How consumers subvert advertising through rhetorical institutional work

“…Some recent studies in the marketing discipline have certainly been invaluable in drawing attention to rhetorical functions in consumer‐led discourses (Kachen & Krishen, 2020; Luedicke et al, 2010; Valor et al, 2021). We build upon these by showing that when consumer rhetorical institutional work in social media is amplified by the journalistic media, this in turn, has a recursive influence on meaning structures that influence consumer perceptions (Middleton & Turnbull, 2021). Therefore, such subversion of marketplace meaning structures can amount to a clear challenge to the legitimacy of a marketing practice.…”

“…In following our research aims, journalistic media articles provided a reflection of the content of contemporary culture and societal attitudes (Humphreys, 2010; Percy, 2012). Consequently, this data set allowed us to merge understanding of consumer perspectives and actions, the impact of these on social and public discourses and vice versa (Middleton & Turnbull, 2021). It also facilitated our thematic analysis process and allowed the mapping and subsequent corroboration of emergent codes from both data sources.…”

“…To address this gap, we utilize institutional theory to extend previous conceptual work that sees consumers as purposeful in their efforts to disrupt established marketplace practices (Feddema et al, 2020; Kjeldgaard et al, 2017; Middleton & Turnbull, 2021; Valor et al, 2021). We examine collective consumer challenges to the legitimacy of gender stereotyping and the objectification of women in advertising, conceptualizing it as “institutional work” (Lawrence et al, 2011).…”

“…We examine collective consumer challenges to the legitimacy of gender stereotyping and the objectification of women in advertising, conceptualizing it as “institutional work” (Lawrence et al, 2011). While there is growing interest in the work undertaken by marketplace actors toward change in advertising practices, there is still little understanding of consumer subversion of advertising campaigns (Duke, 2002; Kähr et al, 2016; Middleton & Turnbull, 2021; Rumbo, 2002; Wilson et al, 2021). In particular, since rhetoric plays a critical role in shaping accounts of what is, and crucially, what is not legitimate (Cornelissen et al, 2015), we consider the rhetorical strategies employed by consumers as they seek to subvert advertising.…”