In honour of International Women’s Day (this Sunday, March 8), let’s consider two brands that are known for demeaning women in their advertising: GoDaddy and American Apparel.
GoDaddy, a website domain provider, once made its name with “GoDaddy Girls” and bad innuendos about beavers.
Image from GoDaddy’s 2008 Superbowl commercial. Can you guess what models and their beavers have to do with web domains? Neither can I.
A fairly new CEO, Blake Irving, has partnered with female CMO Barb Rechterman to turn things around. Irving explains:
“My youngest sister was a psychologist and a researcher who specialized in eating disorders … one of her theses was the effect of the media on women’s bodies and self-esteem … my sister ended up passing away tragically about 12 years ago and my promise to her was that I would pursue as much as I could in my own field to level the playing field for women so that they’re not at a disadvantage and actually have every benefit that men have because she was such a strong advocate,” he says. “When I came to GoDaddy, it was hard to imagine a better place to come to shift the way women are perceived in the media.”
Meanwhile, American Apparel has replaced controversial founder and CEO Dov Charney with its first woman CEO, Paula Schneider.
How do you think she can keep the brand edgy without resorting to hyper-sexualized silliness?
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