MullenLowe London has launched the ‘It’s Time To Get Animated’ campaign, which shines light on gender bias in childhood cartoons.
The agency partnered with the charity, Inspiring Girls International founded by Miriam Gonzalez to start a dialogue about gender disparity and stereotyping affecting our children through childhood role models.
The campaign exposes the gender bias in childhood cartoons where only 29% of all animated characters are women. These role models shape our children and ingrain gender stereotyping at a young age, as they watch and learn from Bob The Builder, Postman Pat alongside the few princesses or lovelorn females.
The mission of the campaign is to get the attention of studio heads to “Redraw The Balance” in cartoons, launched on 7th March as Gonzalez presented the Inspiring Girls initiative in Brussels to the European Parliament and the European Commission in a speed mentoring event with 50 school girls and 12 high profile women, including the European Commissioners Vera Jourova and Margrethe Vestager, the European Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly and Joanna Maycock, Secretary General of the European Women’s Lobby.
DIVERGE talked to MullenLowe London’s ECD, Richard Denney to find out more:
What inspired this campaign?
We were looking at children’s books, TV shows, films and noticed that the majority of lead characters were male. When we dug deeper we uncovered the fact that women were only represented by 29% and when they were, they were usually sidekicks or damsels in distress.
How does it address gender bias?
By revealing this shocking statistic we are asking everyone who sees the film or is involved in the charity to share it in the hope that the big studios will step forward and commit to creating more female lead characters in their next cartoon, film, or book.
Why is it important to address it early on?
Children are influenced at early age and find role models in film and television, so we need to target the problem right where it starts.
Why did your agency choose to this probono?
This problem is something that affects every single person in our work place. We either have children or nieces and nephews; we have friends with young children; and those children are our future. They will be the answer to a lot of problems the world will face too. They will find cures, change, and influence culture, hopefully stop wars and make the world a better place to live in but this won’t happen if we don’t inspire them. We have to help them, by making them confident, strong self-believers who can achieve what they want to be and do.
When and where did this campaign launch? Where will it air?
The work is supported by press and outdoor as well as other online content. But it’s a charity so we have reached out to companies to help us share what we have created. All the media given are donated from people who believe in the cause.
How can other helps?
Inspiring-girls is an incredible charity. All it asks is for women to go to schools and donate just one hour of their time to tell children what they do for a living. To inspire them and give them someone to aspire to.
Credits
Client Name: Inspiring Girls
Campaign Name: Redraw the Balance
Agency: MullenLowe London
Chief Creative Officer: Jose Miguel Sokoloff
ECD: Richard Denney
Creative Team: Katrina Encanto, EJ Galang, Richard Denney
Planner: Charlie Snow
Account Team: Isobel Dighe, Megan Kelly
Agency TV producer: Lucy Jay, Trudy Waldron
Agency Digital Producer: Kelly Barker
Print Producer: Marie Gilot
Designers: Augusta Lindquist, Rachel Wells, Ryan Self, Rob Hare, Daniel Flint
3D Design/Retoucher: Pete Stedman
Film ‘It’s Time To Get Animated’
Production Company: Strange Beast
Director: Sophie Marka
Executive Producer: Kitty Turley
Producer: Zoe Muslim
Editor: Sophie Marka
Animators: Sophie Marka, Yannick Boireau, Sarah Dhorne, Clemence Maret, Isabelle Piolat
Colorists: Isabelle Piolat, Terri Matthews
Post Production: Sophie Marka, Jim Birchenough, Sam Jones
Audio Post Production: Grand Central
Audio Engineers: Beckie Thornton, Tess Ludlow, Ben Leeves
Broadcast Affairs: Simon Sole
Music Composition: Hannah Peel – ‘Redraw’
http://www.hannahpeel.com/
Behind The Scenes / Interview films
Production company: Yeti Productions
Chief Creative Officer: Jose Miguel Sokoloff
ECD: Richard Denney
Creative Team: Katrina Encanto, EJ Galang, Richard Denney
Account Team: Isobel Dighe, Megan Kelly
Agency Producer: Marie Gilot
Cathy’s illustrator: BETOWERS – Beatriz Torres German (Spain)
Sally’s illustrator: Ariane Pelissoni (Brazil)
Carla’s illustrator: Abigail de la Cruz (Philippines)
Angela’s artist: Lizzie Campbell (UK)
Online
Agency Producer: Kelly Barker
Account Team: Isobel Dighe, Megan Kelly
Chief Creative Officer: Jose Miguel Sokoloff
ECD: Richard Denney
Creative Team: Katrina Encanto, EJ Galang, Richard Denney
Designer: Rachel Wells and Danny Flint
User Experience: Iain Hinchiffe
Build: Flavio Medeiros, James Frazer and Ben May
