Selling Social Change
Catherine Coleman analyzes gender-equity ads.

Catherine A. Coleman is an award-winning strategic communication researcher who won the American Marketing Association's MarCom SIG Innovations in Marketing Communication award. Photo by Joyce Marshall
Selling Social Change
Catherine Coleman analyzes gender-equity ads.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO DO SOMETHING “LIKE A GIRL,” ONE ADVERTISEMENT ASKS IN A MUCH-VIEWED SPOT.
Some brands use advertising to connect with their customers by identifying with authentic, lived experiences. But do campaigns such as #likeagirl also have the power to create societal change? If so, how do we describe and measure it?
“We talk a lot about the impact of advertising, but there isn’t clear understanding of what exactly that might mean — in fact, there are many definitions,” said Catherine A. Coleman, professor of strategic communication and department chair in the Bob Schieffer College of Communication.
Beyond assessing how many people saw the advertisement or purchased a featured product, there is a push within the advertising industry, Coleman said, to measure the impact of advertising on issues such as gender inclusivity and equity.
To present a framework for defining and measuring purpose-driven impact, Coleman published “Driving Impact Through Inclusive Advertising: An Examination of Award-Winning Gender-Inclusive Advertising” in 2023 in the Journal of Advertising, the flagship journal of the American Academy of Advertising.
Coleman’s paper, co-authored with Linda Tuncay Zayer, professor of marketing at Loyola University Chicago, and Lauren Gurrieri, associate professor at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, was named a finalist for Best Article of 2023 in the journal. The next year, Coleman’s research won the American Marketing Association’s MarCom SIG Innovations in Marketing Communication award.
The research centers on a qualitative analysis of 18 advertising campaigns addressing gender inequity that were entered into the 2022 Cannes Lions Awards for Good at the Cannes International Festival of Creativity. The team found that four distinct mechanisms could define impact.

Catherine A. Coleman studies gender inclusivity in advertising campaigns. “For many organizations, embracing an outcome-oriented approach, one that includes measuring social impacts, makes good business sense,” she said. Photo by Joyce Marshall
Perceptual impact, or changes resulting from exposure and attention given to an issue, is defined by metrics including how many people saw the ad and how many engaged with it. Conceptual impact is typified by changing the way individuals think about an issue. Instrumental impact influences consumer or organizational action toward an issue. Finally, political impact is seen when the campaign results in legislative action or activism.
Coleman and her co-authors drew from their prior published research in the field of transformative advertising to further describe that these four mechanisms operate on three broad levels, from influencing personal thoughts on a micro level; to the actions of organizations, groups and businesses on a meso level; to broad, sociocultural forces, such as government law and policy, that exist on a macro level.
The top Cannes Lions award went to WeCapital’s Data Tienda campaign, which highlighted the lack of official credit histories for women in Mexico and formalized the records maintained by small business owners keeping customer payment histories by hand. As a result, more than 10,000 women registered on a platform to begin establishing credit, more than 50,000 small businesses reported data and more than 2,000 female entrepreneurs received microloans.
Conceptually, the campaign promoted economic autonomy and entrepreneurship. Instrumentally, the campaign created a path to change how credit risk is measured, empowering women.
The effort behind work being done by advertisers to demonstrate social impact raises the question: Why are brands choosing to focus on equity and inclusion now?
“The consumer has never been more in charge,” said Christine Guilfoyle, president of SeeHer, the nonprofit housed within the Association of National Advertisers dedicated to championing the positive representation of women and girls to eliminate gender bias in marketing, media and entertainment.
Up to 80 percent of consumer purchases are influenced or directly made by women, who control roughly $20 trillion in spending annually in the U.S.
“Brands need to ensure that all people — but particularly women and girls — are portrayed authentically, respectfully, accurately and modernly so that consumers can feel seen, heard and valued,” Guilfoyle said. “Building a relationship with that consumer starts there.”
SeeHer offers free access to curriculum, arranged in eight modules, for use by marketing organizations across the industry. Coleman co-authored two of those modules — one on ethical decision-making and another on inspiring social change.
“For many organizations, embracing an outcome-oriented approach, one that includes measuring social impacts, makes good business sense,” Coleman said, referencing 2023 research from Kantar, a leading marketing data and analytics firm, that showed 79 percent of consumers’ purchase intent is influenced by a brand’s involvement in social issues.
“Allyship is particularly imperative,” Guilfoyle said, “especially with trailing millennials and Gen Z. Advertising is not a one-way communication anymore.”
Beyond improving sales and brand perception is the potential for positive outcomes for consumer and social well-being, Coleman said.
“Advertising is a cultural intermediary, communicating important information about what is prioritized and valued in consumer societies in ways that impact lived experiences,” she said. “Bringing attention to the range of potential individual, organizational and social outcomes is a step toward achieving positive, transformative well-being goals.”
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