If your client’s TV ads aren’t inclusive, they’re driving away a HUGE part of their audience: women. Especially in cases where your client is in the women’s clothing, beauty or other women-focused industries, inclusive ads are a must. Here’s what you need to know.

Inclusive TV Ads that Target Women Produce Huge Results

Pressures to Avoid in Ads

Women face a lot of pressures in their day-to-day lives. One of the most significant is beauty standards.

As a result, according to data from AARP, many women feel a great deal of pressure around their looks. Women under the age of 50 in particular feel a great deal of pressure to keep up with beauty standards. They feel pressured to:

Reduce signs of aging: 48% of women say this is a common beauty pressure they feel
Use Botox and fillers: 44%
Accentuate their features: 43%
Be fit: 34%
Be thin: 33%

Some advertisers may think that these pressures are the perfect things to push in their TV ads, but women don’t feel that way.

Women Respond More to Inclusive Ads

Women don’t want TV ads targeting them to encourage them to meet the pressures of today’s beauty standards. And they don’t want those ads to feature women who are prime examples of those standards. Instead, they want to see more inclusive ads.

Ads that feature women of all shapes, sizes and skin tones are ones that women:

Find these ads refreshing: 35% of women agree (especially those over age 50 at 40%)
Love: 33% (especially women under 50 at 40%)

Only 8% of women say that they don’t notice when brands use inclusive ads.

Overall, 74% of women say that it’s important for women to be presented authentically in media.

There is Work to be Done

The problem is that most women don’t see themselves in today’s media. Only 5% of women under the age of 50 say they see themselves in today’s media all the time. 42% say they sometimes do and 51% say they rarely or never do. And it only gets worse as they get older.

Only 1% of women over age 50 say they see themselves in today’s media all the time. 30% say they sometimes see themselves, but most (68%) say they rarely or never do.

Brands have some work to do on their TV ads to make women feel included.

Inclusive Ads Boost Sales

Taking the time to make your client’s TV ads more inclusive will be well worth the effort. According to AARP:

76% of women are more likely to buy from brands that feature people their age in ads
74% say their likelihood of making purchases from brands increase when the brand features people with different body types in their ads
72% are more likely to buy from brands that have a mix of ages in their ads
65% will be more likely to make purchases from brands that feature a mix of cultures and backgrounds in their ads

And women notice when brands don’t use inclusive ads. When brands’ ads aren’t inclusive, 27% of women are much less likely to make purchases from them. Another 42% are somewhat less likely to make purchases from them.

Don’t let your client’s inclusivity efforts fall short with the messaging they use in their TV ads. Women are becoming increasingly more empathetic for each other. If your client’s brand makes women feel as if they need to conform to today’s standards to be beautiful, women probably won’t respond well to that message. Instead, focus on highlighting their natural beauty.

To get the demographic information on your client’s target audience you need to make their TV ads more inclusive, check out their profile on AudienceSCAN on AdMall by SalesFuel.

Photo by: Omar Lopez