Fifty shades of promoting: Dove calls out ageism in office

Simply days after veteran anchor and reporter Lisa LaFlamme was punted unceremoniously from CTV Information amidst accusations of age discrimination, one of many world’s largest magnificence manufacturers has launched a “Preserve the Gray” social media marketing campaign.

In a video posted on Instagram this week, Dove took goal at firms who squeeze older ladies out of their jobs.

“Ladies with gray hair are being edged out of the office. So Dove goes gray. Collectively we are able to help ladies getting old superbly on their very own phrases,” stated the message on the display.

LaFlamme introduced on Twitter Aug. 15 that she’d been let go as CTV’s anchor and chief information correspondent. Whereas the community stated the transfer was made for enterprise causes, a broadcast report quoted CTV Information chief Michael Melling as asking who “let Lisa’s hair go gray?”

LaFlamme, who’s 58, has stated the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic gave her the chance to let her previously-dyed hair go naturally gray.

LaFlamme declined to remark for this text.

BCE, which owns CTV, didn’t reply to requests for remark.

A senior government at Unilever Canada, which owns Dove, stated the timing was proper for the marketing campaign, which urges ladies to put up footage of their gray hair with the hashtag #keepthegrey.

“There’s plenty of dialogue about ageism proper now, and we wished to harness that power for good,” stated Leslie Golts, head of promoting for Unilever Canada’s magnificence and well-being division.

Golts stated Dove isn’t pulling any advertisements from CTV or BCE on account of LaFlamme’s firing.

“Presently, we aren’t taking any particular choices of adjusting our promoting plans,” Golts stated.

Whereas she wouldn’t reply immediately whether or not the marketing campaign was impressed immediately by LaFlamme’s expertise, Golts stated there must be a broader dialogue about ladies being discriminated in opposition to for causes that don’t have anything to do with job efficiency.

“We frequently hear tales about discrimination associated to the wonder selections that girls have made,” stated Golts. “And we actually wish to stand for change.”

As a part of the marketing campaign, Dove Canada is making a $100,000 donation to Catalyst, an advocacy group which helps ladies within the office.

Catalyst Canada’s government director Julie Cafley stated donations are essential to the group’s work.

“We respect contributions like Dove Canada’s that assist us proceed our efforts to create workplaces that work for everybody,” stated Cafley.

Cafley, nonetheless, wouldn’t touch upon whether or not it was applicable for BCE CEO and president Mirko Bibic to proceed serving on Catalyst Canada’s advisory board within the wake of LaFlamme’s firing.

Advertising marketing consultant and writer Alan Middleton stated Dove’s choice to run Preserve The Gray was a no brainer for a model which has lengthy been seen as one of many extra progressive magnificence and cosmetics firms.

Middleton stated Dove’s earlier work equivalent to its body-positive “Actual Magnificence” marketing campaign made Preserve The Gray extra credible than it might have been from one other firm.

“If Dove had unexpectedly began a marketing campaign on ageism that was exterior the context of actual magnificence, I’d be suspicious. However this suits. It’s not out of nowhere,” stated Middleton, who suspects Dove probably had a few of the marketing campaign able to go even earlier than LaFlamme was fired.

“I’ve little doubt they already had this deliberate,” stated Middleton. “However I even have little doubt they accelerated the timing of this after what occurred to Lisa LaFlamme. It’s frankly virtually as if they paid CTV to do one thing pathologically silly.”

Whereas Preserve the Gray is smart for a model like Dove, taking a stand on social points isn’t risk-free, stated Ken Wong, advertising professor at Queen’s College’s Smith College of Enterprise. Merely put, stated Wong, manufacturers expose themselves to elevated scrutiny, and are liable to being known as out for hypocrisy.

“That’s the place Dove might have left itself just a little bit susceptible. Is it sufficient to have this marketing campaign? In case you’re actually in opposition to it, why don’t you boycott promoting on CTV? In case you’re actually in opposition to it, why didn’t you make it a much bigger a part of your Actual Magnificence marketing campaign initially? And for those who’re actually directing it at older ladies, why did you in your response advert have a youthful girl who simply has gray ideas?,” Wong requested.

Whereas admitting he was shocked by CTV’s choice to fireplace LaFlamme, Wong stated the community received’t face any critical monetary penalties until advertisers get spooked by a backlash from shoppers.

“I feel advertisers will all the time do a wait and see,” stated Wong. “The factor with the company response, the advertisers’ response to her firing is it’s similar to the climate. All of us complain about it however no person does something.”

Correction — Aug. 24, 2022: Julie Cafley is the manager director at Catalyst Canada. A earlier model of this text misspelled her surname.

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