Last year, women accounted for forty-seven percent of the Super Bowl’s 103.4 million viewers.
As the numbers of female viewers for the event have risen, there has been a slow but noticeable change in the marketing strategies of the advertisements. Women in the ads have slowly begun to go from being objectified to represented as real people. However, last year only 13 women had starring or feature roles in Super Bowl commercials compared to about 50 men, according to Ad Age’s Super Bowl archive. This year we saw that gap close as only 9 more men starred in Super Bowl ads over women in what is now being coined “The Year of The Woman.”
The most notable feature is that these ads not only starred women, but also sent a message of empowerment.
Some of the more notable commercials included: Serena Williams – Bumble, Antoinette Harris – Toyota, Sam Gordon – NFL. While many women, myself included, are encouraged and excited to see these changes being made I can’t help but feel and notice that the majority of the companies taking these actions are doing it to be noticed and applauded.
But should we be applauding companies for doing what should have been done all along? The simple answer is no. Women are people, not objects, who deserve to be recognized and encouraged. We should not be expected to praise a company for recognizing our value as human beings.