IAA India chapter summit: Focus is on ‘Voice of Change!: Gender Portrayal from 30 seconds to 3 hours’

Mumbai: Aiming to bring a change in the industry, the International Advertising Association India Chapter held a change summit titled 'Voice of Change: Gender Portrayal from 30 seconds to 3 hours.'

The summit incorporated the much-needed conversation on gender parity, as seen in the media, and was brought forth in a day of discussions, debates, and research findings.

IAA started the journey last year with a research study in partnership with UNICEF, conducted by the Geena Davis Institute, on gender representation in advertising.

Taking their cue from the facts presented in the study, the industry body decided to initiate tangible change through the dialogue required to bring about gender sensitivity amongst the people at the helm of content creation and marketing in India.

The summit was felicitated by the presence of various industry experts who presented their thoughts on the subject.

IAA Women Empowerment Committee chairperson and Viacom18 head – Hindi mass entertainment and kids TV network Nina Elavia Jaipuria said, "‘Voice of Change’ harkens the need for a more sensitised and inclusive narrative in content and all the creative minds present here-content creators, brand custodians, and students-are the powerhouses behind creating and marketing that content now and in the years to come. The IAA has stepped up and brought all this learning and more out into the public eye and today, through this summit, takes on the critical role of not only educating and informing but also empowering effective change."

Taking the event ahead, chief guest MP for North Central Mumbai, Poonam Mahajan told the full house her story and her journey, where at every step she, very organically, broke stereotypes and stands where she is today. From being a pilot to being a member of parliament, she has taken on challenges head on and proven her mettle.

The first segment of the day culminated in felicitating Gender Warriors—an advertising legend popularly known as Shambhu V Sista, a luminary from the world of filmmaking, Guneet Monga, and decorated veteran of the advertising industry, Ramesh Narayan.

The day powered on to a session by Advertising Standard Council of India (ASCI) CEO and secretary general Manisha Kapoor, who dove into the GenderNext report titled ‘Follow Her Lead – GenderNext: A Study on Portrayal of Women in Advertising with Knowledge Partners ASCI.’

Following that was an interesting talk by Futurebrands Consulting MD Santosh Desai, who spoke about the cultural perspective of gender portrayal.

Furthermore, the day also included panel discussions and sessions on critical topics related to gender equality in the industry.

As the day of learning, thought-provoking perspectives, and notable conversations came to an end, the takeaways were an understanding of where the industry stands, where the bottlenecks are, and what needs to be done to achieve a truly fair and equal representation of gender in media, whether it be in a 30 second TVC or a 3 hour film or anything in between.

Watch full summit here