A Beginner's Guide to Gender-Neutral Communications

The times, they are a-changing. 

Brands, lives, perspectives, habits, consumer behaviour and hence, advertising techniques too. The generation is becoming open and accepting of gender fluidity. More and more millennials are stepping up to support, appreciate and embrace the LGBTQ communities. 🏳️‍🌈

Brands and advertisements have the power to change mindsets and touch lives. A paradigm shift by embracing the gender-neutral approach in their communication can lead to an authentic cultural change by offering individuals the ability to accept and express themselves. And be human. Which will further take shape of forming and strengthening meaningful relationships with their target audiences. 

It’s time to move forward from the ‘for him/for her” to the “for you/for us” kind of narrative. 

While a bunch of popular brands are telling personal stories to create viral content and advertisements by reversing gender roles and winning hearts (of, course!), let’s talk about how we can let go of gender stereotypes – or any other clichéd approach, to dilute unconscious biases. 

Brands ideally don’t need to showcase a woman in a detergent, or a water purifier ad or a man in a car commercial or a group of male colleagues enjoying a whiskey together. You are able to relate the examples to the leading brands, aren’t you? 

It’s 2021 and today’s consumers are more conscious than ever. We can credit it to the impact of globalisation, urbanisation and digital wilderness. This behaviour is shaping up the new age advertising strategies - to attract and retain these targets/prospects better. While brands are now looking at tapping upon hyper-personalising products and services based on shared value, interests and lifestyle choices, they have a golden opportunity to try unconventional ways to promote better. 

Definitely agree that different industries will have different applications of gender-neutrality on their internal and external communications, products and services. In this piece, sharing my thoughts on how we can move forward and embrace equality and inclusivity in design and communication - to create a sense of belongingness - one conscious effort at a time. 

A quick guide on how you can start small: 

Here are some ideas on how to drive the change towards gender-neutral communication: 

• That one major strategy, which is an easy and proven method of attracting attention quickly. Yes, you are right, it’s about leveraging sex appeal. Introducing gender-neutral communication would be a challenge in this scenario, but will give birth to a lot of creativity. 

• Minimalism is the new cool, given the decreasing attention spans of individuals across ages. The “less is more” style of communication gives a wider scope and stronger advantage as it concentrates only on the essentials cancelling all the visual noise. It is more about expression and less about identity. 

• Mascots never fail to stand out. They are an integral part of the company’s visual imagery. They not only create a strong brand recall but connect beyond advertising and marketing drives. Quirky, creative elements could be used to build interesting gender-neutral models using inanimate objects. E.g.: An off-beat pencil could be a stationery brand’s mascot. 

• Colours and fonts play a major role in marketing. Globally, 1 in 12 males and 1 in 200 females are colourblind. Selection of a colour palette for any brand, irrespective of the product/service would play a crucial role in stepping up towards a newer form of design. The masses still associate pink with the ladies and blue with men. It will take a while for that to be red, yellow, white or VIBGYOR. Let’s say a company dealing with men’s grooming products can A/B test with the so-called feminine colour/s as their primary colour/s. 

• Gender-based stock imagery is widely used across industries in marketing collaterals. Instead of using a one-person (male or female) focused image, brands can opt for photos with a good mix and make them look more diverse and inclusive. e.g.: A job hiring post can have a group of professionals working together, instead of showcasing a male or female candidate. 

  

• Representation of human figures crafted with geometrical elements - without adding accessories, hairdos and dresses - humanizing the brand better. e.g: An engineer’s day social post could look like a geometrical human figure, surrounded by relevant engineering related icons. This would win over the stereotype of most men being engineers. 

  

Let’s add more ideas to the list. Drop-in your comments or share your thoughts at writer.shalaka@gmail.com.