New score uses AI to rate brands’ inclusivity in advertising
A new initiative called the Representation Index aims to give brands scores to reflect how inclusive their ads are—or aren’t—just as some companies are backing away from diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.
The index is being introduced by Female Quotient, a group that promotes gender equality in the workplace, and XR Extreme Reach, a tech platform used by brand marketers and others. It will use artificial intelligence to analyze elements such as age, body type, skin tone, gender expression and accessibility, its creators say, to create a score between zero and 100, with higher scores deemed as being more inclusive.
The scores will be available to customers of XR Extreme Reach, which said its clients include large advertisers such as Procter & Gamble and Indeed, and won’t be publicly released.
But marketers will be able to compare their scores for ads or campaigns against their advertising as a whole and against the averages for their industries, and potentially make changes to their work before releasing it.
“If you score 20, you’ve got work to do,” said Jo Kinsella, global president and chief operating officer of XR Extreme Reach. “In the world of AI, you can auto-generate an ad where you can say, ‘Make this man a woman with this skin tone and this body type,’ and you can move much quicker than you could have years ago, where you had to mobilize a whole production team.”
An earlier metric called the Gender Equality Measure has gained broad industry adoption since its introduction by SeeHer, which was co-founded by Female Quotient CEO Shelley Zalis in 2016. Brands such as AT&T and Procter & Gamble have said they have used the tool to improve the depiction of women in their advertising.
“If you don’t measure it, you’re not accountable. And people got away with having a lack of representation of gender in their advertising,” Zalis said. “We created a standardized measure for the industry…but what was missing was the total inclusion.”
The new index will soon add another factor to its calculations by taking into account how reflected various groups are in positions of authority.
The index comes as some major brands have walked back internal programs intended to foster diversity, equity and inclusion. Beer maker Molson Coors in September said it would no longer participate in a scoring system by the Human Rights Campaign, an advocacy group that gives scores to companies based on LGBTQ+ inclusion in their workplaces.
A month earlier, Harley-Davidson made a similar announcement following online pressure started by a conservative activist.
But the makers of the index say the business case for inclusion in advertising is clear.
“When you come to purchase decisions, over 85% of purchase decisions are made by women,” Zalis said. Strong buying power also extends across different races, ages and abilities, she said.
Write to Megan Graham at [email protected]
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