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It’s a dream come true for marketers everywhere: a day devoted to the worldwide celebration of half of the planet’s inhabitants.
International Women’s Day.
Borne initially of a 1909 drive by the Socialist Party of America to recognize the role of women in the world, and then in 1975 adopted formally by the United Nations, the anniversary now plays out around the globe each March 8, a public holiday in some countries that unfolds either in the form of protest, celebration or both.
The day, of course, is also a marketing vehicle embraced by corporations, public institutions, nonprofits and educational facilities who each in its own way use it as a way to commemorate womanhood everywhere.
Here’s a sampling of who’s doing what this year to celebrate International Women’s Day:
This Bud’s For You, Ma’am
Budweiser came up with new ads, done in collaboration with female artists, that attempt to make up for some of its outdated, and sexist, commercials of the ’50s and ’60s, Fox News reports. Done in conjunction with the #SeeHer movement, Budweiser reworked three of its old print campaigns to “showcase women in more balanced and empowered roles,” according to a news release. The ads, which will appear in The New York Times, Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times, are more equity-conscious images. For example, they women enjoying their beer alongside their male partner, as opposed to having the woman serving beer to the man as in days past.
Budweiser modernized its old sexist ads in a campaign for International Women's Day https://t.co/RginXPtOZ2 pic.twitter.com/6pEfgfk977
— Ad Age (@adage) March 8, 2019
In honor of International Women's Day today, @Budweiser is reimagining some of the sexist ads it ran in the '50s and '60s: https://t.co/VvUHHZKgGM
— Marketing Dive (@marketingdive) March 8, 2019
Budweiser Celebrates International Women’s Day By Recreating 1950s Ads https://t.co/R9knuGAbuK via @JoesDaily pic.twitter.com/Dw5qAQZObX
— Kelly Stilwell (@kellystilwell) March 8, 2019
A Blast from Barnes & Noble
The big-box book retailer sent out a marketing email bright and early for its annual shout-out to all things female. Featured under a headline that read “A Celebratory Salute to International Women’s Day and Outstanding Women’s Voices,” the missive featured new books by or about notable women, from Kamala Harris to Queen Bey to Ellen DeGeneres. There were books under a category called “YA (Young Adult) Fierce Females” and another called “Empowering Girls,” with works “for raising exceptional young women.”
Pepsi Pitches in For the Female Farmer
The soda-and-snacks giant announced it had given $18.2 million to the nonprofit Care, “which will go towards providing five million female farmers and their families with access to education and economic support to help them increase their crop yields,” according to CNBC. The report said the donation was part of “She Feeds the World,” an initiative that’s aimed at meeting the needs of a growing production.
Women-driven Projects Get the Kickstarter Treatment
Kickstarter, the Brooklyn-based crowdfunding platform, is big on supporting creativity. On International Women’s Day, the company touted the day as a “global celebration of the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women.” Its marketing newsletter threw the spotlight on “special selection of projects, links, resources, and more created by and for women, curated by a few of the wonderful women who work here (including me, Rebecca, your friendly neighborhood newsletter writer. Hi!).”
They include projects like this one, shared by Kate Bernyk, Kickstarter’s director of communications: “The Mermaid Cat Tarot Deck combines so many of my interests into one that I think perhaps the creator, Mayumi, got inside my head. If you have a penchant for cats, mermaids, and beautiful witchy things, then this deck is up your alley too.”
OpenTable Tips a Chef’s Hat to Women-Led Restaurants
In honor of International Women’s Day, the online restaurant-reservations outfit compiled a list featuring some of “our best restaurants around the country (including several recognized by the James Beard Foundation) with women at the helm. Whether you try a local spot tonight or dine in another city in the future, raise a glass at one of these restaurants.” They include 21 in San Francisco, including A16 and Boulevard.
The National Gallery Turns the Tables and Looks at its Own (Paltry) Collection of Women Artists
“In a collection of over 2,300 paintings spanning the 13th to early 20th century, why are there so few, 21 to be precise, by women?” the Washington, D.C. museum asks in its email Friday. “For International Women’s Day, we explore the representation of women in the collection: the artists, patrons, and women who inspired our paintings.” The link leads to a series of videos that explore some of the women represented in its collection, including one about Rachel Ruysch, who “managed to carve a long and extremely successful career as a still life painter, whilst raising 10 children.” Nina Cahill, the museum’s McCrindle Curatorial Fellow of Paintings 1600-1800, walks viewers through a an examination of the life of Ruysch and her paintings, which “often sold for more in her lifetime than Rembrandt’s did in his.
You can find the videos here.