During the Final Four tournaments, Buick ran a series of ads that showed just a sliver of a key moment in a woman’s sporting event with full audio describing the excitement of the contest. The punchline of the ads: women account for 40% of athletes but receive less than 10% of media coverage. The campaign was focused on helping people #seehergreatness — promoting women and the Buick brand which claims to have the largest percent share of female buyers.
I thought the ads were brilliant and made you realize you were missing record-breaking moments by not watching women’s sports. But the ads have been pulled — replaced on their website with clips of the full-screen version of those iconic moments — apparently after Buick received criticism for not showing the women’s heroics in their commercials.
I’m sure that dozens of people vetted those commercials and the campaign itself but I wonder if any of them were female athletes who might have a different perspective on the failure to ultimately show women shining. It’s so easy to become invested in a project or viewpoint and to surround yourself with people who reinforce your thinking. Wherever possible, gather input from those unlike yourself and seek out feedback that challenges you — before you finalize the output. It’s far better to hear from the critics when you can still address any valid concerns.
