What's Your Legacy
Those of you who follow me on Instagram know that last week I was in New York for a conference. It was such a rich experience to be surrounded by so many people passionate about changing the world. New friends we made, Seattle faces were friendly and familiar, and New York was incredible. (Stay tuned for an upcoming post on my 48 hours in NYC post-conferencing!)
I had the privilege of blogging about a conference keynote speakers, Madonna Badgers, one of the most inspiring women of our decade. Here is the post, which you can also find on the 3 Percent blog here.
The 3% Conference had the pleasure of welcoming Madonna Badger, CCO of Badger & Winters and creator of the #WomenNotObjects campaign, to share her story of loss and how that fuels her vision for a new advertising landscape. Her mission is simple—end objectification of women in advertising.
Ms. Badger’s presence owned the stage as she kicked off the conference by sharing the miracle it is that any of us are here at all. She opened by calling herself a miracle and celebrated her own heritage, the turn of events that brought her parents together, and the path that led her into advertising. She asked each of us to reflect on and celebrate our individual existence.
Badger shared her own tragic story that began on Christmas Eve 2011, where she lost her three daughters and parents to a house fire at her home in Connecticut. During the dark year following the accident, Badger shared about her battle with depression, questions of existence, and how she could live a life that honored the memory of her little girls.
With seemingly supernatural strength, Badger decided to lean into the legacy she thought her girls would want her to fight for. And instead of becoming cold and isolated by her tragedy, she chooses to honor them by fighting for the dignity of all women.
She rejoined her business partner James Winters where they began researching objectification of women in advertising and the effects it was having on society. In their research they quickly found that girls are growing up thinking how they look is more important than how they feel. That who she is defined by how she looks. They found that when you show images of oversexualized women to young boys they simply shut down and said things like, "I don't like that, seeing that is disgusting” to “I don't want to look at this picture anymore."
Badger then showed this image of these three women—it’s one that had previously taken up three stories of space on 5th Avenue in NYC:
Badger turned to us and asked, “How will we ever have equality when men see women as objects and women don’t see themselves how they truly are?”
With that she implored each individual to do their part to ensure women are no longer used as props and that they be portrayed as they truly are, women. She asked that we do away with oversexualiazed images where women are often portrayed as the recipient of battering and sexual assault.
She noted some people think doing away with objectification is doing away with sex. But Badger argued the opposite—that sex with an equal partner is a good, a beautiful act. However, sex with someone you see as an object, a prop, a toy, will never lead to equality.
“Every girl should know who she is is not how she looks. Every man should know that women are their equal. As women we won’t be treated as equal until we are equal. We need to think about equality and how it relates to portrayal.”
In what ways are you contributing to equal portrayal? Or are you adding to the disillusionment in our society?
Madonna questioned how different things would be if we all did the little things in our own wheelhouse to change this portrayal. She asked us all to consider -
- I am not the victim of my own life
- You can create change
- There’s nothing to be afraid of
If each of us leaned into the points above, the impossible would start to become possible and millions of little miracles would result in a new definition of equality.
So will you stand up for yourself? Will you stand up for your mother, sister, friend? How can advertising redefine women? What steps will you take to make the impossible possible?
“Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.”
—Aimee Lehto*
*Adidas manifesto written by creative director, Aimee Lehto