Unstereotype Alliance launches in Turkey

On December 13^th, the Unstereotype Alliance, UN Women’s flagship partnership with the marketing industry, announced the launch of a local chapter in Turkey at an event in Istanbul, with support from the Gender Equality in Advertising Board (RTCEK) initiated by the Association of Turkish Advertisers (RVD). This would be the second local chapter established to date, with the first one launched in Brazil in early 2019.

Unstereotype Alliance Turkey brings together brand owners, agencies, media owners and other industry stakeholders to promote positive gender representation and diversity in marketing in Turkey. The first signatories include Avon, Coca-Cola, Colgate-Palmolive, Eczacıbaşı Holding, ETİ Gıda, Johnson & Johnson, Koc Holding, P&G, Unilever, Vodafone, Kantar Media, Publicis Group and WPP.

RVD Chairman Ahmet Pura said: “We strongly believe that the transformative work being done around gender equality in the advertising industry will pave the way for transformation in other sectors and positive regulation in the future. Collaboration among different stakeholders – advertisers, agencies, the media, the academe and the public – is crucial. We’ve taken an important step towards gender equality in Turkey and around the world and I believe that UN Women's global know-how and the tools and information the Unstereotype Alliance have will greatly support RVD’s journey to transform advertising in Turkey.”

Key objectives of the Alliance include:

1. Promoting work culture free of harmful stereotypes by emphasizing diversity and inclusiveness;
2. Developing principles and guidelines that signatory companies would adhere to in order to ensure their advertising content have equal gender and diversity depictions and are free of harmful stereotypes;
3. Promoting actions and initiatives to end harmful stereotypes and discrimination in the advertising industry by creating communications that generate public awareness.

Commenting on the launch, WFA CEO Stephan Loerke said: “As advertisers and creatives, we have the capacity to influence culture and society through the content we produce. We should use that power to create work that is free from stereotypes, where everyone, irrespective of their gender, has a fair chance to reach their full potential. I want to congratulate RVD and everyone involved in launching this Unstereotype Alliance chapter. We might not have achieved gender equality yet but today brings us one step closer to the goal.”

As part of RVD’s ongoing efforts to address gender stereotypes and inequality in advertising in Turkey, the association also recently launched the second edition of their annual research which analyses gender roles depictions in Effie award-winning TV advertisements in Turkey. The study found that there is a more balanced gender distribution for lead characters in ads in 2019 compared to 2018.

For more information and to request a copy of the findings of RVD’s Gender Equality Report 2019, please contact RVD.

Unstereotype Alliance Turkey signatories

Front row, from left to right: Gupse Ozay /UN Women Turkey goodwill ambassador, Murat Mutlu /Johnson & Johnson General Manager, Ebru Senel Erim /Unilever Corporate Communication Director, Aysun Sayin /WPP Human Resources, Culture & Sustainability Board Member,  Alia El-Yassir /UN Women Regional Director of Europe and Cenral Asia, Ahmet Pura / President of Turkish Advertisers Association (RVD), Asya Varbanova / UN Women Turkey Country Director, Hande Orhan /Avon Communications Director, Melike Gorali / Colgate-Palmolive Human Resources Director, Mesut Sakal /Kantar East Europe & Middle East CEO, Naz Akyol /UN Women Turkey Coordination Assistant

Back row, from left to right: Zeliha Unaldi /UN Women Turkey Programmes Manager, Ayca Aksoy /Koc Holding Corporate Communications Manager, Ipek Ersavas /P&G Marketing Director, Zeynep Dipcin /Eti Gida CMO, Aysen Akalin / Vice President of Turkish Advertisers Association (RVD), Volkan Ikiler /President of Turkish Advertising Association (RD), Tulin Kara /Coca-Cola Sustainability & Corporate Responsibility Manager, Esra Suzme /Vodafone Head of Brand & Marketing Strategy, Inanc Dedebas /Publicis Groupé CEO