Audi Breaks Down Gender Stereotypes in Toy Story-Inspired Film
A social campaign has been launched by Audi Spain and Proximity Barcelona for the Christmas season, with the aim of removing gender discrimination from driving and toys. Now is the time when shopping centres reinforce the divide between boys’ and girls’ toys, segregating their floor space into pink and blue aisles. As well as reinforcing gender stereotypes, differentiation in this way affects the freedom of boys and girls to develop certain skills, and channels their interests and vocations. The advertising industry has been contributing to the divide for years, through the codes they use to advertise toys.
The centrepiece of this initiative is a short, animated 3D film called "The doll that chose to drive", starring a brave doll who decides to cross the chasm to reach to the toy cars and break with convention by driving an R8 for the first time. The story is also a metaphor for the gender stereotyping that still exists in the driving world, which starts in childhood with the mistaken belief that toy cars are only for boys.
This short film has been produced entirely in Spain by the catalan studio Post23. It will be broadcasted on TV, movie theatres, and it is already available on YouTube and Social Media, where in just three days it has reached more than one million views. But the campaign goes further. Audi has produced a limited edition toy of the car and the doll. These two toys, usually kept apart by gender stereotypes, have been brought together this Christmas to show that play, like driving, is a gender free area. According to Ignacio Gonzalez, Director of Communication and RREE at Audi Spain, the initiative “is the brand’s way of helping to promote a more egalitarian social model this Christmas, starting with boys and girls, tomorrow’s drivers”.
When devising the campaign, the company took advice from José Luís Linaza Iglesias, a professor of Evolutionary Psychology and Education. On the website that accompanies the initiative, www.cambiemoseljuego.com, he explains the importance of removing gender stereotypes from toys. The site also contains information about the skills that boys and girls develop by playing with dolls and cars. As well as these valuable insights, the website contains bonus content from the short film, with more details about the secondary toys appearing in the piece and outtakes.
From an advertising point of view, Audi’s latest project shows a new way of understanding advertising, which goes beyond selling a product, and in turn adds value. According to Eva Santos, General Creative Director at Proximity, “there is a growing trend for brands to communicate what they are all about and how they intend to improve people’s lives”.
