Cannes Lions

Unconscious Bias

ADK, Tokyo / ADVERTISING COUNCIL JAPAN / 2024

Presentation Image
Case Film
Digital Proof JPG

Overview

Entries

Credits

Overview

Background

In 2023, Japan's gender gap index ranked 125th out of 146 countries. This is the lowest ever. In Japan, the gender gap is apparent, and some examples are: the percentage of women in management positions in Japanese companies is 14.8%, the percentage of women in the Japanese Diet is 9.9%, and the average difference in time spent on housework and childcare between women and men, is 5 hours and 20 minutes per day. Behind these data lies unconscious bias that men should be a certain way and women should be a certain way. This campaign was launched to put this 'unconscious bias' to good health. The goal is to get Japan's gender gap index within the top 100 by 2027.

Execution

The film consists solely of manga frames, sound effects, and a small amount of text. The reason why we used manga as a motif is it is a nationally loved culture in Japan. Gender bias is a big issue in Japan, but not everyone is very aware of it and it is a difficult topic to arouse interest. In other words, it is an 'unconscious bias'. In order to make this bias alive and well, we have adopted manga as a method of expression. Based on the appealing visual technique of manga, the project asks viewers to read lines from speech balloons in their minds. Was that voice a man or a woman? It makes the viewers aware of gender bias they may not have realized. Rather than imposing a message, the expression was devised to spontaneously make the viewer aware of the message.

Outcome

The campaign sparked a lot of controversy: the number of utterances on social networking sites reached more than 100,000 in six months. It was also featured in a program on NHK, Japan's national broadcaster. Furthermore, an increasing number of local authorities introduced training programs on unconscious bias throughout Japan, and AC Japan received numerous inquiries from schools and companies wanting to use the TV commercials as teaching materials and seminars on gender bias. The number of such inquiries exceeded 100 in six months.

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