Every day, advertising tells us what is normal. What a normal body looks like, what a normal sexuality is and what persons a normal family consists of. But what does it mean when almost every person depicted is young, thin and able-bodied? And who is responsible?

Yes, advertising can shape norms. But advertising can also break norms. The Swedish Association of Communication Agencies – Komm! – wanted to prove that advertising can be a force for good and raised an important question by asking a simple one: ”What is normal in Swedish advertising?”

A research study of 1.364 persons depicted in randomly selected ads proved what norms are being represented today. 94% of the women were slim. 0,0015% of all people had a visible disability. 100% of the families were portrayed as heterosexual.

Subsequently, we transformed the advertising space at Stockholm’s busiest metro station into a photo exhibition challenging what and who is ”normal”. Portraits of real people were mounted on top of real advertising photos, while a live exhibition catalogue on Instagram linked every photograph to statistics from the research study.

The exhibition rendered huge media coverage and sparked a nation wide debate on representation that is still ongoing.

Every day, advertising tells us what is normal. What a normal body looks like, what a normal sexuality is and what persons a normal family consists of. But what does it mean when almost every person depicted is young, thin and able-bodied? And who is responsible?

Yes, advertising can shape norms. But advertising can also break norms. The Swedish Association of Communication Agencies – Komm! – wanted to prove that advertising can be a force for good and raised an important question by asking a simple one: ”What is normal in Swedish advertising?”

A research study of 1 364 persons depicted in randomly selected ads proved what norms are being represented today. 94% of the women were slim. 0,0015% of all people had a visible disability. 100% of the families were portrayed as heterosexual.

Subsequently, we transformed the advertising space at Stockholm’s busiest metro station into a photo exhibition challenging what and who is ”normal”. Portraits of real people were mounted on top of real advertising photos, while a live exhibition catalogue on Instagram linked every photograph to statistics from the research study.

The exhibition rendered huge media coverage and sparked a nation wide debate on representation that is still ongoing.

The research study and exhibition generated a huge interest from the worlds of politics and business as well as in society at large. Journalists started reporting on the exhibition before the photographs were even taken, with the media coverage steadily growing up to the grand opening two months later. The exhibition was visited by the Minister for Gender Equality and sparked a nation wide debate on representation that is still ongoing.

For Komm!, the campaign positioned the organization in the middle of current events and took back the initiative in the gender debate, making the advertising industry a positive force for change. Still, it was only a starting point – a foundation for a very important conversation about the role that our industry has to play in the years to come. Advertising is powerful – and that it’s up to us to use that power responsibly.