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Trends and Insight in association withSynapse Virtual Production
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How DDB Aotearoa’s ‘Correct the Internet’ Gets to the Heart of IWD 2023’s #EmbraceEquity Theme

07/03/2023
Advertising Agency
Auckland, New Zealand
670
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For International Women’s Day, Priya Patel, CEO at DDB Aotearoa discusses the campaign that tackles search engine bias and explores what it means for agencies and brands building an equitable online future, writes LBB’s Laura Swinton


In January 2023, ‘Correct the Internet’ launched, urging all of us to join the fight to highlight and correct internet search engine results that bury female sporting achievements. The insight was devastating: that non-gendered online searches about sporting achievements, such as ‘firsts’ or ‘high scores’ tend to default to male athletes, even when a female player is the true record holder. 'Correct the Internet' is a tool that makes it easier to send feedback to search engines - and it’s backed by a powerful creative campaign.

At a time when female participation in sport drops off throughout girlhood, female sporting achievements are too powerful to hide. But ‘Correct the Internet’ also points at something even bigger - the sheer imbalance of online data and bias (both unconscious and deliberate). When information is distorted, that can create a toxic feedback loop - and with many AI image and text generators drawing their input from the internet, that imbalance does not bode well for the future. 

But what ‘Correct the Internet’ also shows is the way that the industry can collaborate to tackle some of the most foundational issues facing women and girls in the online world. Priya Patel, CEO at DDB Aotearoa, explores some of the broader issues that the campaign has stirred up.


LBB> ‘Correct the Internet’ shows just how ingrained and insidious sexism is online - it’s not just the really gross or violent abuse, it’s the way it systemically obscures female achievements and other important female-specific data and information… How did working on that project make you rethink the sexism of the internet? 


Priya> Most women regularly see evidence of ingrained and insidious sexism online - whether that’s in the comments sections on social media, in gaming forums or more widely published ‘journalism’. There is a plethora of overtly negative behaviour - from pitting women against each other to body-shaming to over-sexualisation – all of which reflects the misogyny many women experience in their daily lives. 

However, as assiduous, and destructive as that is, it’s still one thing to see that abuse overtly, and another thing again when even seemingly benign functions like search engines provide no neutrality. 

Like many others, I had previously assumed search functions were ‘fair’ and ‘rational’, and that the algorithms that sat behind them were designed to surface and prioritise evidence-based factual information. Instead, this project crystallised for me how our entire virtual experience is a mirror of our biased society. Even in search, the AI has been trained by humans, inheriting, and reflecting all our ageist, racist and sexist biases throughout history, and providing a pretty grim mirror to our society. 

So for me, it has reinforced how deeply sexism exists – not only overtly, but covertly in all our online systems and tools. 



LBB> AI generators of imagery and language take all their (demonstrably biased) input from the internet. With the rapid onset of generative AI, we’re already seeing what the result is - images of women and girls are more sexualised than males, the implicit bias underpins everything and it creates a souped-up feedback loop of misogyny. Are we at the point of no return or can the tech giants/AI platforms change course? What responsibility do brands and agencies have to push back?


Priya> Our fundamental ambition with this campaign is to shine a light on the inherent biases online and to ask for help. We certainly cannot change the internet by ourselves, and we hoped to get public awareness and advocacy, plus meaningful support from different brands. We hoped that by creating a feedback tool, we could report statistical inaccuracy directly to the search engines and over time truly affect some change. 

But ultimately, to do that, we need the tech brands and platforms. And this campaign is very much an invitation for them to engage in the discourse, look at their technology and think about what they could do to promote a better outcome. 

We absolutely understand it’s not easy, but we don’t believe it’s enough to simply say ‘AI has learnt from humans, so we must live with the outcomes’.  All search engines acknowledge the ‘best’ search results they promote have many factors and inputs. In this instance, we would love for them to weigh statistical accuracy over society’s inherent and historical preference towards men. 

A parallel example would be if you were to search ‘What is the tallest building in the world?’ There is a statistically proven answer for that – no matter who you are or where you are searching from – the answer is Burj Khalifa. At 830m, that statistic is undeniable. If you ask, ‘What is the best building in the world?’ the answer is naturally more subjective and that’s why Google serves up nine options as its first-ranked result. 

We would love for the same approach to be taken during a search for women’s achievements – when the question is statistically provable e.g. ‘Who has scored the most goals in international football?’ then non-gendered, factually accurate information should be served to everyone– no matter who you are or where you are searching from. If the question is more subjective e.g. ‘Who has scored the best goals in international football?’, we would love top-scoring women to be ranked alongside the men in the search options that are returned. 



LBB> Looking at what’s happening with the online/social media spread of sexism, and its normalisation among teens in particular, where do you think experts in communications, data, social media etc can play a role in fighting back?


Priya> As an industry that collaborates and partners with brands, we can all play a role in fighting back. 

For DDB Aotearoa, we invested our time and talents to try and architect a tool that addresses the root of the problem, i.e. trying to provide accurate factual search results. We believe that if young women can’t even access accurate information about the achievements of other women, it’s even harder to imagine positive outcomes for themselves – whether that’s in sports, sciences or any area of their lives. 

For all brands though, the options for ‘fighting back’ can be relatively simple but meaningful. Really focusing on the content we put out into the world and applying positive standards can make a huge difference. By this, I mean everything from diverse casting, ensuring rich and positive characterisations of women, refraining from unnatural retouching; and really creating engaging stories about women, by women and for women is something we can do as an industry.  



LBB> More broadly, as well as this online misogyny, we’re seeing women around the world face very real backslide of their rights- from Roe v Wade in the US to the clamp down on female freedom in Afghanistan. Amid all that, is there a meaningful and substantial role that the advertising industry can play - if so, what?


Priya> For most people in advertising, our first point of impact is to advocate through the brands we partner with. This comes to life in the stories we tell and the way we tell them. As an industry, we pride ourselves in evoking visceral, emotional reactions and using those emotions to influence irrational humans to behave or act differently. If we can keep making people feel – yes, feel the injustice and hurt; but also, that there is hope and ambition and solidarity out there for women, that can absolutely have an impact on a mass scale. 



LBB> For years, we’ve had campaigns designed to empower women and fight sexism and yet in some ways, we’re even going backwards - so have these campaigns really made a difference? And what can we learn from them?


Priya> Whilst it can seem like globally we’re going backwards and any progress is slow, we are still making positive moves forward. A global index in 1970 showed that on average women had less than half the legal rights of men, by 2020 that had moved to 76.1 points out of 100. 83% of countries have adopted legislation addressing domestic violence and 74% have legislation against sexual harassment. Pay, parenthood and workplace equality are still way off but are at least openly discussed and actively targeted goals. 

This legislative change is ultimately driven by public sentiment. And advertising and communications, whether that’s on behalf of governments or brands, remains an effective tool in influencing public sentiment. Work from Dove’s ‘Real Beauty’, to Smirnoff’s ‘The Equaliser’ to Sport England’s ‘This Girl Can’ and Libresse’s ‘Blood Normal’ all seek to change female stereotypes and advocate for more positive and open discussions about women’s bodies, their challenges, and their achievements. That visibility, provocation and inspiration remain vital to drive conversation and ultimately, change. 

 


LBB> Are there any glimmers of hope you’re seeing in the tech or social spaces that the tide of online misogyny generally might turn?


Priya> I think ‘glimmer’ might be the right word! 

A small glimmer of hope is simply that the theme of IWD 2023 is designed to shed a light on the digital divide and encourage greater equity in technology. It’s a first and basic step, but I do think a moment of international focus is valuable and by showing just how inequitable the situation is, there is greater focus on change.



Credits
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