Finding jokes about women behind the wheel passé, Audi Ireland recently began a Twitter campaign meant to subvert the sexism.
The subsidiary pulled its bait-and-switch with the hashtag #womendrivers, where those looking for a good laugh at another’s expense instead found themselves reading about women “driving” technology, science, business et al forward, The Telegraph reports. Audi Ireland explained its mission thusly in a YouTube video about the campaign:
Women drivers have become synonymous with bad drivers. The butt of jokes. We don’t think it’s funny. We have created tweets using the hashtag #womendrivers. Users click expecting funny stories or videos, and instead find articles about real women drivers. Women driving their field forward in business, technology, science and more.
The campaign has been a hit thus far, with women in particular heaping praise on turning the hashtag on its head.
[Photo credit: Audi]
I’m going to consider it the R8 1.5, because it’s certainly not a gen 2 remake.
I feel a modicum of respect for Audi. Not sure that has…happened before? Thus, a good campaign.
I’m not sure if anything courageous is happening here. In North America the better half are the decision makers when it comes to new car purchases in a large number of cases. The same might be true for Ireland.
VAG knows who they need to address.
They’re trying to appeal to the SJW set, which is, in reality, a lot smaller a demographic than their level of internet activism makes them appear.
I imagine the 5% of them with access to trust funds might be inclined to buy an Audi now, but I think most SJW’s either can’t afford a car or simply refuse to buy one.
Maybe Sheryl Sandberg will validate the campaign by picking up a couple hundred cars…or not.
Even the sort of people who don’t go into Tumblr rages about Privilege might appreciate some light poking at “woman driver” jokes, so I’m pretty neutral there.
“A Twitter campaign”, well … that’s great in a world where Twitter really matters. Outside of journalists, though, I’m not sure it really does.
(Likewise, women on Twitter praising the campaign is … nice? But doesn’t make a lick of difference unless someone *buys an Audi* because of it.
The probability of anyone who still thinks “women can’t drive” having their mind changed by a Twitter campaign pushing viral videos rounds to zero.)
Don’t forget this isn’t about social change. And the bar for ads is pretty low: Get talked about in non-ad-space and set a mark on your win-list. Move on. If you manage to leave a wee positive impression, that might translate into a couple of people entering your showroom who weren’t considering that before – let sales people do the rest.
The idea of women being in charge as household devision makers is old. Volvo in particular has had ads focused on women, making it the one upscale producer with a significant share of female buyers (as opposed to drivers). A lot of 60s and 70s ads about maneuverability and ease of use can be found on Youtube.
See also this very in-your-face-approach to the topic:
http://s26.postimg.org/wixsiptnt/Volvo_240_260_USA_1980_advertisement.jpg