Unstereotype Alliance

In this powerful MFA EX 2023 address, Anathea Ruys, CEO of UM Australia, and Rose Herceg, President of WPP ANZ, spoke about the Unstereotype Alliance, a thought and action platform convened by UN Women that aims to eradicate harmful stereotypes in media and advertising.

To do that, we need to ensure diversity across every stage of the advertising process,” said Ruys.

“Our world has changed – today, 50 percent of our population are female, 21 percent speak a language other than English at home, 11 percent identify as LGBTQI, 18 percent have a disability, and around 4 percent are indigenous First Nations people. But are we really reflecting that back to Australians?” she asked the audience.

Ruys and Herceg challenged media professionals to move outside their bubble and make positive representation a priority, starting with the following:

Go to your socials

Broaden what’s in your feed. Listen to more diverse voices – people from the disabled community, those who speak a different language to you, people who have had different life experiences to your own.

Get out of your bubble

There are many suburbs beyond the five-kilometre radius that most of us live in, so get out and explore them. Observe, eat, experience and participate in the richness of Australia.

Challenge briefs

Challenge the briefs that you accept into your agency, the internal briefs you write, and the ones you put out to media.

Review the way you’re hiring

Are you recruiting people who look exactly like you? With new hires, make sure you consider people from other communities, whether that’s LGBTQI, the disabled community, or older generations. This is the best way you can park your unconscious bias, transform our community, and bring new voices into the industry. 

Delve deeper into this important topic by watching the video of Anathea Ruys and Rose Herceg’s talk.