Still think I’m defenseless?

More and more studies are portraying women as a perfect target for Brands. Many reasons can be appointed towards this – more independence, a background on fighting against sexual discrimination, the ability to prove themselves again and again in the work place, etc… The reasons are endless and one thing we can be sure – women not only are shaping modern society as they are becoming one of the biggest and most attractive buyers a marketer must consider when developing the Brand’s positioning.
Truth be told, there are various websites addressing this fact. I could go on forever on an article that would turn into a small thesis describing all areas of society where women are creating a movement, a change in mentalities and on the symbolical universe we all share as common knowledge. But I’ll spare you the unbelievably long essay and focus on one point at a time. For starters, let’s start with a less common ground: videogames.

Why videogames? Because it’s always been a male dominant environment. And I’m not talking production-wise but story and character development-wise. Videogames started having the classical fairytale structure when addressing the roles of gender in society – the man assumes a protective brute force that saves the defenseless maiden from the evil monster. And the maiden would thank him ever so much with a kiss. While this might sound common to you, this is blatant discrimination of the genders – not because of one isolated case but because of the constant it has become. To prove it, just think to yourself – did you ever think twice about those fairytales you’ve always listened to and think about the actual symbolism inherent to it? Did you go “beyond good and evil” and actually question the innocence of a tale that is based on the conception of roles and duties in a society that was still light years away from the woman’s suffrage movement? OK, I sound like a feminist talking, but I actually believe that both genders have their strengths, and while the men’s strength has been shown through time, women’s has only recently started to actually shine. And guess what – videogames actually helped in that matter!

Videogames are nowadays one of the first institutions that shape the young minds – a modern fairytale book. Sure, some people criticize the violence in videogames, or the fact that some are less appropriate for younger minds, but the truth is that videogames are still in the midst of the “fear of the new media” factor that Andrew Burn so well described when addressing the comic book reaction in the 50’s. Videogames are more and more becoming a cultural vehicle to describe the modern society such as movies and some TV shows. But in a more complex way, as people interact and live their lives through the videogame.

Now, addressing the matter at hand – women have definitely taken a turn for the better due to videogames. While there are still some typical roles displayed – the classical “Barbie” role that the original Princess Zelda portrayed in the first Donkey Kong videogame, the “Lucy” role most women are portrayed like in games such as “The Sims Life Stories” and the most recent - and definitely important one – the Xena role, the warriors such as Lara Croft. Sure, most people will say Lara Croft was a heroine because of the large breasts that made the geeky players love a chick videogame, but that’s beyond the point. If that is the issue, than we’ll be addressing another Abercrombie & Fitch process. Women have to be beautiful in videogames just like their male counterparts – we don’t want to relate to ugly (although Dove is definitely doing a good job at reversing those notions…). But in any way, Lara Croft was probably the first woman with a “male” role to gain the gamers attention in a mediatic way. Before her there was another strong suitor – Samus Aran, the blonde bombshell from Metroid. But, as she was disguised until the final screen from the game, she wasn’t as blatant as good old Lara Croft.

After this definition of roles, women have started gaining more and more power in videogames. From healers to archer to zombie killers, more and more female characters are winning an in-depth characterization that turns the woman role into a heroin – a new step in a child appreciation of the woman in their symbolical universe. No longer are woman just the princess portrayed in fairytales – now they are helping the men saving the world, better yet they are doing it on their own! See the game Final Fantasy X-2, mainly composed of three female characters that save the World as the main character, Yuna, searches for a long lost love. Sure, there was a lot of femininity in their actions and powers, but girls will be girls always – it doesn’t mean they are any less powerful than the boys!

I could go on with examples and portrays, but the bottom line is this – kids are now looking up to woman in a heroic fashion. This changes the way that women will be treated in the future – nowadays some companies make an “effort” to avoid sexual discrimination and incorporate women into their ranks. In the future, it will be normal for woman to be in the ranks – they’ve proven their worth time and time again in the modern fairytale. Sure, there are still a lot of games where woman are badly portrayed – but there are games where men are also so it’s the same for both.

Why is this important to marketers? For two main reasons – on one hand, women nowadays are a strong target and definitely a powerhouse for brands – which justifies the marketers grasping this target in the best way possible and treat them with the respect they deserve. They can “smell” it and they will be faithful to the brand that channels their power in the most respectful and natural way. On the other hand, your audience will change in time – be sure to know how to adapt when the kids nowadays become the adults tomorrow. They’ll be expecting you to have evolved in the same direction as they did. Just like in my previous articles about hyping and disruptive campaigning, remember to actually become your target. The Target will thank you, the Brand will love you and you’ll definitely get a winning edge out of it.