The Ugly Stereotypes of Women in Leadership
In real life, women are amazing leaders, though they don’t have enough changes to prove it. Women make companies more productive. They bring variety, insight and new ideas to the table. So why is it, as we’ve explored in the past few weeks, that women are 50% of the population but only 17% of the national leaders and 3% of the CEOs? You can’t be what you can’t see. The Geena Davis institute on Gender in Media recently found that in G and PG movies, very few female characters have any occupation whatsoever. These are the films targeted at the youngest members of our society,...
Read MoreWhat Media Teach Us About Women in Leadership
Why have women made so little gains since the feminist movement first launched decades ago? Everyday workplace issues are key, but at the root of the problem is one of our society’s most powerful institutions: the media. In our first story on women in leadership, we shared a pretty extreme statistic: women hold only 3% of powerful positions in mainstream media, which encompasses film, TV, publishing, and advertising. That means that 97% of the messages we see and hear about how women should look, act and think (or not) are created by men. What stories and messages is the average teen...
Read MoreZero Moment of Truth
Google published a book called the Zero Moment of Truth that opened my eyes to how pervasive mobile technology is during the purchasing process of consumers. I think about how relevant it is in my own life and it is suprising how seamlessly it has integrated into my own consumer behavior. For instance, during class I saw a student wearing Tom’s shoes. I liked them. Instead of asking her about them, I went on my phone and searched for the brand, the cost of shoes, the color options. Later, I asked my roommate. Word of mouth and search was engrained in my decision making process. And I...
Read MorePin It! Pin What?
The newest trend among many females is pinning. It is so popular that in February the website Pinterest saw a 103 million visits to its site. It is a site that allows its members to pin images, recipes, articles and images to their pinboards. Think of a virtual cork board. Those who follow the user can repin the image to share it with others. These repinned items are linked to the original source. This drives traffic to these unique sites. It is simple and provides a unique online experience that seems to encapsulate the power of word of mouth communication. Bloggers and local businesses are...
Read MoreQR Decoded
I started my inquiry into the QR code when I started to see it on the doors of the Communication Studies Dept. at Canisius, then one at the mall, and now I have made one for this blog. With an app on your iPhone or Blackberry, you can scan this barcode and it connects the user to information, websites, assists with point-of-sale transactions and more. Really, the sky is the limit. The implications for what this code means for marketers is exciting, and relatively new. The QR code was created in Japan, where widespread adoption has occurred since it was developed by Denso Wave in 1994. It...
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