Mars, Incorporated has published key findings of a comprehensive audit of representation in its global advertising. Mars – the global pet care, food and confectionery business known for its suite of iconic brands like Pedigree, Ben’s Original, M&M’S, Royal Canin and Snickers – has partnered with the Geena Davis Institute (GDI) on Gender in the Media since 2018 to help the business measure representation and address bias in its marketing.
Madeline Di Nonno, President & CEO, Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, said: “We are proud of our partnership with Mars and their commitment to taking a systematic approach to instituting diversity, equity and inclusion across their iconic brands and being transparent and accountable. There is more for the industry to do, but having data and insights, to measure and establish goals, is critical for progress.”
The research found that the business has made positive progress to increase representation and more specifically, female characters in its advertising, who made up 45% of characters last year. This is an increase of 11 percentage points since Mars first started auditing gender representation in 2018. The report also included other key statistics, so please see Mars’ press release for details.
