News Archive
At Long Last, Women’s Empowerment Comes to Otter Pops
For decades, Otter Pops popsicles have served as adorable plastic sheathes for freezable sugar water with no particular discernible political bent. As the saying goes: “Keep your politics out of my freezer.” Well, times they are a-changin’, and the great Otter Pop Awokening of 2018 is upon is. Today, I received an emailed press release announcing that, “The Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media and The Jel Sert Company gender balanced Otter Pops, creating new empowered female mascots to inspire both girls and boys.” Could it be that the calls for diversity in popsicles were finally being heard? Indeed: Otter Pops has unveiled “three new diverse and empowered female otters and one male otter” to its slate for the sake of “promoting gender equality.” Whoa. Read More…
Yep, Even Brand Mascots Are Guilty Of Gender And Racial Bias
Quick: name the first five brand mascots that come to your head. Odds are that most of them were male. Mr. Clean, Kool-Aid Man, Tony the Tiger, Mr. Peanut, Michelin Man, Jolly Green Giant, Ronald McDonald, Toucan Sam, Pillsbury Doughboy, Snap, Crackle, and Pop–all dudes. A new study by The Geena Davis Institute On Gender In Media and The Jel Sert Company called”Mascots Matter” examines how women and people of color are represented in the marketing mascots of top selling products, and the results are about what you might expect. The study surveyed the 500 best-selling consumer product categories, identifying 1,096 products with mascot character representations. Read More…
Representation in marketing: right, responsible and profitable
Anecdotes around better representation of women and more diverse audiences have traveled around entertainment and advertising for years. At the 3% Movement Minicon in Los Angeles, held at Deutch’s new Steelhead space, the stories have turned to real research and insight that shows that more representation on screen, whether in entertainment, advertising or business, can have a significant and positive impact. The Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media conducted a study with 21st Century Fox around what is called the “Scully Effect,” referring to Gillian Anderson’s science-led character on The X-Files. Read More…
Bentonville Film Festival Opening Red Carpet
Geena Davis, Founder, and Madeline DiNonno, CEO of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media are on the red carpet at the opening of the Bentonville Film Festival. Watch Video…
Women on Top Series:
Women on Top, an original Whistler Film Festival (WFF) event, returns on June 15 in Vancouver with Academy-Award winning actor and activist, Geena Davis. Guest of Honor Geena Davis will give keynote at June 15, 2018 keynote luncheon at Sutton Place, Vancouver. Madeline DiNonno, CEO of Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, will give keynote on November 30, 2018 at Whistler Film Festival. Read More…
Bentonville Film Fest Co-Founder Geena Davis Touts Power of Emerging Female Filmmakers
The fourth annual Bentonville Film Festival, running May 1-6, will continue its overarching quest to increase gender equality and cultural diversity in the entertainment biz, both in front of and behind the camera. The Arkansas-based event, co-founded by Geena Davis and Inclusion Companies CEO Trevor Drinkwater and sponsored by such companies as Coca-Cola, Walmart and AMC, has been committed to the ideals of pluralism in Hollywood well before the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements emerged on the scene. Davis herself has been at the forefront of instituting positive systemic change in media content since 2004 when she founded the nonprofit Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, the first research-based organization of its kind to, per Davis, “engage, educate and influence content creators, marketers and audiences about the importance of eliminating unconscious bias, highlighting gender balance, challenging stereotypes and creating role models and scripting a wide variety of strong female characters in entertainment and media.” Read More…
Grey’s Anatomy: Geena Davis books return for Arizona’s exit
Geena Davis has booked a return trip to Grey’s Anatomy. The Oscar-winning actress will reprise her role as Dr. Nicole Herman in the penultimate hour, which, according to the logline, sees her returning to Grey Sloan to talk to Arizona (Jessica Capshaw) about an exciting opportunity. Read More…
Women who like ‘The X-Files’ more likely to work in STEM: study
Conducted by the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media and 21st Century Fox, the study verified the theory of “The Scully Effect,” the belief that the influx of women in STEM jobs was a result of being exposed to the Dr. Dana Scully character, played by Gillian Anderson, on The X-Files. “That’s really a societal norm shift,” said Madeline Di Nonno, CEO of the Geena Davis Institute, in a statement. Read More…
70 of the Most Inspirational Women Leaders Impacting the World in 2018
The latest report from Business.org explores the most influential women in the United States as well as some of the most amazing women inspiring change around the world. Our team spent weeks identifying some of the most accomplished women born in each US state then rounded out the report by finding amazing women in Africa, Australia, Asia, Europe, and North and South America as well. We were absolutely blown away at how powerful these women are, and we think you will be too! Read More…
How The X-Files Helped Shape Modern Fandom — Including Shipping
One of the most important aspects of The X-Files is The Scully Effect. In 1993, there were few female characters on television that went beyond the traditional ideas of a woman. Most were wives and mothers, and if they did have careers, they were never in STEM [science, technology, engineering, mathematics] fields. Scully’s expertise helped encourage young women to pursue careers in the field. In a 2018 survey by the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, 63% of women in STEM fields cited Dana Scully as a role model. I am not scientifically inclined, but I did consider a career at the FBI when I was younger. Then I learned that the X-Files was not a real division and that was the end of that. Read More…
