WACL: Represent Me

Women in Advertising Communications Leadership (WACL) launched the Represent Me campaign, an industry-wide call to action, to ensure all women - across age, race, sexuality, disability, and background - are authentically represented in advertising. Despite women influencing 80% of consumer purchasing decisions, they continue to feel misrepresented or invisible in mainstream media.

Backed by research from IPSOS, System1, the Geena Davis Institute, and the Unstereotype Alliance, the campaign highlights persistent gaps in representation, especially for women of colour, disabled women, lesbians, and midlife women.

In collaboration with Billion Dollar Boy, Pinterest, Snap, and YouTube, WACL launched a bold new phase of Represent Me, featuring four powerful female creators: Trina Nicole, Lucy Edwards, Jamelia Donaldson, and Ellen Jones - founder of Pansy Studios. Each brought their lived experience and leadership to the forefront of conversations around inclusion, visibility, and industry accountability.

The campaign included:

• A panel discussion featuring all four creators, hosted by WACL’s Selma Nicholls and Chloe Davies, exploring authentic representation and its impact.

• A suite of short and long-form videos distributed across YouTube and social media, showcasing each creator’s perspective.

• Highlights of standout industry work, including Orange’s La Compil des Bleues and Sainsbury’s Tu and Me, cited by audiences as examples of being seen and heard.

  
  As a queer neurodivergent marketer, author and strategist, Ellen joined the campaign as both a panelist and expert voice. She shared her personal and professional insights on the harms of stereotypical or tokenistic representation - and the opportunity brands have to do better. Her contribution helped anchor the campaign in both lived experience and practical recommendations, making the call to action more grounded, urgent, and actionable.