P&G: We See Equal

This is an interactive installation I helped create for Procter & Gamble that premiered at the 2018 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

The Story

Across countries and continents, we have reached consensus on the need for gender equality. We largely agree that women and men should have the same opportunities, but there are still many differing opinions on how to make gender equality a reality. And one flawed assumption has risen to the top: that gender equality is a women’s issue, and that women need to change to make it a reality.

These are just some of the many messages women face in the workplace on a daily basis, around the world:

Women lack confidence.

They fear failure and lack ambition.

They shy away from tough jobs and opt out for their families.

They are MYTHS. And they need to be changed.

Flipping the Switch

These myths are so pervasive in work cultures around the world, we knew that one video couldn’t possibly achieve the story we were trying to tell. Which is what led us to creating 10 videos: 5 for the myths, and 5 that demonstrated the reality. And then showing them across 40 different television screens at once.

We purposely wanted our installation to be bombarding, to symbolize how victimizing our work cultures can be towards women. We therefore created the installation so that all the TVs would be playing at once to create this cacophony that would actually make people want to turn it off.

Which leads to our next biggest point: we designed this installation to be interactive. We wanted to give people the power to change the messages they were hearing and seeing. So we installed levers beneath each myth section that people pushed to “turn off” the myths.

For the reality videos, we commissioned artwork from amazing artists who created pieces that represent the realities through their own eyes. We also casted Katie Couric to narrate these videos—to be the ultimate Voice of Reason amidst the cacophony.