As someone just entering the marketing industry, it’s clear to me that a lot of the recent heated debate over the continuing significant gender pay gap has missed a valuable point: not paying men and women in the same roles equally is not just unfair, it’s bad for business.  

The fact that the issue exists in the 21st century is rightly attracting lots of publicity and causing plenty of outrage, because it’s explicitly unjust – why should you get more money just for being a bloke? It simply doesn’t reflect the real world. Women are taking on the same responsibilities as men so should be on the same salaries. However, outside of the ethical arguments, if the inequality persists it will hurt marketing.  

In our sector, like many others, the short-term cost of closing the gender pay gap as quickly as possible actually makes good commercial sense and it will pay dividends going forward. Whether you’re an agency or business, you want to attract the best possible marketing talent. This starts with graduates like me.  

Ahead of the annual Holi Festival in India, Reliance General Insurance rolled out a campaign that hopes to raise awareness of a stark truth, in an effort to create a safer festival for women.

Created by Ogilvy & Mather, the ‘#HoliNotHooliganism’ campaign puts the spotlight on an often ignored reality that men take the opportunity to harass, grope and molest women under the guise of colour.

The campaign centres around three print ads that show two images side by side – the first a colourful image of Holi alongside another highlighting the reality which often hides beneath the colour once stripped away.