There are more women in gaming than ever before. In fact, women make up 46% of active global gamers, though only 35% would identify as ‘gamers’.
However, there are a lot of hurdles that female-identifying players have to overcome within the gaming world. From online harassment to the negative stereotype of a ‘gamer girl’, it’s no wonder that 62% of women feel misrepresented within gaming.
This issue is magnified by the gender imbalance in the industry’s roles, where only 30% are women. While this reflects a broader disparity within the tech sector, there’s still a long way to go for women in this industry.
Many brands see this inequity and have translated their real-life campaigns for female empowerment into virtual worlds. For instance, Sephora, Benefit Cosmetics, L’Occitane, and Charlotte Tilbury have all partnered with Girl Gamer in the past, the world’s leading event promoting women in Esports. Burberry also collaborated with Gen.G to address the lack of women occupying executive positions in the gaming industry.
That being said, it is also worth noting there are organizations focused solely towards female empowerment within gaming, including Women in Games, Black Girl Gamers and Girl Gamer. There are also numerous female influencers, UGC creators, developers, and other figures within this gaming space who are doing brilliant work.
This article will showcase 5 brands empowering women in gaming through different campaigns, both in-game and in real life.
Ready to learn more about how brands can authentically celebrate women in the gaming world? Let’s go 👇
1. L’Oréal Paris
As part of its wider campaign against street harassment, GEEIQ subscriber L’Oréal Paris launched an integration called ‘Stand Up Against Harassment’ within Livetopia. The latter is a popular existing experience on Roblox that has received over 4.29 billion visits to date.
In 2019, an international Ipsos survey that 78% of 15,500 women interviewed reported being harassed at least once, while only 25% said someone had intervened.
From October to November 2023, L’Oréal’s activation on Roblox featured a training program educating people on how to safely intervene when experiencing or witnessing harassment.
Salma Diaz, Account Manager at GEEIQ, who has worked with L’Oréal Group across their gaming initiatives, had this to say on the topic:
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It is exciting to see L’Oreal Paris’s initiative to foster discussion on Roblox about women’s shared experiences, both online and offline. ‘Stand Up’ on Roblox was amplified by Mexican Roblox content creators, CherryAhrizona, Sin6n and Rociodta and has garnered overwhelmingly positive feedback, with viewers and players alike sharing their experiences and advocating for a safer community.
2. Dove
Dove has been championing “Real Beauty” since 2004 with its ‘Self-Esteem Project’ aiming to help a quarter of a billion people build a positive body image by 2030. It has launched a virtual counterpart to this campaign called ‘Real Virtual Beauty’ that aims to do the same online.
According to their collaborative research with Women in Games and the Centre for Appearance Research, 74% of girls wish that female game characters looked like women in real life. There are a whole host of negative consequences that can occur from this lack of gender representation in video games, with 35% of young girls stating their self-esteem is negatively impacted by it.
Identifying unrealistic beauty standards and an overall lack of inclusivity within gaming, Dove has partnered with Epic Games’ Unreal Engine and Women in Games to train developers, creators and artists on creating a representation of women in gaming that reflects the diversity of everyday life. This includes an online course, the Real Beauty in Games Training Program, as well as developing a library of diverse character art. In doing so, this campaign not only encourages women to enter the gaming space in the short term but facilitates more female representation in the long run as well.
3. Rebel Girls
In June 2023, Metaverse fashion platform House of Blueberry partnered with Rebel Girls for a digital fashion experience that highlighted the importance of female representation within the gaming industry.
The activation showcased a new line of Blueberry x Rebel Girls avatar accessories and clothes on Roblox. It also promoted female content creators, gamers, and XR fans. These included cSapphire, JennyBean, Jay-Ann Lopez, and more.
This partnership was successful, with GEEIQ’s data platform revealing a high female demographic of 63% for House of Blueberry’s experience.
Of the partnership, Ashley Hopkins, House of Blueberry Chief Creative Officer, said:
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“Rebel Girls was an obvious collaboration for me because they represent everything we stand for as a company. As a company founded and run primarily by women who identify as Rebel Girls, we love their messaging. This activation is all about encouraging every girl to be her best Rebel self.”
4. Gillette’s Venus
In August 2020, Gillette’s Venus created a ‘skinclusive’ animal crossing campaign to combat the lack of diversity and unrealistic body images gaming can be prone to. The brand partnered with Nicole Cuddihy, a costume and character designer for video games, to create 19 skin types across 8 in-game skin tones and more than 250 different character designs. These included avatars with vitiligo, tattoos, psoriasis and differently-abled bodies.
Multiple actresses, influencers and gamers got involved in celebrating their skin stories and showing off this digital collection at a summer livestream event.
Sharing her feelings on the campaign, Nicole Cuddihy explained:
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With these designs, I hope that all women in Animal Crossing can find comfort and representation in this carefully developed collection. I drew inspiration from those in my own life to ensure the designs I was creating accurately represented their skin stories in a way that feels real, celebratory and beautiful.
5. Maybelline
Maybelline, another brand under the L’Oréal Group, ran their ‘Through Their Eyes’ campaign in February 2023 that aimed to expose the level of harassment female gamers receive online.
Online harassment is a huge issue within this space, with 83% of gaming girls experiencing offensive behaviour online. As a consequence, 3 in 4 female gamers prefer to play in single-player mode due to this.
Maybelline partnered with HERO to invite Australian male gamers and content creators, JoelBergs and DrewDog, to play first-person shooters with female voice modifiers and fake female profiles.
Within 2 hours, they were the target of abuse.
Afterwards, these players got the chance to unpack the experience with female gaming content creators, PaladinAmber and Luminumn. In this way, they were able to talk about how they experience this harassment regularly when they game.
Anneliese Sullivan, copywriter at HERO, said of the campaign:
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It’s really our vision for this film to play a part in turning ambivalent gamers into allies for a safer, more inclusive gaming community for everyone.
Key takeaway
Though these initiatives are created by brands investing in gaming, they genuinely go beyond the average marketing campaign to empower women in video games.
Through their innovative campaigns and partnerships, these brands are challenging tropes, fostering inclusivity, and advocating for a gaming world where women are represented and respected. Their efforts, alongside the dedication of organizations and individuals within the gaming community, are crucial in shaping a more inclusive gaming future.
We asked Olivia Moore, People Manager at GEEIQ, what else the gaming industry can do to empower women in the sector:
“As a community, we must be mindful to consciously seek diversity of thought in everything we do, if we want to empower women and other minority groups who interact with virtual environments. While we are encouraged by the progress of inclusive campaigns, there is still a long journey ahead.
Beyond International Women’s Day, it is fundamental the industry continues to consider the impact of diversity and inclusion and female representation. Responsible employers must actively consider the potential barriers those who identify as women face when entering and growing in the currently male-dominated profession. By amplifying female voices and ensuring their presence at the table, we can advance towards a more inclusive and equitable gaming landscape.”
