Guinness Ghana Breweries PLC (GGBPLC) has held an expert panel discussion on women representation in the media, advertising, and entertainment industry that sought to drive advocacy on the progressive portrayal of women.

The maiden discussion forms part of the progressive portrayal initiative by Guinness Ghana aimed at working with its key partners to be a driving force in its effort to accelerate and transform the advertising industry to be more representative, progressive, and equal.

Prominent leaders and industry experts in the media, advertising and entertainment industry were brought together to reflect and spark conversations in the country that will avoid negative stereotypes and seek to depict positive and progressive portrayal of women.

The 1 hour 30 minutes session centred around the theme: ‘Progressive Portrayal of women in the media, advertising and entertainment industry’ convened over 500 attendees virtually to join the stimulating discussion.

The session provided the panellists across the sectors to bring their unique viewpoints to bear as they discussed topics ranging from, personal and professional experiences, perspectives on the gains made, challenges, overcoming negative women representation, weak  representation of women as well as recommendation to shift the way women are portrayed.

The discussion featured Suzanne Butah, Legal Director of Guinness Ghana, Akua Owusu-Nartey, Regional MD Ogilvy Africa, Kinorah Awini, CEO of Telande World, Lydia Forson, Award winning actress and Russel Eni, MD and Creative Director,Insel Communications . It was moderated by Nana Aba Anamoah, General Manager of GHone TV.

Suzanne Butah, Legal Director of Guinness Ghana was excited about the initiative. She said, ‘At Guinness Ghana, people are key and at the heart of our business. In our bid to promote inclusive environments and shape market leading policies, we will continue to lead such conversations that will hopefully encourage creation of work that is truly progressive in its depiction and portrayal of women in these identified industries. This goes a long way to deepen our commitment to ensuring inclusion and diversity which is our core mandate at Guinness Ghana.” 

“One of the key questions we must ask is how we can shift the way in which women are portrayed in this industry so we can improve the outcomes for the general population.”

“I believe this is a great opportunity for advertisers, media owners and entertainment players to come together as an industry and a make a difference for the greater good. We are thrilled that today we have convened like- minded individuals who believes in the vision to shift agenda and supports the progressive portrayal narrative”, she added.

The session ended on a happy and cheerful note with Guinness Ghana optimistic that the conversation will urge Ghanaians to lend their voices to help portray women in a progressively and positively.

What is “Progressive Portrayal’?

Progressive Portrayal is an initiative by Guinness Ghana Breweries PLC under Diageo company

to work with its partners to be a driving force in its effort to accelerate and transform the advertising industry to be more representative, progressive and equal. It focuses on the importance of diversity in the advertising industry and partnerships to support more progressive gender portrayal in content.

What is the objective of progressive portrayal?

The core objective is to lead the conversations that will accelerate diversity and Inclusion in the workplace, encouraging support and creation of work that is truly progressive in its depiction and portrayal of women in Advertising, Media and the Entertainment Industry.

Why is Guinness Ghana championing the progressive portrayal narrative?

GGBPLC has a clear mandate on Inclusion and diversity, which seeks to create the most inclusive and diversified culture that ensures our people thrive while shaping market leading policies and practices.

What do you hope to achieve?

With this initiative Guinness Ghana hope to achieve these pillars which includes creative excellence, closing the gap and changing the context.  By this we mean:

• Creative Excellence: Creating work that step changes progressive representation.
• Closing The Gap: Drive and accelerate diversity in our creative agencies and production partners. ▪
• Change The Context: Shaping the progressive media landscape of tomorrow through Media Investment Activism – rewarding the media partners with our business where content matches our values / progressive content guidelines.