Where Are All the Women? Men Overwhelmingly Took the Cannes Stage to Accept Awards

At the final awards ceremony of Cannes Lions on Friday, June 21, agency and marketing professionals from around the world took the stage to honor some of advertising’s best work. But aside from the glittering trophies and celebrations, something else was on display that night: the industry’s gender imbalance. 

Alltold, an artificial intelligence company with tools that measure inclusion in advertising and media, analyzed 24 images of winners accepting awards on the last night of Cannes through an AI-powered program that identifies gender expression. With the exception of three winners—WPP, Coca-Cola and Ogilvy—the images ADWEEK and Alltold analyzed contained the full group of people who went on stage.

The result: 69% of people who accepted awards on stage were identified as men. The analysis found that in 19 of the 24 images, more men than women went on stage. Eight of the winning groups that sent at least eight people on stage featured a makeup of at least 75% men.

A number of industry sources familiar with the chaos that happens while shepherding large groups of people from winning agencies or brands onto the stage cautioned that the images aren’t always the best gauge of individual companies’ efforts to be inclusive on stage. They cited factors out of an agency’s control that include inviting clients, where the makeup of those clients cannot be controlled, on stage; which employees stick around through Friday night; and who actually decides to come on stage when given the opportunity.

That said, agencies should be reviewing their entire Cannes planning process from the early discussions about who will go, through who will stick around to potentially take the stage and represent the agency. One source, who wished to remain anonymous, told ADWEEK that if an agency plans properly, it can counteract any factors out of its control to ensure it doesn’t put an extremely imbalanced group on stage.

The sources also added that the broader trend is notable as the analysis is reflective of the industry’s gender makeup as a whole. Women, who before the pandemic comprised half of advertising, media and adtech employees, now make up only 37%, according to 2023 data from nonprofit organization She Runs It. Additionally, the most recent data from the 3% Movement shows only 29% of the industry’s creative directors are women.

“According to The 4A’s Diversity survey—we are seeing an increase in female representation overall, accounting for 61.22% of all surveyed last year. The industry is continuing to make inroads in diversifying the talent mix but we can always do better,” Marla Kaplowitz, CEO of the 4A’s told ADWEEK.

A wider problem

Though Alltold’s analysis is only one indicator of the demographics in advertising’s workforce, the images of people accepting awards in Cannes are symbolic of a wider issue of gender inequality that has plagued the industry for a long time, said Cindy Gallop, consultant and founder and CEO of MakeLoveNotPorn.

“It doesn’t take AI for anyone to look around us and go, ‘Nothing’s changing in the industry on this front,’” Gallop told ADWEEK. “Overall, women’s experiences at Cannes Lions demonstrate how much our industry still doesn’t feature gender equality in leadership and creative departments.”

Gallop also pointed out that “what we see represented on stage at Cannes Lions has a lot to do with who gets to go to Cannes Lions” and access industry opportunities and networks. 

“[Who goes to Cannes] often shows who is in favor with the creative director or leadership, and who [companies] are willing to spend money on bringing to Cannes,” she continued. 

Gallop, who was jury president for Glass: The Lion for Change this year, said she and the jury also observed gender dynamics at play in the shortlist presentations for that category, which recognizes work that addresses issues of gender inequality and prejudice.

Most shortlisted Glass entries had two presenters on stage before the jury, and in cases where it was one woman and one man from the agency or brand team, Gallop recalled “gender dynamics at play that were the opposite of what the entry was designed to achieve, such as the man taking more of the spotlight, being a lot louder and more vocal, talking over the woman, or the woman deferring to the man to check whether she was allowed to speak.”

“What was clear in the presentations was that all of these wonderful campaigns and work our industry is doing to make gender equality happen in the world at large are not reflected by the embrace of gender equality in the industry,” Gallop said.

Cannes Lions is considered the most prestigious gathering of advertising and marketing professionals, and its awards set a benchmark for the industry’s output. It is also a place for dealmaking and networking, with recognition at Cannes often leading to career or business opportunities for attendees. 

The need to open up access for underrepresented and emerging talent at Cannes, whose delegate and awards entry fees increased last year, has been an ongoing discussion. Last year, festival organizers introduced a scholarship giving 10 fully paid places at the Cannes Lions Brand Marketers and Creative Academies. 

How Alltold’s analysis works

Alltold’s platform uses a person detection algorithm to identify the people in images or videos. It then annotates each person along a set of identity dimensions, such as age, skin tone, visible disability or sexual orientation. In this case, the detection tool only analyzed gender expression before aggregating the results and generating statistics. 

Because it bills itself as a responsible AI company, Alltold built its platform with experts and advocacy groups. It collaborated with LGBTQ+ advocacy organization GLAAD to develop its gender expression scale, which spans feminine, masculine and gender nonconforming identities. 

In some cases, person detection algorithms can miss people or find it impossible to make an annotation, so those were excluded from Alltold’s analysis.