Breaking the 'Pink Aisle': Reshaping women-targeted marketing

On Women’s Day 2025, MMA Global India launched a campaign, 'Get Your SHEconomy Right: Marketing Beyond the Pink Aisle'. To challenge gender biases in marketing and to reshape how brands view and engage women consumers in India. Given that women influence between 70% and 80% of consumer buying decisions, the campaign appealed for a shift from old, ‘pink-washed’ narratives towards modern, data-led, and authentic marketing paradigms that appropriately accommodate the diverse pool of female consumers and decision-makers.

The campaign included a thought-provoking LinkedIn Café panel discussion that covered important questions about whether and why brands continue to stick to outdated gendered marketing biases and what must change. The panelists who answered people's questions included:

• Aishwarya Jaishankar, co-founder and coo, Hyperface
• Akila Jayaraman, head – GTM, strategy and marketing, Jio Ads
• Ankita Chaudhary, co-founder, Power Gummies
• Gauri Malhotra, CMO, Bombay Shaving Company
• Ishita Bhattacharya, general manager – marketing, North and East India and Maldives, Tata Realty And Infrastructure Ltd
• Moneka Khurana, country head and board member, MMA Global India
• Shivani Tiwari, head—growth and digital marketing, AJIO
• Vinita Bhatia, editor, Campaign India

The panel discussion underlined the prevalent stereotypes which do not pay adequate attention to women’s role as decision-makers in finance, realty, and technology. The panelists emphasised the need for a shift from assumption-based marketing to data and insight-led marketing. They also urged brands to engage with modern female consumers without prejudices. This sounding board captures the key discussion points from this panel discussion.

Aishwarya Jaishankar: Brands can’t afford to think of or treat women’s financial, automotive, realty, and tech needs as an afterthought in marketing strategies anymore. New age brands -especially d2C- are thinking, solving and building for women customers. If anything we see that product lines for women becoming more common even for typically male category products like travel or electronics.

In my opinion, the traditional female-associated categories itself is biased. In affluent households women are driving a disproportionate amount of purchase decisions, it is better to take the approach of selling to the user without preconceptions of their gender.

Akila Jayaraman:

Marketers can break free from one-size-fits-all approaches and genuinely connect with modern, empowered women through their authentic portrayal. I can share an example here. I have been watching a lot of Nordic thriller series—they are fantastic, and most often the protagonists are women police officers. Their characters are authentically designed to portray their natural selves. This is unlike what I have seen in India; our women spies or police officers often look misfits. This happens since we have not been writing stories by considering how women in those roles would behave. This applies to everything marketing.

There are a few inspiring examples of brands and campaigns that truly tap into the she-economy. One of my favourite ones has been ‘Always – Like a Girl’. It moved me with this idea of how to ‘behave life a girl’. As women, we are ingrained in our upbringing to—not be seen, heard, or be too visible. This then unconsciously seeps into our adult lives; re-enforcing the viscous cycle of who we are versus who we are to be seen as.

Ankita Chaudhary:

“Despite women controlling or influencing an estimated 80% of consumer spending, there has been an underestimation of their financial decision-making power in industries like banking, investing, or insurance. Financial products often fail to address the unique challenges women face, such as wage gaps, longer life expectancies, and caregiving roles, because marketing strategies still tend to view women through a traditional lens.

Brands that seek to empower women must be intentional in avoiding reductive stereotypes, instead focusing on creating products and campaigns that celebrate women's diverse strengths, identities, and experiences.”

Gauri Malhotra:

“Women’s financial, automotive, realty, and tech needs have traditionally been treated as an afterthought in marketing strategies. However, this is changing a lot. We do see tech, auto, and finance being sold to women as either a key decision approver or primary decision maker. This will only accelerate in times to come as more women participate in the work force, find their ambitions and voice.

To break free from the ‘pink aisle’ and truly get the SHEconomy right, brands must get over the traditional segmentation and definition of female audiences. They need to start delving deeper into the multi-dimensionality of women. That will help build relevant and real campaigns.”

Ishita Bhattacharya:

"Marketers can genuinely connect with modern, empowered women by returning to the basics of marketing. Start with a clear understanding of your audience during the segmentation phase. Use AI and marketing automation to achieve personalisation in messaging and engagement. Carry out customer insight mining to learn exactly what the women consumers are looking for. Include women while developing or designing the product instead of going ahead with stereotypes. Lastly, gather feedback and change communication if need be.

Several myths exist today. The first myth is that women like beauty and fashion. The reality is that today, women are financially independent and knowledgeable. They have an interest in various fields like technology, finance, sports, and automobiles. Women love the colour pink, or pink is meant for women is another myth. In reality, women like a range of colours and colours have no gender. Marketers think of women as a homogenous group—they think alike. But in reality, women have diverse interests, and based on generation, culture, and life-stage, they change. So it is important to know the consumer.

Another myth is that women do not run the family or invest for the future. But the reality is that today's women not only think of securing their own future but also the future of their family. They understand financial products, have interest in them, and want to secure the future of their family like a man does.”

Moneka Khurana:

“Women are driving purchasing decisions across industries, yet marketing relies on stereotypes rather than data-driven insights. The pink aisle approach limits opportunities for brands to engage with aspirations, behaviours, and decision-making patterns that go far beyond outdated gendered assumptions.

Personalisation is the next frontier. Women are not a monolithic group. AI, retail media, and digital transformation provide opportunities to craft hyper-relevant experiences based on real behaviours and aspirations. The outdated ‘for-her’ model is no longer relevant.

True engagement will come from understanding the complexities of decision-making patterns, life stages of women and ethnographic insights on women to truly connect to women as a customer cohort.”

Shivani Tiwari:

“The biggest myth is women don't understand money. Even traditionally, women contributed the most to the savings culture in societies and evolution of societal ecosystems. So this has to change.

A great campaign example that truly taps into the she-economy, aiming to shape an inclusive future, has been Procter & Gamble’s ‘Like A Girl’ campaign. Launched by P&G’s Always brand in 2014, it redefined the phrase ‘Like a girl’ from an insult into a statement of strength. I loved that. Back home in India, most new-age D2C brands such as Blissclub, GIVA, Cult Fit, Surf Excel, and Tanishq, are redefining how to speak to the progressive new age.”

Vinita Bhatia:

“For as long as I can recall, brands have been marketing to women by appealing to their emotions, by presuming that women make decisions based on emotion, while men are more rational buyers. However, the fact is that women are highly strategic consumers and do extensive research before making purchases, be it groceries, clothing or high-value electronics.

Also, brands rely way too much on generic ‘pink-washed’ messaging, assuming all women respond to the same themes of beauty, care, or family. In truth, women are diverse—entrepreneurs, professionals, athletes, and leaders—each with unique aspirations and needs. To truly engage with the contemporary female consumer, companies should move beyond these stereotypes and stop treating women as a niche.

Right at the top of my mind, Ariel’s ‘Share the Load’ campaign is an example of an inspiring brand campaign. It reshaped conversations around household chores. Instead of simply selling detergent, it challenged deep-seated gender roles, making equality a part of its brand DNA. The other one is an old Airtel ad, which showed a woman who is a boss in the office and a wife at home, juggling both with aplomb, including berating her husband at work. Another one is Nike’s ad, which features athletes like Serena Williams. It showed that women are often criticised for being ‘too emotional’ or ‘too ambitious’, but these are normal human emotions that are gender-agnostic. These ads aren’t just marketing; they are cultural statements.