Gender Equality Shopping Bags

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How to address Young Modern Performers with stylish material

Cake base

1st step – Choosing the medium

We decided to choose a cotton bag as a medium for our campaign. The cotton bags can be used for shopping (and therefore are environmentally friendly), so the message stays visible for the lifetime of the cotton bag. If worn in public, an attractive or interesting design can also draw attention.

2nd step – The design

First, we got together to brainstorm about the message and the form in which we would get it to our target group. We decided that it would be a good idea to communicate the problem that women are facing here as well (though in a different form) in a rather funny, not too serious way. Therefore we came up with an idea of a design that would picture a European businesswoman carrying a barrel of water on her head with a text: 'With a barrel for water or a handbag to a meeting?' We wanted to suggest what a woman would do if she had her choice and also to point out that even though women in the Czech Republic are encountering a gender pay gap, the position of women in the South is much more severe. We had a designer come up with various designs and we chose one of them.

3rd step – Printing the design

In the meanwhile we looked for a company that would print our design on the bags. We wanted to have organic cotton bags, so that they would be environmentally sustainable, and we also wanted bags of good quality that would be durable. The bags were printed with following design.

TRANSLATION: With a barrel for water or with a handbag to a meeting. Enforce gender equality.

4th step – Getting in contact with the retailers

We contacted various boutiques and fashion chains about the possibility of giving away our bags with a purchase to the members of the target group. However, we did not get responses from the big retailers. We found out that personal contact in the smaller boutiques worked out much better. Also, the smaller boutiques are not so busy and the staff has more time to talk to the customers. Finally we reached agreement with four fashion boutiques and one upmarket shop with baby accessories. This turned out to be a good choice: in the Czech Republic the members of our target group tend to have their babies in their early thirties, so that some of them can be already mothers.