A Letter to the Editor of Training Magazine

As a learning and development specialist, I don’t profess to know much about the field of advertising. But as e-learning has exploded, I have enjoyed watching how vendors are using advertising as they jockey for position. Much of this advertising is well conceived, memorable and frankly outstanding.

Recently, however, ads from two industry leaders have me disturbed and have left me wondering whether advertisers really think about the business consumers who read their ads.

Let me start with an ad that has had me fuming since I first noticed it (Training, December 2000, pp. 58-59). Two business professionals are relaxing in an airport lounge. In the forefront is a male executive with his laptop open, looking confident and accomplished. Over his head are the words "Just learned discounted cash flow techniques with 40 other analysts." Seated in the background is a woman doing a crossword puzzle, with the accompanying text, "Just discovered a five-letter word for belly button." After I finished cursing at one of the most blatantly sexist ads I have ever seen in a business publication, I looked closer to see who the advertiser was, and disbelief crept in: IBM Mindspan Solutions. Rather than impress upon me IBM Mindspan’s expertise and savvy, I was struck by how much the ad turned me off. What’s absurd is that if the company had simply used two people of the same gender, this could have been quite a stunning ad and would have made its point rather brilliantly.

And what’s with "Charlotte, Graphics Professional", anyways? (Online Learning Magazine, November 2000, pp. 60-61). This spread features the attractive Charlotte leaning back in her chair, phone to her ear, supposedly successful because of ElementK. So far, so good. But wait… something is bothersome here, but what is it? The picture is rather subdued, so it takes a moment for the subtleties to sink in. It’s not just the way Charlotte is running her hand through her tresses, with her arm flung over her head, her one leg across her desk or her bare feet. It’s all these combined with her gently splayed legs that hits you. Just what is ElementK selling here? E-learning?

Currently, I am mentoring a bright young rising star who is an education and training advisor for a national telecommunications firm. I recalled that Ashley had been making a point of carefully reading all of the ads in training publications, as way to broaden her knowledge of the industry. I was curious as to what her reaction would be to these ads and over a recent dinner I asked her opinion.

After remarking, "I don’t like it," Ashley proceeded to make observations on the IBM Mindspan ad that even I had missed. To her, the older male and the younger female said to her clearly that the "old-boys network" still owns business. Ashley also picked up on the company’s choice of a woman of color to play the female role. Just how dense and misguided can this organization be?

When I flipped to the Charlotte ad, at first she didn’t notice anything. When I encouraged her to look closer, her eyes opened wide and she gasped, "This is very sexual." As ElementK is one of the primary vendors of an e-learning initiative Ashley was in the midst of implementing with her internal business unit clients, she was a little stunned by the tarnish this put on her impression of this vendor’s professionalism.

What ensued was a provocative discussion about advertising in the training field. As women we were both deeply offended by these ads, and felt certain that many women would feel the same. And on "Charlotte" in particular, we gave a lot of credit to the male professionals we know, all intelligent and none of whom would allow sexist advertising to influence their choice of vendors.

Then again, maybe ElementK is counting on the almost subliminal nature of their ad? And, for the life of me, I still can’t figure out what IBM Mindspan could possibly have been thinking.


Roberta Westwood
President of Westwood Dynamics Learning & Development
Vancouver, British Columbia