You’d assume that many of Westpac NZ’s customers are men, as well as kiwi families that include fathers? Surely that’s the case? But that’s NOT the picture you get when viewing Westpac’s website and their printed marketing materials. Kiwi men appear to be out-of-favour with one of our largest banks. In an effort to be woke, Westpac excludes men and fathers from the forefront of their marketing. If their brand image mostly excludes men, then should we also be concerned about Westpac’s recruitment processes?
This post is the first in a series, where we expose examples of wokeness in the corporate world. While most kiwis simply want better products and services at a better price, many businesses are instead falling over each other to be woke and indulge in some form of social engineering. However, there’s cost to this wokeness, ultimately paid for by customers.
Today’s example is Westpac NZ, which seems to have cancelled men from their website and marketing campaigns. Go to Westpac NZ’s website and see if you notice the blatant absence of men at the forefront of their branding and imagery. Yes there are a few token men hiding there, but it’s 95% women at the forefront of the Westpac NZ brand. It’s the same with their printed marketing materials. Promoting women in society and the workplace is certainly a good thing, but Westpac’s blatant ‘skew’ seems to be way out of sync with the reality of kiwi life. Isn’t brand image meant to mirror that of ‘all’ the brand’s customers?
Surely half of Westpac’s customers are men? You’d think a more balanced marketing image would be much better for both Westpac and its customers? Imagine if women, Maori, transgender people, and so on, are all excluded from brand imagery. That would be considered totally unacceptable in circa-2021 New Zealand. We’re supposed to show the richness and diversity of our nation, and that includes those men which make up 50% of our population.
Most kiwis simply want cheaper mortgages, not woke banks.
See more of Westpac’s ‘no-men’ imagery at the bottom of this post.
While men seem to be cancelled, Westpac Group (Australia and New Zealand) has an entire site dedicated to transgender and gender diverse initiatives. One initiative is a commitment to
“introduce additional support for transgender and gender diverse employees. This included the introduction of up to 4 weeks paid and 12 months unpaid leave in addition to existing leave entitlements.”
While we’re in favour of any business being a good employer for everyone (regardless of their race, age, ethnicity and gender), we simply don’t see why there’s such an emphasis on transgender and gender diversity. It appears that Westpac’s marketing team are more focused on social issues than simply sticking to the core purpose of any bank – mainly to provide secure and competitive lending facilities.
Westpac are not alone in jumping onto the LBGTQ+ trend, remember ANZ’s “GayTM” campaign …
Westpac NZ recently launched a new major campaign (they call it a ‘brand platform’), titled “Together Greater”, which once again doesn’t feature any men, but does have a giant furry creature that is neither male nor female. This is what Westpac has to say about the new campaign …
“Together Greater is a concept that is central to Westpac New Zealand’s identity, demonstrated by its long-standing sponsorship of New Zealand’s rescue helicopters and support of Rainbow communities …”
Finally, Westpac recently financed The Warehouse Group with a $70 million loan that is linked to ‘sustainability & diversity’ targets. Westpac NZ says it’s committed to facilitating $10 billion of these kinds of ‘sustainability & diversity’ deals by 2025. That’s a massive commitment to wokeism.
So do you agree with businesses pushing woke agendas that permeate everything from marketing, product delivery, through to financials?
