Why Should Marketers Care About Leo's Girlfriends?

 

In the past week we’ve all seen it circulating on Instagram and TikTok: a woefully incriminating graph evidencing the correlation between when Leo breaks up with his girlfriends and how old they are. ICYMI: not many survive beyond 25.

 

Leo’s Law unleashed a firestorm of activity in the twitterverse, with many weighing in on the problematic nature of this phenomenon. As the Guardian comments, “Twenty-five is a milestone year. It’s when the development and maturation of your prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain responsible for impulse control and decision-making, is finally complete. At 25 you have reached maturity and have a fully formed brain. You also have absolutely no chance of dating Leonardo DiCaprio. As has been frequently observed, the 47-year-old actor appears to be incapable of a relationship with anyone over the age of 25.”

 

Leo’s Law: DiCaprio's dating history TrustLittleBrother / Reddit

 

Rich old men dating young women is, of course, nothing new. Why is the world so hung up on it now?

 

In the post-MeToo era we’ve demanded more accountability from those we revere, and Leo’s Law is alarmingly inconsistent we the progress we expect around gender equity. Don’t take my word for it: research has shown that the age gap between partners decreases in countries with greater gender equality. A paper on the subject notes, “As gender equality increased, women expressed less preference for older men, men expressed less preference for younger women, and consequently the sex difference in the preferred age of mates became smaller.”

 

So what does this have to do with marketing?

 

The way we represent women in marketing is, unsurprisingly and uninterestingly, gender biased. What’s interesting is how much this gender bias compounds with age bias. Google shared findings in an analysis of 2.7 million YouTube ads:

• Female characters are more likely to be in their 20s and 30s in ads, while male characters are shown across age groups.
• Globally, male characters are an average of four years older than female characters in ads.
• Over the five years examined, the average age of female characters stayed relatively consistent while male characters got older.

 

Google explains the problem with the lack of representation of older women in marketing by observing consumer behavior, “Audiences respond to inclusive storytelling. We found that YouTube videos uploaded by advertisers featuring at least as many female characters as male yielded 30% more views than other videos, telling us that when advertisers make their creative more inclusive, people watch. There's an appetite for stories that truly reflect the complexity and diversity of our world. Brands that respect that diversity will earn the trust of their audiences.”

 

Fletcher Knight recently outlined the opportunity in a thought piece that corroborates Google’s findings on consumer preferences:

“Results from a survey taken by Ben Barry, founding director of the Fashion Diversity Lab at Ryerson University, Canada, found that women are 200 percent more likely to buy a product when they see it advertised by someone who reflects their age, and 65 percent less likely when they didn’t. We believe that marketers need to start taking that to heart. ‘Brands are targeted to a different generation, which makes me feel irrelevant,’ a 60-year-old New Yorker told us. ‘No one is really talking to women in their 60s on any level. I want them to talk to me.”

 

It's not rocket science – but as an industry, we still haven’t cracked the code. And time’s running out.

 

We’re speaking to an aging population that will outlive any previous generation, and women are on pace to be the majority in this age group. More than that, they control spending. Forbes published some staggering stats about age 50+ Women:

• They comprise the largest demographic of incomes over a $100,000;
• They control 95% of household purchasing decisions and 80% of luxury travel purchases;
• 82% of them are open to new brands;
• 75% are willing to pay a little extra for both quality and convenience.

 

Need more proof? Check out the “Empty Nesters” and “Boomer Women” section of this site. One noteworthy stat: Over the next decade, women will control two-thirds of consumer wealth in the United States and be the beneficiaries of the largest transference of wealth in our country’s history. Estimates range from $12 to $40 trillion. Many Boomer women will experience a double inheritance windfall, from both parents and husband. (Source: Fleishman-Hillard New York).

 

Yet, by and large we’re still not talking to older women.

 

Leo’s dating history seems to suggest that for him, women have an expiration date. If marketers continue to follow suit, it could pose the biggest missed opportunity they see in their lifetime.