IAA India Chapter hosts Voice of Change roundtable in Gurugram on inclusive advertising

GURUGRAM: Should advertising merely hold up a mirror to society, or use its considerable influence to help move society forward? That was the question at the heart of the IAA Voice of Change Roundtable, hosted by the India Chapter of the International Advertising Association (IAA) at Taj City Centre, Gurugram, on 17 September. The event brought industry leaders together to strengthen the conversation around inclusive advertising, with leaders from advertising, marketing, media and content discussing the evolving landscape of gender representation and inclusion in the industry.

The room had a serious purpose and serious data to work with. IAA Voice of Change is a pioneering initiative by the IAA India Chapter dedicated to fostering more equitable and inclusive representation across advertising, media and content. The initiative encourages storytelling that challenges stereotypes and promotes more progressive and authentic narratives.

The Gurugram roundtable continued the conversation started at the Mumbai Roundtable in July, where the IAA Voice of Change Midline Study, India Advertising Midline: Gender Representation and Inclusion Trends, was unveiled, offering valuable insights into the industry’s progress and the areas that still need attention.

The research was conducted by the Geena Davis Institute (GDI), which analysed gender portrayal across the 1,000 most-viewed multilingual Indian advertisements on television and digital platforms, benchmarked against the 2021 baseline.

That benchmark matters. Inclusion debates too often run on anecdote and good intentions. A measured comparison with a 2021 baseline, across a thousand of the most-watched advertisements in several languages and on both television and digital screens, gives the industry something firmer to argue over.

The Gurugram edition brought together diverse voices from across the advertising and marketing ecosystem to examine the findings of the study and explore how the industry can translate insights into meaningful action.

The programme featured a panel discussion, “IAA Voice of Change: Shaping the Future of Inclusive Advertising”, moderated by Nina Elavia Jaipuria, chairperson of the women empowerment committee, IAA India Chapter. The panellists were Ayshwarya Sharma, executive creative director, innovations, Leo India; Virat Khullar, head of marketing, Hyundai India; Akanksha Jain Bahl, global associate director, PepsiCo; and Jitender Dabas, CEO, BBDO Group India.

Note the mix. Creative, client-side marketing, global brand and agency leadership sat at the same table, which is precisely where decisions on representation are made.

The panel explored the challenges of achieving more inclusive representation in advertising and how meaningful representation can contribute to stronger brands and business outcomes. The discussion also examined the wider role of advertising in shaping perceptions, influencing opinions and, ultimately, helping shape the culture and society we live in.

The roundtable also featured a fireside chat, “Beyond the Headline: Challenging Bias in Representation”, between Megha Tata, co-chairperson of the women empowerment committee, IAA India Chapter, and Padmaja Joshi, managing editor, NDTV. Joshi shared numerous personal anecdotes and insights from within the newsroom, including how women were brought in to cover and present “soft stories”, how she showed resistance towards it, and how it has evolved. Her account is a useful reminder that the questions raised for advertising are shared by the wider media, and that change has come from people willing to push back.

Jaipuria was encouraging about the debate. “It was encouraging to see the panel explore whether advertising should simply mirror society or use its influence to help move society forward. The conversation was a strong reminder of the role our industry plays in shaping how people see and understand gender and relationships. While representation is evolving, stereotypes continue to find their way into advertising. We need to recognise these gaps, challenge the norms that hold us back and create work that shifts perceptions and builds more inclusive brands. That is the opportunity before us as an industry. Let’s continue to break the bias.”

Tata pointed to what comes next. “The Gurugram conversation reminded us that inclusive storytelling is not a single-function responsibility; it is shaped by the choices made across the entire communication ecosystem. The exchange of perspectives today, particularly around how gender, representation and familiar narratives intersect, showed the value of creating spaces where the industry can question, listen and learn from one another. For Voice of Change, the next step is to carry these conversations beyond the room and turn greater awareness into more intentional choices in the work we create.”

The analysis is simple. Both leaders frame inclusion as an opportunity, not a burden: a chance to build stronger, more relevant brands. Jaipuria’s stress on stereotypes that persist is candid, and Tata’s insistence that responsibility sits across the whole communication ecosystem, not in one department, is the sharper point. If agencies, brands, media and creators all shape the final message, then all of them can improve it.

While the needle is shifting, considerable work remains to be done. To build on this momentum, the conversation will shift to Bengaluru, continuing the dialogue on how the industry can drive meaningful change.