Audi of America has the audacity to claim it is committed to gender equality in the workplace in its Super Bowl ad even though its directors and senior management team are almost entirely male. 

In the 60 second ad, a doting father watches his daughter race boys in a soapbox derby while he asks "What do I tell my daughter? Do I tell her despite her education, her drive, her intelligence, she will be automatically be valued as less than every man she ever meets?" After she wins the race and he walks her to his Audi, he remarks "Or maybe I'll be able to tell her something different".

Although Audi of America claims to champion gender equality in the workplace, Audi's record rather seems to be at odds with its own commercial. 

Not a single woman sits on Audi's six member board of management. Looking a little lower down in the hierarchy, only 2 of 14 members (14%) of the US executive team are women. That is abysmal in light of the 20% average of women in corporate boards across Fortune 500 firms and even more stark considering BMW's 30% female representation.  

With over 12 million views on YouTube since the commercial's launch on 1 February, dislikes outstrip likes by more than 12, 000. Audi may have sparked a debate bringing pay equality to the fore, and rightly so, but it sure needs to pull its own socks up in the gender equality department.  

 

Now is the time to show Audi its words only go so far. With massive public pressure, we're calling on Audi of America to practice what it preaches by increasing gender diversity in its leadership roles.