“The unconscious bias might be just as dangerous so a lot of corporations are going through training at all levels,” added Lorraine Hack, partner of the global executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles.

Hack, one of the speakers at the Nov. 28 event, which was hosted by the Gabelli School of Business, said recently many businesses have begun reviewing “blind” or anonymous resumes to boost diversity. “It’s hard to change the model so we’re trying to change pieces of it at a time.”

Still, there are a few steps that women can take to bring themselves closer to the C-suite. In her talk, which was focused on moving toward action, Hack suggested that women expand their network beyond their industry and function, seek out mentors and sponsors, and join a corporate or nonprofit board to gain experience in governance. She also encouraged attendees to remain supportive of each other throughout their journeys up the corporate ladder.

“It’s [about]pulling the next generation up behind us,” she said.

Some companies like Kantar, the data investment management division of WPP, have leveraged their talent pool through mentoring programs that pairs senior-level leaders with high potential women who are on track to become leaders in the future.

“We have metrics to make sure we’re making considerable progress in that area,” said Lynnette Cooke, Global CEO of Kantar Health, who participated in a panel discussion with her colleague Mary Ann Packo, CEO of Kantar Gold Rush.

A social and economic issue

Others argued that conversations about diversity and inclusion should transcend the boardroom.

“If we’re going to talk about gender equality in the workplace, it needs to start earlier than the workplace, and we have a role in that,” said Dawn Lerman, Ph.D., professor of marketing and associate dean of graduate studies at the Gabelli School.

Beyond recruitment, Shelley Zalis, CEO of the Female Quotient, believes companies can help to advance women by celebrating feminine and masculine archetypes— both of which contributes to successful leadership.

She said gender equality is a social and economic issue—not a “female issue.”

“One of the things that we have to acknowledge is that gender equality is all of our issues,” said Zalis. “Modern feminism must include men. We are all in this together.”

“Gender Equality: Your Career, Your Future” was sponsored by Kantar, Oracle, and Twitter.

Timothy Malefyt, Ph.D., clinical associate professor of marketing at the Gabelli School of Business, said this was both by design and surprising.

“Super Bowl ads are different from normal ads. A company’s not going to present their regular-material ad. They’re spending nearly $5 million for 30 seconds, so they really want to have an effect; they really want to come on strong,” he said.

“They’re going to typically work on emotions, and they’re going to come up with something that’s provocative or humorous that makes you think of the brand in a new way.”

We sat with Malefyt for some good old-fashioned “Monday morning quarterbacking” on advertising’s biggest night of the year. Take a listen:

Full transcript below:

Patrick Verel: I feel like everybody talks about, “Oh, what was your favorite ad? What was the one you didn’t like the most?” I wonder for you, which one do you think was the most effective ad?

Timothy Malefyt: The Skittles ad was very clever. The guy … Romance your Skittles, and he was outside throwing Skittles, trying to get the girl’s attention, and the whole family, and a robber, and a police, and everyone else are taking advantage of that.

Another humorous ad was the Spuds MacKenzie. They’re really bringing him back, the ghost of Spuds MacKenzie, because he’s been gone for what, 10, 15 years now? We saw a powerful ad by Airbnb that said, “We all belong. We believe that no matter who you are, where you’re from, or who you love, or who you worship, we all belong.”

Patrick Verel: What are the ones that you felt like they were trying too hard, they were too kind of quote-unquote Super Bowl commercials?

Timothy Malefyt: I think some of the car ads were less memorable, although the Buick ad was clever. If your kid turned into another person, a super star, but that then again seemed it was borrowing from the Snickers ad that was famous years ago. Snickers tried an ad, trying to do something live, Snickers Live. That kind of fell flat. You remember that? The Snickers? This is live?

Patrick Verel: Oh, yeah, everything fell apart or something?

Timothy Malefyt: And everything fell apart. This is you when you’re hungry, and it didn’t quite get it. I think it tried. The idea was great, but it didn’t come across that well.

Patrick Verel: Yeah, yeah, I can see what you mean. When it was over, you’re just kind of like, “Wait, what did I just watch?”

Timothy Malefyt: I had to rewind it on the Tivo.

Patrick Verel: Is there one in particular that you felt really captured the zeitgeist of the mood of the country right now?

Timothy Malefyt: The strongest one, the 84 Lumber, which really showed a woman and her daughter, clearly Mexican immigrants, trying to make it to America. That was most powerful, and I think it was very reactive. People either really liked that or were against it. In fact, they had to continue this and I understand the rest of the story is that they’re in Mexico and they encounter a wall. There is a wall, but then there is a door in the wall, and they enter the door, and that’s kind of the saving grace.

But people in the Super Bowl tried to access this website and I guess it crashed, so they couldn’t get on. So I think there is a mood of expressing unity, diversity, we’re all together with this, from Coca-Cola to Airbnb, these really big campaigns were really trying to drive against that.

Patrick Verel: That 84 ad’s fascinating because it was like a lot of people sort of seeing in that ad what they wanted to see because the people who are favored one way focused on the wall, and then people who are feeling the other way focused on, but the wall has a door in it.

Timothy Malefyt: That’s a good way of putting that. I think you’re right, and I think that’s why it was very polarizing. Some people were really cheering that on, and other people were saying, “We need the wall.” So people took both sides out of it. Maybe that’s where commercials that are most provocative get people to react in some way.

The Audi ad was really interesting. The Audi ad for equal pay. That was surprising for a car ad because most of the other car ads were either humorous, the Buick ad, or kind of showing performance. But the Audi ad had a strong social message and talked about gender equality or inequality I should say. I thought it would not be good for the car. It would not be relevant for the car commercial, had it not had the girl in the car, the toy car, racing against other boys and showing her competitive spirit. She really is one who would be out there in the world, and one that a father could be proud of in succeeding. This message was that gender inequality still exists and he’s hoping for change that will come and perhaps Audi is a part of that.

Patrick Verel: Was there anything from last night that genuinely surprised or shocked you?

Timothy Malefyt: No. I think this year, the ads were really relevant and were trying to push some buttons and provoke. There was nothing really out of place, nothing really great or really bad. They went with the whole mood of the country. I thought this is a good representation of really what you’d expect in high quality Super Bowl ads.

That question is at the heart of Dr. Fran Blumberg’s newly-published Advertising to Children: New Directions, New Media (Palgrave-MacMillan, 2014), which was co-edited by Drs. Barrie Gunter (University of Leicester, U.K.), Mark Blades, and Caroline Oates (both University of Sheffield, U.K.).

“Vulnerable audiences, such as kids, may not be aware that they are being subjected to advertising,” said Blumberg, an associate professor in the Graduate School of Education. “[It’s now] another aspect of the child’s environment that they are increasingly exposed to which probably requires their understanding of the goal of marketers — that is, that they want you to buy their product and may make false claims or present unrealistic imagery associated with their product to make it desirable.”

Because of this increased exposure, especially to new “stealth techniques” that target youth, there is an urgent need to study how advertising affects development, Blumberg said. And yet, despite this growing need, there is a dearth of information about the impact of new-age advertising on kids.

“The goal of the text is to understand the factors that contribute to children’s understanding of advertising, and elucidate at which point in [their growth]that [they develop an]understanding of advertising messages,” she said.

The book covers an array of topics surrounding children and advertising, including how children are affected by advertising for food and alcohol products, whether children are developmentally capable of identifying messages as persuasive, and what parents and educators can do to teach kids to become more critical of advertisements.

The book also discusses the ramifications of “stealth advertising,” such as embedded commercial messages in television shows and new forms of media that influence children without their conscious awareness. An example of the latter is the practice of “advergaming,” or the use video games to promote products or services — for instance, a cereal company that makes a game involving collecting pieces of the cereal for points.

“The message [in the book]is that children and adolescents… may be best served through media literacy, which includes understanding the persuasive intent of advertising and advertisers,” Blumberg said.

“They wanted us to study men who liked shaving. This segment seemed to defy the whole product category,” said the research team’s leader, Timothy de Waal Malefyt, Ph.D., associate professor of marketing at the Fordham Schools of Business. “Most of this target group disliked shaving altogether—a consumer category that was notorious for low involvement.”

Malefyt, a corporate anthropologist, set out to conduct ethnographic research on the shaving enthusiasts devoted to this premium-priced product line.

His work on behalf of BBDO and Gillette has inspired Malefyt’s long-term interest in brand rituals. The topic is the focus of his latest research and a chapter he authored in the soon-to-be-published Handbook of Anthropology in Business (Left Coast Press, 2014).

Not only did the shaving enthusiasts care about their appearance, Malefyt discovered, but they also greatly enjoyed their daily grooming routine—unlike their counterparts who simply wanted to get the job done. The Art of Shaving’s four-step process—pre-shave, lathering, shaving, and aftershave, complete with lathering brushes, premium blades, oils and fragrances—offered them a full experience that engages the senses.

“From this research we learned that brand rituals that involve process and effort can be something that celebrates the user and helps to develop skills they can share with other users,” he said.

In discussing what they liked about The Art of Shaving, the men interviewed talked about the fragrances, the skill of holding the razor at the right angle, and the types of blades they used—“all these sensory dimensions to shaving that most men never talked about.”

Malefyt said there are other brands that capture a similar sense of ritual and that are experiential, engaging, and sensorial. American Girl dolls are one example, in that girls can order a customized doll with their own features, they can get their hair cut and shampooed like their dolls, wear the same clothing, and learn about the history of period dolls through the book series. “There’s much more of a sense of involvement and a depth of experience with this brand than, say, a Barbie that you purchase at Wal-Mart.”

Wine clubs are another example of ritualistic, experiential brands. People learn new descriptors for expressing flavor bouquets and how to differentiate them. Each month, wine club members taste new wines and learn about the regions they are from and what foods pair well with them.

“The development of skills in rituals makes people feel that they own the brand,” Malefyt said. “They identify with it and talk about it with others. There’s a sense of community around that.”

Malefyt is among a niche of professionals who study business anthropology, a field that informs industries about how buyers are influenced by culture and human relationships. By studying consumer behaviors and shopping habits, business anthropologists help marketers better understand consumers’ needs and expectations.

“People think of anthropology as going off to study a tribe in Borneo,” said Malefyt. “Now, the world is fully developed and explored, but what has survived in anthropology are the tools to understand people from another point of view. That is really powerful.”

Malefyt’s research on consumer marketing is wide ranging, and includes specific types of purchasing experiences, such as consumer shopping habits in the grocery store. To illustrate how business anthropology can help to inform marketing strategies, he cites floor-cleaning products. Why consumers choose one cleaner over another may have less to do with the product itself and far more to do with individual ideas and relationships. Is the product environmentally friendly? Will a toddler crawl on the floor? Does a sparkling floor symbolize something you’d want guests to perceive about you? He says purchases and brand selection are more emotionally charged than we think.

Today, advertising is also more personal and sophisticated, Malefyt said. “Brands are not logos, they are experiences. Brands like American Girl, The Art of Shaving, Disney Vacations, and others create dialogue with the consumer rather than talk to them. But conversations require more social understanding of where the consumers are coming from, and that’s where anthropologists and sociologists can help out.”

In addition to leading the ethnographic unit at BBDO Worldwide, Malefyt is the recipient of a National Science Foundation grant and a Fulbright fellowship in Spain. He has published widely and is co-author of the book Advertising and Anthropology: Ethnographic Practice and Cultural Perspectives (Berg, 2012). He holds a doctorate in cultural anthropology, and was a dancer with the Joffrey Ballet until a knee injury shifted his career path.

Malefyt is also involved in planning EPIC (Ethnographic Praxis in Industry Conference), which will bring together professionals from different disciplines around the world to discuss the multifaceted field of marketing. Sponsored by Fordham’s Center for Positive Marketing, the conference will be held at Fordham from Sept. 7 through 10, 2014.