For most of the past decade, International Women’s Day has been a permanent fixture in the marketing calendar. March arrives with campaign films about empowerment, conversations around pay equity, and our feeds overflowing with purpose-laden.
This year feels different.
Across Asia, the familiar wave of DEI-led brand work has visibly thinned. At Campaign, we haven’t even received enough submissions to assemble the usual round-up of International Women’s Day campaigns. The silence is striking for an industry that, not long ago, treated the occasion as a creative brief in itself.
Does that mean inclusion has disappeared from corporate agendas? Or is it only retreating in language and messaging?
Part of that answer is geopolitical.
In the United States, the return of Donald Trump to the White House, alongside the 2023 Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard ruling by the Supreme Court of the United States, has intensified scrutiny of diversity programmes. Several large companies like Meta, Google, Ford Motor Company, Disney, that once foregrounded DEI initiatives have since softened public messaging, taken down diversity webpages or folded initiatives into broader culture and talent strategies.
Multinational brands rarely treat markets in isolation; the messaging framework tends to cascade outward from headquarters. For APAC, where DEI maturity varies widely across Australia, Singapore, Japan, India and Southeast Asia, that has translated into a more cautious tone.
“While explicit DEI language has seen some retreat in the US, the landscape in Singapore reflects a different trajectory,” says Dhiren Amin, chief customer officer at Income Insurance, pointing to companies that are building inclusion into product design and customer access rather than advertising slogans.
Yet the picture is hardly uniform. Others are less convinced that the shift is merely cosmetic. Valerie Madon, the former APAC chief creative officer at McCann, believes the industry is confronting a cooling of appetite for headline-grabbing DEI initiatives.
Which raises a broader question for brands in the region: Are we witnessing a genuine retreat from DEI, or simply a retreat from saying it out loud? And if inclusion only flourishes when the economic and political climate is favourable, was it ever truly embedded in the first place?
Below, industry leaders weigh in.
Valerie Madoun
Former APAC chief creative officer, McCann Worldwide
It feels as though the era of big headlines and grand initiatives has cooled. With tighter budgets, organisations are now prioritising investments where narratives and numbers align most strictly.
Even though explicit corporate efforts have lessened, individual self-awareness has grown, and that’s encouraging to see. In my experience across Singapore and APAC, people now drive their own initiatives; they are more thoughtful in their words and actions. Even without formal DEI budgets, companies that support these grassroots employees’ efforts still gain a significant win for their internal culture.
As financial pressures force the private sector to pivot, the role of government is crucial in providing incentives, embedding DEI into education, and rewarding inclusive practices, to help sustain this progress. Without continued systemic support, we risk sliding back into old mindsets.
Inclusivity must never be treated as a momentary "organisational hobby" reserved for when there is extra capital to spare. Such a surface-level approach fails to create a lasting impact and risks damaging a brand's reputation both internally and externally.
Every great brand is born from a clear purpose; if a brand does not serve a timeless need, it ultimately ceases to exist. Therefore, a commitment to inclusivity can be truly transformational for a business. Purpose-driven brands like Dove and Patagonia have chosen to stand for something meaningful, and in doing so, they have unlocked new market opportunities that directly benefit the bottom line. For organisations that seem to have lost their way, I encourage a return to the genesis of the brand. By revisiting the founding story, you may find a DEI calling that has been embedded in its history all along.
Ricci Meldrum
Managing director, TBWA Melbourne
Last week, my 19-year-old daughter asked me what woke meant. When explained, she was incredulous that anti-woke was even a thing. We’d had a similar conversation when she was 10, shocked that anyone could vote ‘No’ to marriage equality.
My daughter’s innate belief in inclusion, shared by much of her generation, gives me hope for the future of DEI. That said, I’ve never believed in tokenistic or performative DEI. I’m proud to have led many groundbreaking inclusive campaigns, but I’ve always pushed for authenticity over optics. Just as many brands are currently retreating from explicit inclusivity in response to Trump’s big DEI-molition, many previously herded towards self-serving displays in response to a different political zeitgeist.
All too often, I’ve had conversations that suggested DEI was more of a box-ticking exercise than a principled belief. “We wouldn’t want to distract from the brand by featuring a two-dad family.” Or: “Can we just put someone in a wheelchair?” — as though representation were a prop to be placed neatly in frame. There’s the careful hesitation: “Our brand isn’t ready for that sort of diversity.” (Read: cultural.) Or the blunt assessment: “Your recommended talent is too unusual.” (Read: size 18.)
All real conversations.
Culturally, DEI moves in swings and roundabouts. Taking five steps forward, then four back - backed by algorithmic polarisation. But zoom out, and we’re inching forward. Perhaps one day, we’ll all reach where my daughter is at: where diversity is simply human, not inclusion.
Dhiren Amin
Chief customer officer, Income Insurance
While explicit DEI language has seen some retreat in the US, the landscape in Singapore reflects a different trajectory, with many local companies continuing to integrate DEI principles into their operations and brand-building efforts.
At Income Insurance, we have taken on a holistic and intentional DEI approach - both with internal and external stakeholders. Beyond embedding DEI within our workplace practices, we also apply these considerations in our product development and inclusive marketing strategies. Our commitment is to make protection accessible through value-friendly products and services across all life stages, and over the years, we have been able to consistently engage in socially relevant business building with purposeful insurance solutions that are geared towards addressing a social gap, while supporting business growth in revenue, profitability, and customer acquisition. Our ongoing Here for All of You extends that commitment and reinforces our long-term brand value of putting people first and making insurance protection relevant and accessible.
Candice Veasey
Chief people officer, Havas Australia
Whilst brands appear to be stepping back from explicit DEI language, this could be a sign of caution rather than a true retreat. Yes, we live in a world with an increasingly polarised environment where we are witnessing a growing tendency from companies to reframe their messages in a bid to minimise political risk, but inclusion is essential to performance, culture, and talent.
Despite that caution, we know that one truth remains and that is culture is built by people. When individuals feel seen, heard, and valued, they contribute more fully and connect more deeply, which you simply cannot replace. While terminology may evolve, the need for authenticity, vulnerability, and everyday acts of allyship does not. Inclusion is built in conversations, in courage and in leaders who create spaces where people can show up without apology. Rather than interpreting the language shift as deprioritisation, we should see it as a reminder that belonging is lived, not labelled.
Kiri Sincliar
Founder & CEO, Sinclair
It can be a common assumption that in today's challenging economic climate and with budgets tightening across Asia, DEI initiatives would be among the first to face scrutiny or budget cuts. However, from where I am sitting, this doesn’t seem to hold true. I am seeing – and working on - plenty of examples of brands creating opportunities for women, people with disabilities and marginalised communities in Hong Kong and around the region.
Being an advocate for DEI is not a nice-to-have checkbox; it's a strategic imperative. When brands genuinely listen to their audiences through inclusive storytelling, representative campaigns, and consumer insights, they build trust and stand out in crowded markets.
It is prudent to be very aware of tokenism, which tends to backfire spectacularly. Savvy consumers, increasingly vocal on social platforms, can spot inauthenticity from afar, eroding credibility and sparking backlash quite rapidly. Respect your customers’ intelligence. Today, we as communicators are structuring smarter campaigns that are founded on truth-based storytelling. In APAC, where public awareness of equity issues is surging, passivity is not an option—it's a liability. I am confident that in Asia, pulling back on DEI efforts is already being seen as a critical misstep for brands.
Source: Campaign Asia-Pacific
