Does the Charging Bull have reason to fear the Fearless Girl?

The ‘Fearless Girl’ statue (in front of the Wall Street Charging Bull ) promoting  gender diversity is probably one of the most impactful ideas this year. A symbol of feminist strength and leadership; Fearless Girl was commissioned by investment firm State Street Global Advisors(SSGA) as an advertisement to promote the first year of its Gender Diverse Index ETF Fund which comprises gender-diverse companies that have a higher percentage of women among their senior leadership. The plaque below the statue states, "Know the power of women in leadership. SHE makes a difference," with "SHE" being both a descriptive pronoun and the fund's NASDAQ ticker symbol. The idea of a Fearless Girl standing up to a much larger statue of the famous Wall Street Bull meant to send a message about workplace gender diversity and encourage companies to recruit more women to their boards.

While the idea hits home hard and has created worldwide awareness for the cause and the product being advertised, what it also does at some level is to paint the charging bull as an obstacle . Both State Street and the artist who created the sculpture say  that the installation is non-confrontational. Infact State Street claims it has been placed there to be a partner to the bull, to represent the power of women.

But will visitors decode it that way?

When commissioned, the idea of the charging bull itself was to project optimism and strength amid adversity. After all the phrase ‘bullish’ is an adjective for hope and buoyancy. The time preceding the sculpture’s creation in the late 80’s was turbulent for the stock markets and included the ‘Black Monday’ crash of 1987. It was planted under cover of night, guerrilla-style, in front of the stock exchange and ever since has stood as a symbol of energy and resilience.

However; with the financial crisis of 2008, the image of Wall Street has taken a bit of a beating.  While for many the bull continues to be a positive symbol ; as a tangible representation of the stock markets, it has also had to bear the brunt of confrontationist inequality movements like Occupy Wall Street (see poster) .

By being placed right in front of it, has the Fearless Girl in effect repositioned the Charging Bull as an adversary to be overcome rather than as a symbol of optimism?

I hope not.

Disclaimer : Views are personal and an observation on communication decoding. They are not meant to question either the impact of the ‘Fearless Girl’ campaign or the cause of Gender Diversity

Published in Economic Times- BRAND EQUITY on 2nd August 2017