Proctor & Gamble have unveiled its latest instalment of the successful #Like A Girl campaign using its sanitary brand Always to address the paralysing fear of failure experienced by many girls during their teens and puberty.
The latest ad features a diverse range of teenagers around the globe who are facing fears such as rehearsing for a play, studying for exams and playing in a football game. Check the harmless enough spot out below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_MhsbRiFyI
However, not everyone’s welcomed the ad’s “girl power message” with British feminist and author, Charlotte Gill, using an opinion piece in the UK’s The Independent to describe the ad as a “new low” adding we “we don’t ask men to feel ’empowered’ about their jockstraps”.
“Far from showing that Always cares about women, this onslaught of patronising guff demonstrates how braindead its executives must think we all are,” Gill rails.
“The fact is that sanitary towels aren’t the pharmaceutical embodiment of (feminist) Gloria Steinem, but products to be sold, like Smarties, lightbulbs and kettles – albeit the least pleasurable of all to buy. The logic does seem to be that just because they ‘go down there’ it’s acceptable to package them as a ‘feminist’.
“If there were a male equivalent of Always, perhaps it would be more obvious what the problems are. For instance, what would the world think if a jockstrap was advertised along with the hashtag #LikeABoy, asking men to tweet messages about how empowered they feel?” Gill wrote.
P&G released the ad to coincide with new research called the Always Confidence & Puberty Survey that found more than half of girls lose confidence at puberty and half again say they feel ‘paralysed by fear of failure’ during that time, so much so that 70 per cent avoid trying new things because they are afraid to fail.
Commenting on the ad, Michèle Baeten, Always’ associate director at P&G, said: “Learning from the Always Confidence & Puberty Survey that one in two girls feel that if they fail society will reject them is heart-breaking and moreover alarming. Always will do all that we can to normalise and reframe failure as something that is not to be feared, but something that is crucial to growth and building confidence.
“Our goal is to create an environment where girls feel they have full support to try new things, make mistakes, and are encouraged to keep going.”
