empowerment

This Video Makes Acting ‘Like a Girl’ Cool

Only 19 percent of girls view the phrase “like a girl” with any positive association. Which is exactly why Always, the company that plays a part in the majority of first periods, decided to enter the emotionally manipulative advertising genre of empowerment with a campaign seeking to reclaim the phrase: “Like a Girl.”

For the 3-minute ad, they enlisted director Lauren Greenfield (The Queen of Versailles) to ask a range of people — male, female, adolescent, adult, and prepubescent — to act out what the phrase means to them. What does it mean to run like a girl? According to popular opinion, it involves demented prancing, squeals, and lots of hand-waving. Naturally, there’s a happy ending, where we’re treated to an inspirational montage of women and girls learning to act like the powerful forces they are.

I’m still refusing to “Ban Bossy” or cry during a Dove ad, but rethinking what it means to be an active girl seems like a campaign worth considering.

This Video Makes Acting ‘Like a Girl’ Cool