Is doing something like a girl really that bad?

Karina Alvarez
CMST 451
December 5, 2014

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Introduction
Marketing campaigns that empower women and girls rather than perpetuating
stereotypes are proving to be hits with consumers and highly effective at generating sales
(Ciambriello 2014). Female empowerment has been a popular theme amongst advertisers lately.
They aim to strengthen females, but ultimately, the main goal is to give the company a rise in
sales. These ads have become some of the most popular in recent years and accomplished that
goal of selling more products (Ciambriello 2014). Female empowerment has been hitting home
and giving companies the results that they want.
In the following paper I will be looking at how female empowerment is used in online
advertisements. More specifically I will be answering: how do commercial advertisements move
beyond challenging gender inequality to empowering women and are they successful in social
change opposed to just a rise in sales? In order to do so, I will first look at what previous
research has been done with female empowerment in advertisements.
What the Scholars Say
Feminine products have been commercially advertised in ways that make menstruation
seem taboo, and then empower women by giving them the choice to fix this issue of
menstruation through buying their products.
Scholars have found that advertisements for feminine products position menstruation as a
limitation. Carly S. Woods (2013) discusses the negating of menstruation in advertisements
when saying it is a shameful process that females are told to conceal using the product being
advertised. Roseann M. Mandziuk reaffirms this point when saying that the way menstruation
has been represented in commercials marks women as cursed and is a shameful process that
must be hidden (2010). By presenting this bodily function as a hindrance, this implies that

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women should hide it. This works in favor for the company advertising because the women then
turn to their products in order to conceal their menstruation. Womens bodies are naturally their
enemy, due to menstruation, which causes embarrassment and shame (Mandziuk 2010). This
feeling can be eased if the woman makes an active choice to buy the product being advertised in
order to fix it.
The rhetoric of choice as a selling point implies that the product is a is a stepping-stone to
empowering viewers. Woods defines choice in relation to marketing as empowering women to
make decisions about their own lives and bodies, choice is uniquitous, rhetorically powerful, and
highly portable (2013, p.267). Furthermore, Woods believes that choice has the ability to
empower viewers (2013). Rebecca C. Hains (2009) discusses girl power in her article and sees it
as the idea that girls can do anything they choose. This ability to choose sells products because it
tells the viewer what they want to hear: women and girls are powerful, not a victim (Hains
2009). When advertising for feminine products, the power of choice comes in the ability to
choose the product that would provide relief from the limitations brought by menstruation
(Mandziuk 2010).
The use of choice as an empowerment method can be seen as negative or positive when
looking at the implications it has beyond raising sales for a company. Mandziuk (2010) believes
it is false empowerment. As she explains, companies have the real power since they have
created this belief that menstruation is a form of disempowerment, therefore, women have only
one correct choice to make which is to purchase their products (Mandziuk 2010). Haines
similarly believes that female empowerment, or girl power, as a form of advertisement is
hegemonic since there is no structural change being inspired or called for, it is all for the benefit
of sales (2009). Lastly, Woods (2013) believes the appearance of choice is neither good or bad;

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however, it should not be a choice that facilitates individual empowerment, but instead goes
further to exercise choice for all, therefore, empowering all.
About the Artifact
The artifact I wish to analyze is the #LikeAGirl campaign that premiered on YouTube.
The campaign was uploaded on June 26, 2014 and became popular very quickly. The company
Always, which makes feminine products such as pads and tampons, produced it. The main theme
of the campaign is how using like a girl as an insult is tough for an adolescent girl and her
confidence. Demeaning a female in the language we use is already hurting a girls self-identity
and it comes in a time where she is going through puberty. It is so easily accepted by society that
many people do not even catch the fact that being seen as feminine is synonymous with being
weak and physically incapable. Younger girls are innocent and do not identify with these
stereotypes or generalizations about being female. The stereotypes and generalizations usually
begin to affect a girl during puberty and can be a hard hit on their confidence.
The LikeAGirl campaign works to answer how companies are now using female
empowerment to market themselves, because it tackles the notion that gender inequality is
prevalent in our society and shows how we can fix it. The advertisement went beyond just
acknowledging the fact that the language we use can be discriminatory, and decided to challenge
it. They looked at the issue and showed people that whether or not they realize it, this language is
harmful to our views on females, especially girls going through puberty. This can be seen when
the first group was challenged on their reaction to the phrase [like a girl] and the older women
seemed shocked (Winter 2014). Most people do not realize that some of the language we use is
insulting or indirectly demeaning to a gender.

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As my analysis will demonstrate, the campaign focuses on the problem of lowered female
self-confidence during puberty, as being the fault of individuals and not the system. It is
individual language that causes low female self-confidence, not the fact that our society as a
whole serves to patriarchy and reinforces the idea that women are not good enough. By
critiquing the language we use, instead of possible structural issues in society that may relate to
lowered self-confidence, the blame is put on an individual and the only solution is for the
individual to fix something within themselves. By identifying the root of the problem within
people in our society, Always positions itself in a way that gives this solution a quick fix that, in
reality, will do little for the issue at hand.
In the following paper I will look at the professional successes and public responses to
the campaign. I will then interpret the artifact using feminist critique, more specifically looking
at it from a therapeutic rhetoric perspective. Lastly, I will evaluate the effectiveness of the
campaign.
Why Bring Up Female Empowerment Now?
Feminism Is the New Black
The rise of feminism
Sexism has been prevalent in the history of advertisements. Plakoyiannaki,
Mathioudaki, Dimintratos, and Zotos (2008) state that the decorative images of women in
advertising has caused a range of problems for women, like low self-esteem and eating
disorders which arise from the attempt to become more feminine. Gill (2008) believes
that depictions of women in advertisements have three new constructions: the figure of
the active heterosexually desiring midriff, the vengeful, sexy woman set on punishing
her male partner for his transgressions, and the hot lesbian, almost always depicted

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kissing or holding another woman (52). These depictions of women in the media have
shifted from a passive and dumb representation, to a strong and powerful image. They are
integrating feminist ideas while still keeping the sexual appeal of a woman apparent.
Feminism has gained popularity in the past decade and is now becoming, in Callie
Beusmans terms, trendy. Beusmans article What Does it Mean for Feminism if
Feminism Becomes Trendy?, discusses how magazines, celebrities, and companies have
claimed to be feminists which shows growing popularity and pop culture visibility of
feminism, thus making it trendy (2014). The positive effect of this new trend is more
awareness for feminism, the main focus being gender equality. Pew Global has done
studies that prove there is global support for: equal rights, women working outside of the
home, egalitarian marriage, and a belief in education being equally important for both
males and females (Pew Global 2010). All of these topics go hand in hand with the
feminist movement. Feminism does not just apply to one nation or class, it is a
widespread movement that has garnered lots of support, which has caused almost
everything to be criticized through a feminist lens. This includes the critique of the
strategies used to market feminine products.
Feminine product advertisements have gone two different directions. Mandziuk
(2010) argues that the feminine product company Kotex, has always advertised their
products in a way that shows a womans body as mortified as the enemy against which
she needs constant protection (58). In contrast to this, Always has captured the
attention of viewers by going against this advertisement strategy of ostracizing women
due to their menstrual cycle. In 2011, according to author Laura Stampler (2011), the
company broke the taboo and revealed that sanitary napkins are actually produced for

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the absorption of blood (Stampler 2011). Feminine hygiene companies typically avoid
using blood, or any red substance to show the absorption of their products because they
do not want to market products in a way that the public might find off-putting (Stampler
2011). Always took the menstrual cycle and used an advertisement to show a realistic
picture of what it is like, regardless of how it would be received by viewers.
Always and their audience
Always is a brand that has been around for many years and reaches a large
demographic, women. Women typically go through a menstrual cycle which means they
have the need for feminine products which Always supplies. They offer a wide range of
feminine pads, wipes and pantiliners designed to fit different body types; period flows
and preferences (news.pg.com 2014). Apart from being a supplier of products, the
company also provides support for young girls and/or teenagers. The companys website,
pg.com (2014) describes the company by saying Always has been empowering girls
through puberty education for over 30 years, reaching between 17 and 20 million girls
globally every year. Always covers the needs of girls, teenagers, and women both in a
tangible form, through their products, and mentally, by providing support.
Since Always has a focus on empowering girls through puberty education, the
target audience of the campaign #LikeAGirl coincides with their empowerment efforts. In
the article Like a Girl, author Becca Flynn (2014) describes the target audience for the
campaign when saying Always found their target demographic to be young girls going
through puberty and is trying to turn them into champions. One of the demographics
may have been young girls; however, the #LikeAGirl campaigns message was
understood by people outside of this demographic.

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Its a Love/Hate Relationship

When researching public receptions of the #LikeAGirl campaign, I found that there are
both positive and negative responses; however, the majority of articles took kindly to the video
even though the campaign has not made any real efforts to fix the issue of female self-confidence
lowering during puberty. This suggests that the viewers find validity in the campaign on a
surface level instead of seeing if the campaign inspired people to pursue efforts in raising female
self-confidence in their daily lives. By discussing gender inequality through the language we use,
demeaning females by associating them with weakness, Always is attaching itself to the feminist
movement, which has gained popularity in recent years. The trendiness in feminism has made
viewers blind to the fact that nothing is really being done by the company to change the way a
female perceives herself.
Winning the gold
The Always #LikeAGirl campaign was posted onto Youtube.com through the
Always account. The video was published on June 26, 2014. As of December 4, 2014 the
video had 53,368,018 views, 163,723 likes, and 18,208 dislikes (Greenfield 2014a). The
video has been shared via social media platforms 81,786 times and has given the Always
YouTube channel 6,003 subscribers (Greenfield 2014a).
The #likeagirl commercial has professional success that has given even more
public awareness of the company, Always, the commercial, and the message it brings.
Strategy discusses this success in their article titled Winning the Clios #Likeagirl. The
Clios were announced in early September and the campaign was awarded two Golds for
Engagement and Public Relations along with two Silvers and a Bronze (Chung 2014).
According to clioawards.com, the CLIO Awards is the worlds most recognized

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international awards competition for advertising, design, digital and communications.

With five awards under their belt, the #likeagirl campaign has proven to be professionally
successful. As for the public success of the campaign there is both a positive and negative
perception.
Those who loved it
Many of the viewers that were moved by the campaign have a personal
connection to the message of using #likeagirl as an insult. The director of the
campaign, Lauren Greenfield, wrote an article in The Telegraph discussing the ways in
which the campaign was able to get an emotional response out of the audience. She says,
I have received e-mails and posts from mothers and fathers, young girls, teenagers, and
adult women around the world telling me in, very personal terms, how they were affected
by the video and what it meant to them (Greenfield 2014b). After viewing the campaign,
people of any age and gender were able to feel a personal connection.
Always has taken an important issue, gender inequality in the language we use,
and inspired people to view gender differently. Huffington Post wrote an article titled
#LikeAGirl Campaign Is a Game Changer in Feminist Movement (2014). In the article,
author Bernice Ledbetter states that the campaign is truly a banner in the battleground of
the feminist movement (2014). This is a movement that has been fighting for gender
equality since the 1960s and Ledbetter believes Always has helped in this movement by
developing self-awareness around our language (2014). Greenfield states her opinion
on why the commercial has been so powerful when saying the reason people have
connected to it lies in the fact that we start out laughing but end up crying. The imitations

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are funny, and silly and culturally recognizable and yet the true meaning has deep
implications for at least half of our world (2014b).
Lastly, social success of the campaign can be seen in how it has changed the way
people embrace gender roles or stereotypes. Rachel Zarrell is a mother and blogger, and
has written an article on Buzzfeed titled Parents Are Sharing Pictures That Celebrate
Their Sons Sensitive Side And The Results Are Amazing. After writing about the
#likeagirl campaign on her blog, Zarrell says she received many shared pictures from
parents of their girls being tough. After these pictures were sent, the parents began
sending in pictures that featured little boys doing typically feminine activities, like
playing house, wearing princess dresses, and painting their nails, all posted with the
hashtag #likeaboy (Zarrell 2014). The campaign itself is focused on not demeaning
women through the language we use, but has also fostered a conversation on males and
how they also have gender stereotypes placed on them. The pictures shown in the article
include boys putting on their mothers high heels, wearing princess dresses, and feeding a
toy baby. A mother featured in the article says we are raising future fathers who are now
expected to take on major roles in the household. Housework and childcare isnt girly. It
is what makes a good man and a strong family (Zarrell 2014). By inspiring a change in
the term like a girl to a more positive context, Always has also inspired a change in what
it means to act like a boy. These articles have shown the way the campaign has
favorably been received by the public, but there is also a side that does not believe the
message coincides with the company giving it.
A good message told by the wrong person

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The critics of the campaign have two main arguments: Always is a company
owned by the corporation Proctor and Gamble which makes the commercial hypocritical
and the company is not making any real efforts to make a change in the world for gender
equality or female confidence building. The first argument, Always is being hypocritical,
is seen in H Bournes article Why #LikeAGirl is Just a Load of #CorporateBullshit.
Bourne (2014) points out that while the campaign is aiming to get rid of female insecurity
during the time of menstruation Always already makes LOTS of money out of female
insecurity. The company sells scented pads, tins to hide your pads in, and wipes-to-go so
you can stay feeling fresh. Bourne believes all of these things give the message that there
is something unnatural about this biological process. Emily Shire from The Daily Beast
reiterates this point when saying the campaign is shamelessly emotionally exploitative.
It demonstrates real problemsin a beautiful and clear way, but then pretends a
corporate manufacturer of panty liners meant to help you feel fresh every day can solve
them (Shire 2014). By aligning the message of female insecurity with the negative
connotation of #likeagirl, it is hypocritical since the company makes a profit off of these
girls feeling that they need to use these products to feel better about themselves.
Finally, critics of the campaign believe it to be misleading because Always is not
doing anything for female self-confidence. Bourne says I searched every inch of both
the UK and USA Always website and I couldnt find ONE thing they were planning to do
to build self-esteem in young girls (2014). Russell Sabio finds that the campaign, when
taken at face value, is great, but then asks You appealed to our emotions, Always, and
you made us think. But what happens now? (2014). There is no final call to action other
than going on the companys website and read more about the campaign and the message

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it projects. Emily Shire states until the company shows me how it is actually helping to
[improve young girls self-esteem], I am sticking to off-brand tampons (2014). The
critics of this campaign believe that the message of female empowerment is great;
however, Always is not actively trying to improve it.
#LikeAGirl as Therapeutic Rhetoric
The #LikeAGirl campaign reached many viewers on a personal level since the
advertisement not only spoke about low female self-confidence, but also how the language both
males and females use contribute to lowered self-confidence, making an impact on both genders.
The overall message of the ad is that language can be detrimental to a females self-confidence;
especially during the time they begin puberty. I will look at how the campaign focuses on
individual issues in the language we use and ignores an overarching, societal issue of how this
serves a patriarchal society. This will be done by analyzing the campaign through feminist
critique; more specifically therapeutic rhetoric.
The campaign has been linked to feminism since it deals with the empowerment of
females and bringing them to a level equal to men. Foss (2004) gives a couple definitions of the
term feminism in her book, Rhetorical Criticism: Exploration and Practice. The definition that
pertains most to the #LikeAGirl campaign is, the theoretical study of womens oppression and
the strategical and political ways that all of us, building on that theoretical and historical
knowledge, can work to end that oppression (151). This definition highlights the fact that we, as
a society, can work to end womens oppression. This relates to the artifact because it is giving a
solution to the fact that women are being oppressed through the language we use.
The over-arching theme of feminism has always been to strive for the equality of men
and women, but the means to reach that goal have changed. There are two paradigms of the

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feminist movement, the first being Second Wave feminism. Rockler (2006) defines Second
Wave feminism through its slogan the personal is political (114). This slogan tells women to
understand their personal issues as an issue of a patriarchal system, which can only be fixed
through collective political action (Rockler 2006). The second paradigm of the feminist
movement is Third Wave feminism. This form of feminism is better known for its focus on
womens postmodern negotiation of individual subjectivities than it is on collective political
action (Rockler 2006, 114). While the Second Wave calls for political change in order to
achieve gender equality, the Third Wave says it is an individual problem that must be dealt with
personally.
The Third Wave has contributed to a longer cultural use of therapeutic rhetoric. This is
rhetoric that discourages citizens from contextualizing their personal problems within structural
power dynamics (Rockler 2006, 111). It is the opposite of a second wave feminists ideology.
Instead of the personal is political, everything has become personal and it is up to the individual
to make a change. According to Rockler (2006) U.S. discourse is dominated by this rhetoric and
I will argue that this is proven in the #LikeAGirl campaign.
The Older, the Meaner
The campaign opens with text on the screen that reads What does it mean to throw like a
girl? (Greenfield 2014a). By starting with this it leads the viewer to think of what they
personally think it means to throw like a girl. This is shown before we hear anyone speak in the
advertisement. By getting the viewer to think of how he or she would answer that question, the
rhetor is setting them up for what they are going to see play out in the campaign and also, later
on, show them how their definition is flawed. The perception of the viewer will most likely align
with the people in the campaign. This can be assumed since that is what makes the campaign so

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effective. By thinking of the way we might define like a girl and then seeing it on a screen
being acted out, this gets the viewer to see how offensive it may be to the female gender.
The first respondents to this question are a boy around the age of 13, a male that appears
to be in his late 20s-early 30s, and three older females all of which look to be in their 20s. They
are all asked to run like a girl, fight like a girl, and throw like a girl. They react to this in a way
that is expected by the viewer. When asked to fight one of the respondents says my hair, oh
god and when asked to throw, the boy shows a failed attempt and simply states awww at
the end of it (Greenfield 2014a). These reenactments confirm that our definitions are correct,
in the sense that others define like a girl exactly how the viewer does. By validating this, the
campaign is showing how our definition, while seeming harmless on the surface, is actually quite
demeaning. The ways in which these respondents act out these commands is humiliating from
the point of view of a female. It also shows that the way we use our language can convey a
negative perception of the female gender.
Young and Confident
After the first group of respondents, come the adolescent girls. They are given the same
set of actions to do: run like a girl, throw like a girl, and fight like a girl. Their actions are the
opposite of those prior to them. To describe it in a couple words: they try their hardest. The idea
behind this is that these young girls have not been affected by societys expectations of a female.
They are perceived as weak and incapable of even making a good throw, according to the
respondents that have passed the adolescent stage of their lives. The language we use can be a
reflection of the way we think. By using like a girl as an insult, we are showing that we think
women are incapable and they fail when trying to run, fight, and throw.

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The young girls do not see themselves as what the the first group of respondents defines
them as. The interviewer asks one of the girls What does it mean to you when I say run like a
girl? (Greenfield 2014a). What appears to be the youngest respondent says, It means run as
fast as you can (Greenfield 2014a). The young girls throw, punch, and run to their best ability
but something changes after adolescence that causes this shift in what defines being a girl. By
juxtaposing the adolescent girls with the group of older individuals, the campaign is showing the
viewer how different the character is between the groups. This causes the viewer to think about
why the responses are so different and question what saying like a girl has to do with it.
Challenging the Source
Always challenges the definition of like a girl that is used by the older group. This
group sees the phrase as a form of weakness. Text comes up on the screen that says when did
doing something like a girl become an insult? (Greenfield 2014a). The interviewer then asks
the 13-year-old respondent if he thinks he just insulted his sister by acting like a girl in that
particular way. The boys response is No, I mean yeahinsulted girls, but not my sister
(Greenfield 2014a). The boys response reveals that he is oblivious to the way this language is
offensive. So oblivious that he doesnt associate his sister with being a girl. It is ingrained in the
way we think which makes phrases like this one appear harmless. When asking an adolescent
girl if like a girl is a good thing, the girl says, It sounds like youre trying to humiliate
someone (Greenfield 2014a).
By asking these questions to the respondents, the campaign is showing the viewers that
the language we use is flawed and offensive to females. Always does show that there is a
negative connotation to the phrase, but never offers a reason as to the cause of this. They do ask
the question of when did like a girl become an insult, however, this question is never

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answered. The only hint to an answer is given by questioning the way like a girl is defined by
these groups of people. This is a hint because it shows that the blame is being put on the group
instead of looking for a root of the problem in society.
Putting the Blame on Us
After all the questioning and confronting is done about the negative connotation of like a
girl, the campaign brings up that self-confidence lowers in females between the ages of ten to
twelve (Greenfield 2014a). Text pops up in the advertisement that defines puberty for a female as
a vulnerable time, therefore, this language effects them the most at this age (Youtube.com).
The campaign is telling the viewer that using words or phrases that put women down, lowers the
self-confidence of a female. The young girls all looked very confident in their ability to run, fight
and throw, but the older females acted out their own gender as helpless.
The overall theme of the campaign is that language is the leading factor in why female
self-confidence decreases during puberty. The entire build-up of the video leads to this idea. By
seeing how an older group defines like a girl and comparing it to a younger group of females,
the viewer is being shown that there is a flaw. Then the campaign confronts this issue of
language by asking questions that prove it is an offensive use of the phrase when you make it
mean that someone is weak or incapable.
The solution to this problem is shown at the end when the text says, lets make Like a
girl mean amazing things (Greenfield 2014a). Its that easy! Just change the way the like a
girl phrase is defined and it will do wonders for female self-confidence during puberty. This is
seen when the respondents are confronted on if like a girl is offensive. Since it is deemed
offensive, then clearly it should be changed for the sake of self-esteem and we see this change
happen in the campaign. The campaign is implying that we can intervene and stop self-

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confidence from lowering if we just change the way we speak. After discussing the offensiveness
of the term, the older group of women are asked to act out the commands once again, and this
time it looks more like the way the young girls responded (Greenfield 2014a). This implies that
just by pointing out the flaw, women and girls will be empowered.
The blame for lowered self-confidence in females is put on the individuals and how they
use demeaning language. The language of individuals is being critiqued in the campaign. Always
is suggesting that language is a main factor that plays into why young girls have a negative selfimage when going through puberty. Their confidence goes down, according to Always, because
they are surrounded by words and phrases that put down women. The call to action is that
individuals change the way they define like a girl and make it positive and empowering. This
plays into power feminism, which believes that women have personal responsibility for what
happens to them (Foss 2004, 153). It is the individuals duty to empower and make sure that
this language is not being used in a way that demeans females.
This causes the quick fix that Always gives. All that needs to be done in order to fix this
problem is that we, as individuals, change the language we use. Women will not think they are
inferior anymore and our language will not be biased to any gender. While the message is
effective in capturing the viewers attention, the solution to the problem is not effective. The
women at the end of the campaign are empowered, therefore, they decide to run full out and
throw as hard as they can. Is that a reaction to the fact that they have been inspired temporarily or
will this have a big impact? Always could have looked at the ways in which we live in a society
that serves to patriarchy and how that is detrimental to female self-confidence. There is pay
inequality, women are the majority of the victims of sexual violence, men hold the majority of
high ranking positions (FCKH8 2014) and the list goes on and on. Instead of focusing on this,

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Always instead gives a quick answer to lowered self-confidence which then gives the viewers a
quick fix. By refusing to confront societal issues and instead only look for a change in the
individual, the campaign does not foster any real change in the way women are viewed in
society.
Its not just my problem
The definition of therapeutic rhetoric emphasizes individual problems opposed to
systemic problems (Rockler 2006). This can be seen in the advertisement when looking at how
the message of demeaning women in the language we used, is portrayed. It is our language, that
we created and use that must be changed. The advertisement does not look at how history and
past, maybe current, laws have supported the use of language to demean women. Instead it
focuses on how we as humans are flawed because we allow people to get away with using like a
girl as an insult and may even be the people that say it. The advertisement assumes that society,
and its rules are fair and the viewers must make a personal life change in order to fix the issues
instead of making a change in the system.
In our society, gender discrimination still exists and this can be seen in our everyday life.
Yes, women in the past have gotten laws changed in order to move towards a gender equal
nation; however, not enough was done. Women can now vote, have the rights to their own body,
etc. but that does not mean gender inequality does not exist. This indicates that there is, in fact, a
flaw in the system. We must go back to the personal is political mindset and attempt to fix
these flaws through political change.
Changing the language we use can definitely be effective in increasing the selfconfidence of females; however, this is not the only factor that contributes to the decrease in selfconfidence. Our society as a whole still supports a patriarchal agenda. Yes using like a girl as

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an insult puts women as inferior to men; however, so does giving a higher position to a male
even though a female had the same qualifications or calling a girl a bitch for getting her points
across the same way a male would. Female empowerment is not successful only with individual
efforts; there must be a societal change that accompanies it. Without changing the politics, we
may not see a change in the way society views women.
Evaluation
The Like a Girl campaign is effective in emotional appeal, however, ineffective in real
world change. From the section of this paper that looked at how the public perceived the
campaign, we can see that the general public was emotionally affected by it. The director, Lauren
Greenfield, stated that she received responses from males and females of all ages telling her how
they were personally affected (Greenfield 2014b). The campaign is set up to catch peoples
attention and hopefully makes them want to change the gender-biased language that has become
so prevalent and socially accepted. Greenfield (2014b) also says that people connect to this
campaign because the imitations are silly and culturally recognizable but also hold a true
meaning that has deep implications. They take a phrase that is very common, like a girl, and
show the viewers how it contributes to the phenomena of young girls losing self-confidence as
they go through puberty. Thinking that we, as individuals, contribute to this appeals to our
emotions since it is such a common phrase. I do agree that the campaign is very emotionally
appealing. When I first watched it, I too felt an emotional connection to it and believed it was
very empowering. After further research and finding out why some audiences did not like the
commercial I can now see how it has been ineffective in making an actual change in our society.
As I mentioned earlier in the paper, the campaign takes on characteristics of third wave
feminism, this belief that we have successfully gotten rid of gender inequality, from a political

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20 Alvarez

standpoint, and now it is up to the individual to create change (Rockler 2006). The fact that the
campaign calls for a change in the individual is part of the reason it is an unsuccessful campaign.
When calling for individual action, there is less motivation to really change opposed to when you
see many people doing it. Without a root in a societal flaw, the campaign does not have the
correct background information to say that this really needs to be changed. If we have been using
this language for so long, why is it now that we need to change it?
Further, the campaign does not have any call-to-action besides this notion that we should
think twice about what we say. In order to create a real change and empower young girls when
going through puberty, there should have been a larger call-to-action like a foundation that
people could support or a number to call in order to get more information. The site that is put at
the end of the campaign, http://www.always.com/en-us/likeagirl.aspx, asks the visitor to tweet,
instagram, and vine using their hashtag #likeagirl. Aside from that there are links to posts from
Always that inform you about a menstrual cycle and puberty. Their efforts to empower females
could have gone further by informing more about our language and how it affects young girls.
There could be a stronger connection between the site and the campaign itself.
The campaign uses choice as an empowerment method. They want you to make the
choice, as an individual, to stop saying phrases that demean a gender, such as like a girl. This,
however, is false empowerment because the true power comes from the company (Mandziuk
2010). Always has caught our attention by making us cry and think twice about what we say,
however the end result that they want is for you to buy their products. It is a company selling
feminine products; therefore, any advertising they release will have the main goal of an increase
in sales. While Mandziuk discusses power being held by the company, there is no talk of how
advertisements can be a main source of getting this false empowerment out.

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21 Alvarez

Further, this idea of choice is given to an individual. We are being asked to individually
make this choice to stop using demeaning language and then to go onto their website to learn
more. Woods (2013) says that choice should not be for the individual, but instead should go
further to exercise choice for all, therefore, empowering all. We, as the viewers watch the
campaign individually and receive the message differently. If it was a choice for all then there
could have been some sort of petition made or oath that people could sign on the Always website.
This may have fostered some societal change instead of people attempting to make an individual
conscious effort to stop using like a girl as an insult.
Conclusion
The analysis of this article has shown the professional and social success of the
campaign; however, after deeper analysis, I have found that the campaign is ineffective. Scholars
have said that using empowerment as an advertising method is either effective or not. I, on the
other hand, believe it can be both. Always received thousands of more subscribers and their
campaign was spread via social media over 80,000 times (Greenfield 2014a). There was lots of
professional success, however, the campaign left it at that. They put up a false image of trying to
help female self-confidence, but passed the campaign, there is nothing further being done. If this
is the case for the #LikeAGirl campaign, then perhaps other advertisements that use the theme of
female empowerment should be looked at. Without pressure to make a societal change, this trend
in feminism is not doing anything for the feminist movement other than giving companies higher
sales rates.

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22 Alvarez

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