Dive Brief:
- P&G’s Always brand is returning to its #LikeAGirl campaign after a survey found that 70% of girls report avoiding trying things during puberty because they are afraid to fail, per a press release.
- The new campaign includes a video from director Lucy Luscombe and actress and advocate Yara Shahidi that serves up Shahidi’s experiences and follows a group of girls through a day in their lives depicting real-life moments when the girls fear they won't measure up.
- The #LikeAGirl campaign first ran in 2014 to critical acclaim, winning one of the first Cannes Glass Lions in 2015. The idea behind the hashtag was to increase girls’ confidence as well as take back the negative connotations of describing something as “like a girl.”
Dive Insight:
Some brands are finding success embracing socially conscious topics and using advertising as a tool to break through stereotypes and address real-world concerns, especially for younger consumers. The genders are switched, but Unilever’s Axe used research as the base for its recent “Is It Ok For Guys?” effort as part of the larger “Find Your Magic” campaign. The initiative asked Axe users to express their individuality beyond cultural norms and traditional definitions of manhood by tapping into questions men actually search for on Google including whether they can be emotional, wear makeup or experiment sexually.
Both the Always #LikeAGirl and Axe’s #isitokforguys campaigns approach concerns and fears of younger consumers in a straightforward manner with confidence-building as an overarching theme.
However, other recent examples show that brands need to tread carefully with addressing topics that consumers have a strong emotional connection to. If brands get it right, this can help build a relationship with consumers. But if brands get it wrong — like Unilever did with new Dove packaging meant to reflect different body shapes — they risking getting skewered on social media and turning some consumers off.
The Always Confidence and Puberty Wave V study also found that 80% of girls feel social pressure to please others, more than 80% would keep doing things they love if they felt failing was okay and 75% agree that social media contributes to girls’ fear of failure during puberty.
