‘Like A Girl’ Super Bowl Ad Successfully Champions Female Empowerment

In this powerful Super Bowl ad, Feminine hygiene brand Always aims to flip the meaning of the phrase “like a girl” from having a negative connotation to a positive one.

When adolescent girls, older women, and boys were asked to demonstrate how to “run like a girl” or “fight like a girl,” their arms flailed as they ran and awkwardly slapped instead of throwing powerful punches.

Contrast that with prepubescent girls, girls 10 and younger, who, when asked to do the same thing, ran as fast as they could and hit as hard as they could.

They were girls on fire, and to them, running “like a girl” meant nothing more than running like themselves.

A study done for the campaign indicated that girls’ confidence drops around puberty, which may account for how different age groups responded to “like a girl.”

In the video description on YouTube, Always states, “Super Bowl XLIX is the perfect platform, allowing us to reach more than 100 million people, and to ask them to join our cause. Together, we can all empower our young girls, and change the meaning of #LikeAGirl to be the ultimate compliment.”

The original “like a girl” video became a viral sensation last summer, and has been viewed online more than 80 million times worldwide.

“When people watch the video, we know it changes their perception of the phrase ‘like a girl’ – and it makes a difference for girls’ confidence,” Fama Francisco, vice president of Global Always, said in a statement.

“We feel so strongly about this, that we’re now taking this message to a bigger stage, the Super Bowl, so even more people can join us to champion girls’ confidence and change the meaning of ‘like a girl’ from an insult into something positive and amazing.”