The ‘This Girl Can’ Campaign is one of the biggest growing campaigns to date. Started in January 2015 by Sport England, the hashtag #ThisGirlCan has been used on social media every single day and has been talked about in over 110 countries.
Who better to talk about the topic and give her views than our very own MD Lesley who has had almost 30 years experience in the industry.
So when I managed to pin Lesley down, bribed with a hot mug of tea and a biscuit, here is what she said:
“I first heard about ‘This Girl Can’ campaign whilst attending a London seminar in September 2015. And I absolutely loved it’s message.
The national campaign developed by Sport England was to encourage females of all ages to get active regardless of size, shape and ability. What a great idea”
I then asked Lesley about how the campaign had been adopted by actual brands. It all sounded great but 14 months on (we are in December 2016 at time of writing) what impact is ‘This Girl Can’ actually having?
Lesley commented:
“Many brands are now using this initiative for their own projects. And the impact has been brilliant.
Brands are steering away from the idealised and stylised images of women that we are used to seeing in advertising.
I should know. Being the Managing Director of longest established commercial modelling agency in the North of England I work alongside a variety of beautiful people everyday.
But believe me, classically beautiful people do not make up the majority of our busiest models nor do they lead the way with model requests. The authentic look is so much more in demand.”
“We represent confident people that match our clients briefs and each of our clients demand very different things.
It makes me quite sad when unfavourable comments are made especially on social media posts. Judging a person just because they don’t find another attractive is hurtful and can even be quite detrimental.”
Making a Difference
“I believe this campaign will be an even bigger success than it has been and inspire women to overcome their fear of judgement. Celebrating the stretch marks from the birth of their baby, life’s adventures painted in their laughter lines and all our imperfections that have made us who we are.”
An important message to remember from this campaign is that diversity is valuable both commercially and morally. As an agency who prides itself on professionalism and diversity we are fully backing this campaign indefinitely.
