Boy, Bye: Always Fights ‘Like A Girl’ Against Damaging Stereotypes

How do you take a phrase that’s become an insult and turn it into a message of empowerment? That was the challenge Procter & Gamble was given by Always in the wake of a study of American women that found more than half of girls experience a drop in confidence once they hit puberty.

How do you take a phrase that’s become an insult and turn it into a message of empowerment?

That was the challenge Procter & Gamble was given by Always. After a 2013 study of 1,300 American women aged 16–24 found more than half of young women experience a drop in confidence once they hit puberty, Always created the #LikeAGirl campaign. (Before this, the feminine hygiene brand’s messaging had largely focused on product-performance benefits, while its main rivals had moved on.) The new ads fought to change perceptions about what it means to be a girl, and strove to provide engaging and inspiring renewed confidence in young millennials.

The award-winning campaign launched in a commercial directed by documentarian and photographer Lauren Greenfield. In the ad, men, women, boys and girls were asked to interpret what they thought doing something “like a girl” meant. Their responses ranged from discouraging and hurtful to misguided and confused—but, when the youngest of girls were asked, their answers were truly inspiring. The ad brilliantly turned a phrase that many considered an insult into a declaration of strength. It showed, with empathy and realism, that doing something “like a girl” is actually pretty badass.