This Girl Can Campaign

I'm all for a bit of girl power so when the 'This Girl Can' campaign was released I was so happy even if it did involve doing sport... because hey girls can do it right?

This Girl Can is a celebration of active women who are doing their thing no matter how well they do it, how they look or even how red their face gets. Funded by The National Lottery and developed by Sport England, we want to help women overcome the fear of judgement that is stopping too many women and girls from joining in.

Research carried out by Sport England reveals that by every measure, fewer women than men play sport regularly. Two million fewer 14- to 40-year-old women take part in sport when compared with men, despite the fact that 75% say they want to be more active. The "This girl can" campaign is based on a powerful insight: that the fear of judgement by others is the primary barrier holding women back from participating in sport. This fear covers concerns over their appearance, ability, or the simple fact they are choosing to spend time on themselves, rather than on their families.

Tackling this fear was seen as key to tackling the gender gap.

Sport England’s research reveals that, from an early age, appearance is a concern for women when it comes to exercise; 36% of the least-active schoolgirls agree that they feel like their body is on show in PE lessons and that makes them like PE less. Furthermore, one woman in every four says they "hate the way I look when I exercise or play sport", and women are more likely than men to say they aren’t confident about their body when doing sport.

According to Price, across the board, women identify with the fear of not being "good enough" in some way; whether not being skilled enough, fit enough, or the right size. Sport England’s insight team also identified that women feel alone in this fear, instead of viewing it as the universal truth that it is.

Mothers were identified as a core audience for the campaign; the research reveals that while many mums would like to exercise, the fear of being judged for putting themselves first is a barrier. A massive 81% of mothers with children under 15 prioritise spending time with their families over getting fit, while 44% of mums feel guilty if they spend time on themselves. In some cases men have ‘hobbies’ which are to be encouraged, while some women instead engage in ‘me time’, which can easily be dismissed as something of an ‘indulgence’.

The 'This Girl Can' campaign got women talking & more importantly moving no matter what their shape, size or appearance. Personally I can relate a lot to this campaign because back when I was in school PE was the worst lesson of the week purely because I wasn't sporty and I didn't like the way I looked in gym wear. A campaign like this probably still wouldn't turn me into a sporty person but it would me realise that it doesn't matter who you are, if you want to do a sport you can, skills or no skills.

I love the posters for this campaign because each one has a different statement on it. The statement gets people talking it makes them stop and think, a campaign that starts a conversation is a winner with me. I also like the fact that it's not obviously pushing the campaign in your face it's saying do it for you no one else because let's face it no one else is going to do it for you.

This poster above is quite possibly one of my favourites from the entire campaign, I just love how it looks almost 3D if you stare at the centre, like the swimmer is going to swim right through the words 'This Girl Can'. She is doing it for all the girls, the advert is almost saying if she's doing it then you can too. Noticeable through-out the entire campaign they didn't just use your normal average skinny model, they look like they've used real women whom we can actually relate to. Personally I think a lot more brands need to open up to the fact that real life models are going to sell a product better than someone who is completely unachievable. Supermodels are great but we don't all look like them and that's okay!

When it comes to our brand's campaigns, I want to do something that helps people in someway and gets people talking about a serious topic. Campaigns like this are so much more memorable.

Hope you've enjoyed this post, what did you think to the 'This Girl Can' campaign? Did it get you moving?

Take care & I'll see you all very soon.

Pictures are all taken from Google.