#LikeAGirlcampaign
Always#LikeAGirl campaign set out to champion the girls who are the future of the brand. The campaign was launched in 2014. The journey to puberty is no picnic and every girl need to be educated. At puberty a girl’s confidence plummets due to many factors. The campaign focused of giving the phrase “like a girl” a new positive meaning that would not be associated with inferiority or weakness. The campaign was able to command a vast audience on online platforms. The campaign was executed at various stages. The center piece of this campaign is a video that was launched on the brands YouTube official channel. This video affects the emotions of its viewers and sheds light on the effect the phrase has on the confidence of young girls. Emotional appeal, logical appeal and ethical appeal have been used in the campaign. The campaign also impacted the attitudes of its audience.
The campaign gave Always a chance to build a fresh and a more meaningful understanding of confidence that would resonate with the coming generation which would be the users of their products. This campaign not only gave confidence to girls at their lowest time but also gave the brand a good course that was for the greater good. Alwaysalso felt the urge to build a campaign that was going to leverage the brand’s legacy of supporting girls as they transitioned from girls to young women (Always, n.d). The campaign was responsible for shedding light on what young women experience during this transition.
This campaign was worldwide, it had the sole purpose of driving an emotional connection between the users of the brand and the brand. The campaign was also an illustration of the loyalty and obligation that Always had towards their customers. The strategy was to remove the negativity that is associated with the phrase “like a girl” and impact a new positive meaning that would raise the confidence of the same girls that felt insulted by this phrase. The idea of the campaign was initiated by an investigation of how confidence girls are when young and how that changes as they approach puberty. The center piece of the campaign was a video clip that showed how different people interpret the phrase that is considered an insult (Always, n.d).
Documentarian Lauren Greenfield helped Always to make the video that futured women of different ages interpreting the phrase. This shed some light on the fact both old women and girls at puberty interpret this phrase to mean weakness. Once the video was created it was launched to start a worldwide campaign that would focus on spreading the powerful message and empower women and girls all over that the phrase can be used to mean something positive. The video was able to gain millions of views which was indication that they had reached its targeted audience (Always, n.d).
The second step was to introduce the Hashtag, in order to remove the negativity in the phrase and to do so Always introduced the #LikeAGirl as a rally slogan that demanded change. The Hashtag was an inspiration to many who in return joined the course (Always, n.d). The third stage of execution of the campaign was, Video launch used the medias ability to create and call for attention. The was launched on the brand’s Youtube channel, but before it was launched it was given to bloggers who commanded social media attention to help create buzz before its official launch, through these bloggers the news of the video went viral before the official launch and everyone had a clue of what to expect (Always, n.d). The fourth stage of launching this campaign was strategic media outreach. Following the successful launch of the campaign, online and broadcast media that capitalized on female empowerment were contacted (Always, n.d). Always ensured that the media continued to buzz about the video for a long time.
The fifth stage was engaging celebrities in the campaign, celebrities such as Bella Thorne, and Vanessa Hudgens were chosen because they commanded a huge audience on social media, they were engaged in posting tweets about the campaign, these tweets encouraged other celebrities to post about the campaign(Always, n.d). Posts from these celebrities continued to make the campaign viral. The sixth stage was involving Real-time news desk to engage in talks surrounding the tweets and posts of the campaign. The final strategic stage of execution was launching a global campaign, it was launched following the success of the campaign in North America, the campaign was then expanded to 20 markets (Always, n.d).
Following the overwhelming and successful launch of the campaign of something that had started with a mere video rapidly grew to become one of the most talked about topics on social media worldwide. The campaign had surpassed everyone’s expectations. The media was responsible for changing the conversation in social media for a long time. The video was among the most viral videos that year. The campaign having achieved the goals of the program, it was able to achieve an emotional connection with the target audience. According to a brand research conducted after this campaign; 81% of women between the age of 16-24 supported Always for reclaiming the “like a girl” word and giving it a positive meaning (Always, n.d). Goals that were surpassed by the video included; the video was shared by more than a million people and 35000 comments, the program achieved 4.5 billion in the globe, the program garnered more than 290 million social impressions and 133 thousand social mentions (Yi Wu, 2017). The campaign trended on Facebook and increased the Twitter followers of Always by 195. 3%.
The Always brand did this campaign with a reason. Over the years always had confidence at its core, this campaign would only magnify the confidence, their confidence was found in this statement,“we won’t let you down” (RCL Blog, 2014). This trust remained important but they had to do something to help with the confidence since this trust was not enough to maintain the relevance among young women. The video opens with a young girl who is asked to run, this girl displays little confidence looking at the way she was running, when a more older woman is asked to run she runs the same with little confidence when young girls are asked to run they so energetically with a certain display of confidence in them . Young women and girls are the buyers of Always products;therefore, their message was to them. By using young women in their video, they are making it relate more to the target audience (RCL Blog, 2014). Apart from bring a positive meaning that instills confidence into young women, Always is marketing its products to mothers who will buy their products in order to maker their daughters happy, self- confident and earn them respect. Always is send a message to society that they need to empower young women and girls.
This campaign was launched at a time it was highly needed. It is an age where the minds of girls and boys alike are policed by opinions of others, it was important to take a stand and campaign that girls can do some great to. The campaign was a calculated measure by the brand because they took advantage of social media to send a positive message to females, who are the consumers of their brand and this was of way making sure they are more visible than their competitors (RCL Blog, 2014).
“Boys are better than boys” is one of the most common ideologies. Women have been considered weak compared to men in various ways such as, performance in school, athletics and levels of intelligence. Always challenges these ideologies by giving a real picture of what girls are capable of doing on their own, Always is leading women on a self-discovery road that shows them that they have untapped potentials that they are afraid to realize due to the social constructed weakness that society thinks girls should have. The question, when does like a girl become an insult is meant to the emotions of the of the audience, this question helps them seek the emotions of the audience forcing them to realize the harmful impact that phrase has on the female gender. Always seeks to have an effect on the emotions which will in return influence the thinking of the audience (RCL Blog, 2014). Using this question gave the campaign an emotional appeal since the question sought to have an impact on the feelings of the audience.
Emotional appeal can be seen from the beginning to the end of these video. In the video it is stated that when a girl reaches puberty stage her confidence drops. This statement relates with the negative comments that girls receive and the connection of being inferior to the other gender in all scenarios. This video invokes the emotions of females the moment they see it. When parents whether mothers or fathers see the video, they do not want their daughters to experience the pain of being told that they are inferior compared to the boys, when everyone see the video they learn of the grave mistake they have committed, by thinking of the females closest to them, it can be a sister, a mother or a colleague and how they have impacted their lives negatively and affected their confidence. Always gains control of the emotions of the viewers thus giving the campaign an emotional appeal (RCL Blog, 2014). In an emotional moment Always brand encourages girls to ignore what people say and keep striving to do their best in everything since people will tear them down for doing what is right.
As a brand that has majored in producing sanitary towels for women for a long time, they command authority in this area and their credibility cannot be disputed.This gives them an ethical appeal. Throughout the whole campaign Always demonstrates their deep knowledge on issues affecting young women, and proves that apart from selling their products to these women they also care about their wellbeing. Earlier in the ad everyone does what they are asked to do, which reinforces the credibility (RCL Blog, 2014). This video relates an important message and by reaching a vast audience, this video plays invokes the emotions of everyone. Always chose a time a relevant time to launch this campaign to make a relatable universal statement, timing contributed to the success of this campaign.
The campaign was aimed at persuading people to give the phrase ‘like a girl’ a new positive meaning. The technique of persuasion is defined as a way which communicators use to convince other people to change their attitudes or behaviors regarding something. This technique has been known to use symbols which may be verbal or non-verbal. In their campaign Always used logical appeal “logos” to convince people to change the attitude they have about these phrases. The use of logos is aimed at convincing individual to change their attitudes, and also showed that many people did not understand the impact their words had young women who had thought that being a woman is something to be proud of and then they learn that it is something to be ashamed of (RCL Blog, 2014). By using the technique of persuasion Always is shaping a certain response to take another course.
Attitude can be defined as a learned, global, typical emotional evaluation of a person or issues that affect a certain action. The process of evaluating attitudes involve beliefs, feelings and intentions. Attitudes are responsible for influencing actions and how new information is interpreted. The # LikeAGirl campaign was responsible for influencing attitudes, the attitude placed on the phrase of the campaign brought about the thoughts of how girls are inferior compared to boys (RCL Blog, 2014). The campaign was aimed to impact a new attitude when mentioned, the phrase was to invoke self confidence when mentioned. In regards to interpretation, the statement was to be interpreted in a new way after the campaign, a way that did not affect the emotions of girls (Always, n.d). Some attitudes are stronger, weaker, conscious or subconscious. This campaign aimed at impacting a stronger and conscious attitude in its audience.
As stated above the process of evaluating attitude involves looking at the beliefs of people since attitudes spring from the beliefs of people. Before the campaign the belief that “like a girl” statement would only mean inferiority and weakness was a belief that was held by many. This belief had to be turned around in order to change the old attitude surrounding this phrase. Giving this phrase a new meaning by changing the held belief gave people a new belief (RCL Blog, 2014). Emotions are key to changing attitudes, when the girls at puberty are asked to run, they run in a way that evokes the emotions of the audience, the way these old girls run show how their confidence is low thus evoking sympathy from the people who are responsible for killing her confidence (Always, n.d). When emotions are evoked new attitudes are formed. This campaign evokes a lot of emotion and changes the attitudes of many just like it was intended.
Strong attitudes are characterized by knowledge, importance placed on the issue in question and certainty. Before the launch of this campaign Always had gathered enough information and knowledge on the damage the phase has on the confidence of girls and young women. Always brand was certain that this campaign was going to change the lives of young girls and women who held the future of the brand. Always placed a lot of importance on this campaign. (RCL Blog, 2014). This showed that as a brand they have a strong attitude about it. Strong attitudes also persist over time, always persisted about their campaign for a very long time before the launch of the video and after the launch of the video. Strong attitudes also shape behaviors, this campaign shaped the behavior of society towards girls and young women. The campaign had a strong attitude which was necessary if it was to change the attitudes of its audience.
Ego involvement is among the three core concepts, the concept of ego involvement can be associated with this campaign since the campaign touched on self-concept or the core values of its audience. It is had to change the attitudes of people whose egos are involved. These people are known to have larger latitude rejection than latitude of acceptance. Involving the core values of people in the campaign was important since it was these core values that it aimed to change no matter the rejection it faced (Always, n.d).
Reasoned Action model defined the relationship that exists between the beliefs, attitude, norms, intentions and behaviors of a person. This model states that intentions are determined by the attitude of the person. This attitude is determined by the beliefs a person holds, beliefs is a subjective probability that what the person is doing will produce the desired results. Always used the strategy based on the theory of planned behavior in their campaign, their aim was to educate on the negative impact of the phrase which they fully achieved through reasoned action model. Through this model they were able to predict the behavior of their audience, as stated earlier Always had expectations which show they had already predicted the behavior of their audience (Always, n.d). On social judgment theory, the success of a person is measured using the attitude the persuader has about the issue. Always had a video that proved that the confidence of girls is affected if they failed to persuade people with strong attitude they used the technique of pointing out that if they are not affected by the phrase they have a friend or a sister who is affected. The video not only acted as evidence it was used to show them that others were impacted by the phrases. Always reminds its audience on the value of fairness when they try to prove that young women and girls are affected by this phrase (Always, n.d). This is social judgment techniques it uses to persuade its audience.
The elaboration likelihood model is can be referred to as a dual process theory that describes changes of attitudes. This model has two persuasive techniques used and their outcome of change. These two routes of persuasion are; central route where the persuasion will result to a thoughtful consideration of the true merits to the information being passed. The central route requires high levels of elaboration of the message being passed. The other route is the peripheral route, using this route the results of the attitude result from an individual’s association with the positive or negative message being passed down. Always used the central route of the likelihood model to impact the attitudes of its audience by campaigning with a video that serves as evidence, this video elaborates a lot concerning the message Always is passing (Always, n.d). The audience of this message therefore will consider the true merits of this information then change their attitudes.
Conclusion
The aim of this campaign was to give the Phrase “like a girl” a more powerful meaning that would generate confidence in girls and young women. The campaign was a global one, its. Its mission was to change the negativity that came with the phrase, like a girl and impact a positive meaning that would not be associated with weakness or inferiority. with the help of Lauren Greenfield always was able to produce an ad video which was the center piece of the campaign. This campaign was executed using various stages. It was a huge success resulted to change of social media conversations. This campaign was launched at it was highly needed on the brands You tube channel. The campaign used an emotional appeal to command the emotions of the viewers. Logical and ethical appeals were also used in the campaign. the campaign had huge impacts on the attitude of its audience. By using persuasion Always was shaping a new response for the phrase from the society. This campaign was a necessary course of action taken by the brand to empower girls and young women who were the future of the brand.
References
Always. (n.d). Always #LikeAGirl: Turning an Insult into a confidence movement. Retrieved from; https://instituteforpr.org/wp-content/uploads/Always-LikeAGirl-Turning-an-Insult- into-a-Confidence-Movement.pdf
RCL Blog. (2014). Rhetorical Analysis of Always’ “Like a Girl” Advertisement. Retrieved from.
Yi Wu, S. (2017). Why “Always #Like A Girl” is so successful? Retrieved from; https://medium.com/@yw2467/why-always-likeagirl-is-so-successful-643a6e6fe834
