Analysis Of Likeagirl Commercial

We have all heard the rhyme “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” The #LikeAGirl ad campaign by Always attempts to challenge this age-old axiom. In this ad, Always uses a strong emotional appeal to empower pre and post-pubescent girls, to reclaim the phrase as a positive one, and to demonstrate exactly how amazing it is to be a girl. However, the audience of this ad isn’t limited to the consumers that it aims to market toward. Always also markets this ad toward parents that buy feminine hygiene products for their daughters. By exposing the latent sexism of this common barb, it sends a message to parents that they need to help to empower their daughters as well as teach their children that these comments can be hurtful. The successful combination of rhetorical devices proves that this ad campaign has hit it’s intended mark.

The commercial’s main focus is interviewing people of all ages interpreting the phrase “like a girl.” The female director asks the first young woman to show what it means to run like a girl, at which point the teenager begins to jog in place, moving her arms indiscriminately, and making sure her hair stays just so. The director asks the same thing of a young woman, a

The ad uses actors from a wide range of ages and races to reinforce the idea that this is something that all girls face. During the beginning of the ad, the female director instructs the young people to run like a girl, throw like a girl, and fight like a girl while soft, somber music plays in the background. This signals to the audience that this is supposed to be sad and wrong. The use of this particular background music highlights Always’s