Analyzing Gender Stereotypes, and Empowerment in The Always Campaign

Discourse, in linguistic terms, is defined as “a connected series of utterances; a text or conversation”(Oxford), however, this simple definition does not fully encompass the true meaning of discourse. Discourse is a complicated concept that allows us to talk about language in use and seeks to explain how language and its meaning exists not explicitly or generally, but is instead created within a society. By looking at specific discursive approaches, I will be analyzing the Always #LikeAGirl campaign from 2014. I will show how this advertisement puts the discourse surrounding gender stereotypes to use, in order to push women to reclaim the derogatory phrase “like a girl” by changing the expression from an insult to a positive and inspiring statement. I will utilize the concepts of subject positioning, reliance on socially created and continued stereotypes, and synthetic personalization to show how the texts constructs the issue of gender stereotyping and the effect it has on young girls that the discourse surrounding the phrase “like a girl” is ultimately responsible for holding back women in society as well as perpetuating hurtful stereotypes.

Discourse refers to the rules and practices created by society, which allow certain words and statements to carry meaning. It is constituted by the social relations that it cannot exist without, meaning that if the social relations were different or non-existent, the discourse would exist in a completely different way or cease to exist. Therefore, discourse does not simply create one meaning, rather discourse is a process that constantly shapes meaning with time. The linguistic choices made by an author can reveal and in a way unembed the socially constructed versions of reality from a discourse and give light on how discourses are in practice at that exact moment in history. This method will allow us to view the social effects of the discourse that a reader is pushed towards and positioned in the text, and how these techniques essentially change the function of the text. Through this, we are able to analyse how these techniques can play a major role in subject positioning of a reader by studying a specific text.

“An ad is never the program they are watching, never the letter they are waiting for, never the part of the newspaper they are reading” (Cook ,1992:13). As stated in Freita’s text, advertisements carry “a status as intruders”. As an advertisement, the first hurdle that must be overcome is having someone actually want to see it, as a result ads are typically condensed or broken down to have them be understood at first glance. I will be analyzing the #LikeAGirl campaign by the feminine care brand, Always. I first saw this advertisement on Youtube, but it caught my attention, because I had no idea what the advertisement was advertising, so instead of skipping it after five seconds, I actually watched the full advertisement. The central focus of the advertisement is the phrase “like a girl”. In the ad, a filmmaker, Lauren Greenfield, introduces several older people (teens and adults) and asks them to do several activities “like a girl” for example, “throw like a girl” and “run like a girl”. The video shows these older people imitating what they think “like a girl” means, and they do these activities weakly with flailing arms and legs and silly facial expressions. However, then a separate group of young girls are asked to do the same, and they throw and run fiercely, trying their genuine best. The advertisement essentially shows the negative association that people develop with the expression “like a girl” as they grow older.

As a company that specializes in menstrual products that are marketed towards women, the target audience is young girls and women. It is important to note that Always is a feminine care brand owned by Procter and Gamble, an American multinational consumer goods corporation. This advertisement contrasts greatly with their previous ads and strays away from the brand and corporations typical method of simple product advertisements. The advertisement allows the company to be viewed in a different light, one that shows that it cares about its consumers, society, and women, not only about sales. The purpose of the ad seems to be a rather positive one, however, when going back to the idea that this is an advertisement from Always, a femine care brand, from Proctor and Gamble, a Fortune 500 company, the actual purpose of the ad was indeed to increase sales. Many people often feel confused and feel a sense of skepticism by advertisements that show an apparent social conscience (Freita’s ). This is due to the fact that advertisements always have an ulterior motive of boosting sales and consumers are typically aware of that. However, this ad was able to overcome the skepticism towards ads as a text, the advertisement was a huge success not only in sales, but in social terms, as it boosted awareness and created a new dialogue regarding gender stereotypes. The global response to the advertisement was highly positive, however, it was met with some criticism, mostly from men. However, as stated before, with Always being a feminine care brand, the ad targets women and it aims to increase its sales to women, not men.

The advertisement plays heavily on gender stereotypes and social constructs created in society about boys and girls. The discrimination of women has been a prevalent social issue throughout history. Still to this day, women are considered inferior to men in many aspects. Young girls are vulnerable especially during puberty and being exposed to these stereotypes and derogatory phrases, as harmless as they may seem, do cause significant damage. Being taught that acting like a girl is not a good thing when you’re a girl is a troubling thing. However, this ongoing issue in our society created a need for a video like this, which led to Always broadcasting this video. Always works to challenge these structures and positions by showing how women are held back by these damaging social constructs and demonstrating how capable women can be. It fights to show the audience and have them realize how they have unknowingly been constructed by the discourse in society surrounding gender and how it can negatively impact their own self-esteem or their sisters mothers, or friends. It shows that women can choose to have low self-esteem or to change their outlook and attitude and rise above it.

I’ll be using Fairclough’s approach to CDA from Locke’s Critical Discourse Analysis. Fairclough focuses on the idea that no language can ever be completely neutral and that it always contains a controlling viewpoint. His research shows how texts, especially in the media and advertisements, can be persuasive as they are reliant on stereotypes-- socially accepted beliefs or ideas that are considered normal-- that allows them to be effective.

Fairclough’s three-dimensional framework includes discourse as a text, discourse as a practice, and discourse as a sociocultural practice. One of the specific tools I will be using to analyze the text will be synthetic personalization (Fairclough). Synthetic personalization is the process of addressing the audience as individuals to create a fake relationship. One common way of establishing this type of relationship is the use of inclusive language, for example, personal pronouns such as “you”. The use of second person and possessive pronouns such “you” and “your”, works to address members of the audience directly. When people are addressed individually, out of the crowd, rather than as just part of the mass audience, they are led to feel more valued. Another technique the ad utilizes is its structure itself (this is something that I need to explore more). The ad begins with several older people being asked to do something “like a girl”. Then the ad moves onto a younger group of girls. The structure aims to show the stark difference of the phrases meanings to different people of different age groups, as a result of exposure to stereotypes. The juxtaposition further emphasises the idea that young girls are not born biased but are taught this negative bias. This also in turn places an importance on this advertisement as it is essentially saying that sending this message to young girls will allow them to gain confidence from a younger age, setting them up for success as adults.

Another way this advertisement aims to engage the audience is by trying to find common ground. One way that the advertisement tries to find common ground with the audience is through using “average” people or “real” people in the advertisement, not unlike the advertisement’s target audience. In addition to this, the answers the subjects gave seems to be unscripted, conversational, and natural. This allows the advertisement to gain authenticity or credibility, which advertisements typically lack, and result in the company gaining the audience's trust. The video is structured in a strategic way-- from the beginning of the video, the audience is immediately shown a set of the video being shot. The audience is essentially put behind the scenes, allowing for a more transparent, or seemingly transparent message. The video is in a simple question and answer format between the director and the featured individuals, who essentially represent the audience. In the video, there are parts where the individuals state their names and ages. For example, “My name is Dakota and I'm ten years old”. Whether that is her real name and age or not, this information and introduction allows for a more personal connection to form between the individuals and the audience. The video’s format, as well as the personal responses from the individuals, creates a more candid and honest video that allows the company to build a sense of trust between the company and the future consumers. The sense of trust built through this advertising technique essentially allows the company’s menstrual products to be more appealing to the audience.

Another technique the advertisement utilizes is its platform. This advertisement was posted on Youtube.com and also played at the Super Bowl. By posting on a popular, free platform such as Youtube, Always is able to ensure exposure to a wide array of viewers, as online videos can be viewed by larger public audiences. It is also significant that Always chose to make a video advertisement, rather than a print advertisement. Video advertisements allow for more engagement as it has other factors to it such as visuals and audio, which appeals to the audience. Throughout the first half of the video, there is no background music, however, as the video switches into a more empowering moment While young girls are likely their target audience, by choosing to air the advertisement at the SuperBowl, a sporting event that is watched by a majority of men, it shows that the advertisement targets the male audience, as well. This could allow the audience to have good faith in the company’s intentions, as it seems to focus more on delivering the social message to everyone, rather than just people that would affect its sales. It allows boys and even men to realize how a seemingly funny insult could have a long lasting effect on a girl’s confidence, and in turn have a negative effect on her place in society. Always seems to realize that getting everyone, males and females alike, to realize there is an issue is the first step to fixing it as an entire society.

A significant text to unpack is the hashtag slogan #LikeAGirl. I’d like to approach this as someone who is not familiar with the discourses these three words entail. These three words completely out of context, without knowledge of the discourse around it, carry so little meaning. This establishes the importance of social discourse in understanding language. It is necessary to understand that the words themselves aren’t negative in nature, however, at some point in time, in our society, doing something like a girl has come to mean doing something badly or at least not as good as a boy. In our current society, the expression “like a girl” is still commonly associated with weakness. The phrase has been structured by society to come along with a negative connotation, and as a result, young girls and women are being positioned to be seen in that negative light and to believe that being a girl and doing something “like a girl” is a negative thing, to be ashamed of.

Questions are another technique that advertisements, such as this one, typically rely on. For example, “What does it mean to you to do things #LikeAGirl?”. This question asks something to the audience and refers to them as “you”, as an individual. In advertisements, questions are asked to the readers to create synthetic personalization by simulating informal conversation with the audience. By not simply conveying information, and instead asking questions, it engages the audience in conversation through the ad. It is also evident that the advertisement plays on the audience’s emotions, appealing to pathos. The advertisement while seemingly lighthearted becomes emotional as older women realize how they have been conditioned and held back by society and its debilitating and disheartening ideas of women. This advertisement works to get the audience to realize something about themselves and society-- it works to show the negative association that people develop with the expression “like a girl” as they grow older. The structure of the questions and the order that they are asked also plays a significant role in delivering the company’s message. At the beginning of the video, the subjects are asked, “What does it mean to you to do something ‘like a girl’?” , then later they are asked “When did doing something ‘like a girl’ become an insult?”. The latter question essentially implies that it is an insult. These implications made by the organization and structure of the advertisement plays a role in how the audience views and understands it.

The advertisement’s purpose was to get the audience to realize and change the negative association that people have with the expression “like a girl”, and to allow women to reclaim the phrase “like a girl” by redefining the expression from an insult to a positive and inspiring statement. The advertisement works to construct a new definition of the phrase “like a girl”. The advertisement essentially becomes reliant on different discourses in order to subvert the phrase from its expected meaning. At the end of the video, one of the individuals says “Why can’t run like a girl also mean to win the race?”. The juxtaposition between the attitudes of the subjects from the beginning and at the end of the video, shows how the video works to disconnect the phrase from negativity and instead connect it to positivity and confidence in young girls. At the end of the video states “Rewrite the rules”. The company is stating one of their goals, while also setting one for the audience. The advertisement pushes to create a new discourse in our modern society in which feminism and women empowerment is our new advocacy.

This advertisement plays heavily on the existing discourse surrounding gender stereotypes about boys and girls. The discourse is reliant on the ideas from the past regarding women’s inferiority to men, and essentially the female sex’s inferiority to the male sex. Without the existing stereotype and surrounding discourse around the sexes, it wouldn’t be possible to have the conversation about the phrase “#LikeAGirl” or even have this advertisement exist. There would not be a need for this advertisement if the discourse surrounding gender stereotypes did not exist. This goes back to the idea of how discourse allows us to talk about language in use and how it creates meaning within a society.

In conclusion, the Always #LikeAGirl campaign effectively utilizes discourse surrounding gender stereotypes to challenge societal norms and empower women. Through discursive approaches such as subject positioning, reliance on stereotypes, and synthetic personalization, the campaign aims to redefine the derogatory phrase "like a girl" into a positive and inspiring statement. By analyzing the linguistic choices, strategies, and social impact of the advertisement, we gain insights into the broader discourse on gender roles and stereotypes in society. The campaign serves as a powerful example of how advertising can contribute to shaping cultural narratives and fostering positive social change.