FCB Inferno tells UK women ‘This Girl Can’ in big new fitness campaign for Sport England
FCB Inferno is launching its big new campaign for Sport England tonight, telling the nation’s women that ‘This Girl Can.’
Apparently we’re all obese, or verging on it, these days so FCB Inferno has rounded up a collection of well-upholstered ladies (all amateurs it seems) to try to overcome the notion that you only go to the gym if you look like Rosie Huntingdon-Whitely.
In my neck of the woods I often have to vacate the pavement to allow through sweaty, skinny thirty-somethings in headphones out for a run – but they’re probably mostly bankers and lawyers – so don’t count.
The campaign, which will also run everywhere digital with endorsements from the likes of Kelly Holmes and Clare Balding (who doesn’t take part in the ad, just as well as we see enough of Clare and a tracksuit might be too much) is aimed fairly and squarely at the great un-gymed and owes a certain something to Dove’s ‘Real Beauty Sketches’ focus on ‘real’ women.
Sport England CEO Jennie Price says: “Before we began this campaign, we looked very carefully at what women were saying about why they felt sport and exercise was not for them. Some of the issues, like time and cost, were familiar, but one of the strongest themes was a fear of judgement. Worries about being judged for being the wrong size, not fit enough and not skilled enough came up time and again.
“Every single woman I have talked to about this campaign – and that is now hundreds – has identified with this, and it is that fear of not being ‘good enough’ in some way, and the fear that you are the only one who feels like that, that we want to address.”
And they do.
I think this is sexist to be honest.
Clearly who ever came up with this campaign thinks we have to treat women like children and pander to them and offer them candy to go out and exercise in the form of an advertising campaign.
Whats worse this campaign seems to believe that men don’t have feelings at all and therefore they don’t feel nervous about going to a gym (and keep in mind there is no such thing as a male only gym) and having women stare at them and judge them.
It all leads to the assumption that either the author of this campaign was some kind of man hating feminist or someone that is clearly out of touch with how men feel.
Epic fail which ever way you look at it.