Gender Stigma Of Girls Self Esteem Drops Dramatically...

Society has ascribed to women the negative gender stigma that they are weak and incapable. One obvious manifestation of this is the mocking phrase that someone does something, such as run, fight, or hit, â€Å"like a girl†. While most people say this phrase as a joke, it truly does have an effect on young girls. In the Always â€Å"Like a Girl† commercial, parent company Proctor and Gamble presents the statistic that girls self esteem drops dramatically during puberty (AlwaysBrand). Although Always is attempting a new tactic to reverse the negative gender stigmas of women by focusing on the core of the problem, puberty, the point in girls lives when they stop perceiving themselves as strong and capable, Always’ morals have flaws. Large advertisement campaigns like Always determine how well a product will sell based on the response from the viewers. These advertisements represent large marketing investments balanced by the hope of reaping high increases in resu lting sales. By juxtaposing the two ideas of the adolescent target market and the apparently feminist marketing campaign, this paper will examine the psychological changes during puberty and marketer’s focus on adolescent stigmas in an effort to demonstrate that the brand Always is not actually bringing a new face to feminism, just exploiting the issue for their own self-interested profit in sales. Always’ centers the storyboard of their commercial by portraying the differing views of girls that occur as they move through