this girl can

• This Girl Can advert

  National campaign developed by Sport England and in conjunction with a wide range of partnership organisations
• Purpose of the campaign

  • To break down the primary barrier holding women back from participating in sport - the fear of judgement
  • To target and celebrate 'active women who are doing their thing, whatever that may be, no matter how well they do it, no matter how they look or even how red their face gets'
• The campaign is currently funded by the National Lottery and backed by a government body, Sport England; there is no commercial aspect to it at all
• Research by Sport England

  • Discovered that 2 million fewer 14-40 year old women than men partake in sport regularly
  • 13 million women said they would like to participate more in sport and physical activity
  • Just over 6 million of these are not currently active at all
  • Fear of being judged was the number one barrier for most women who felt they were unable to participate in physical activity
• As a result of the campaign, 1.6m women have started exercising and the number of women playing sport and being active is increasing faster than the number of men
• Soon after the launch of the "This Girl Can" campaign

  Nike released a more motivational campaign called "Better for it" which also portrayed a more 'real' side to fitness
• Central, striking image

  • Mid-shot of a woman in her thirties, exercising
  • Not a celebrity, an ordinary woman of all ages
  • Hair scraped up into a ponytail, sweating a lot, clothes not fashionable
• Slogan "Sweating like a pig, feeling like a fox"


  Turns the idea of sweating being unfeminine into something positive, suggesting that by working out, you become healthier and more attractive
• "This Girl Can"

  Positive statement with connotations of determination, used to reinforce the idea that all women should exercise and convince them that if they try they can succeed in sport
• Hashtag "#thisgirlcan"

  • Connects readers to the campaign's social media pages, allowing the print campaign to take readers to the complete YouTube advert
• Representation of women

  • Portrayed extremely positively as independent, confident and happy
  • Challenging stereotypes and sexism in sport
  • Supposed to be seen as heroic, aspirational role models
• Use of "girl"

  • Used as an all-encompassing term to represent and target the whole female population
  • May disconnect older women who feel the term is associated with younger females