Why do marketers prefer “girls” to “women”?It's time to grow up

There's lazy girl Summer, hot girl Walk, strawberry girl, lemon girl, and various other fruit-related girls. At the airport, I watched Gone Girl, The Girl on the Train, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, or The Girl Who Saw Another Girl Do Something Very Bad (the last You may pick up the one I made). And then there's the musical “Mean Girls.”

Why is it so ubiquitous? Journalist Rebecca Jennings analyzes this trend in this clever article. Spoiler alert: It's catchy and viral. It will sell. But should you use it?

If it's a fun trend or pop culture, that's fine. But when a brand is marketing directly to me and my habits, using a description that seriously hasn't been used since I was 12 years old, I wonder what the hell is going on. I can't help but wonder.

Then it's on to Sport England, home of the famous 'This Girl Can' campaign. The company is looking for a new creative agency, which will give it a fresh start.

As someone who loves exercise and fitness, I truly appreciate this organization's efforts. It was a noble mission, and it worked. Since its launch in 2015, the campaign claims to have inspired more than 150,000 women to take action, but this does not include the brand's partnerships or fundraising efforts for charities. yeah.

So I took a closer look and found that the Sport England website features women from all walks of life and all ages. I don't call most people “girls.”

So what does that give?

Since the dawn of advertising, women have clearly struggled for equal representation and fought back against patronizing and harmful messages that reinforce harmful stereotypes.

So should I keep using girl, even if my original intentions were very well-intentioned? Or am I just a hypocrite? After all, don't I often refer to nights out with friends as girls' nights out or joke about being a “girlboss”?

When do you become an adult?

Corporate marketing campaigns are very different from scenarios where women choose to colloquially adopt the term themselves.

Some experts agree that referring to adult women as “girls” can be harmful. Research has shown that it can have a derogatory effect and negatively impact areas such as external perception, self-awareness, and self-confidence. I don't want to rain on anyone's parade, but if a message of “empowerment” centered around the word “girl” is aimed at an audience that has left their childhood behind in the distant past, it can have the opposite effect. It may be time to realize that it has the potential to bring about this effect.

Or to put it another way, if there was a campaign to get men involved in sports called “This Boy Can,'' everyone would stand up.

So what can we think of instead? That's the hard part.

Why not “This Woman Can”? Well, it doesn't sound exactly the same. why is that? Perhaps “girl” is deeply ingrained in our female-related cultural vocabulary. Or you can go in a gender-neutral and inclusive direction. “Game On/We're Game.” Or a gendered third person, but sticking to the cheerful affirmation, “She can/Yes, she can.” Or even the alliteration, “This woman wins.” Although I know that what really matters is participation.

A further consideration is that awareness of menopause is now increasing, and some health experts have suggested that increased physical activity can help women better manage their symptoms.

Such audiences may benefit from such campaigns structured in a more inclusive way. Or is there a misconception that middle-aged women are praised for being called “girls”? Perhaps this type of initiative is positioned to favor younger age groups. Because, after all, it sells better.

But by focusing on this demographic and taking it seriously, Sport England could tap into a truly important – and often completely overlooked – female audience.

In the meantime, kudos to the agencies that are creating killer pitches. When that time comes, could someone please suggest a shiny new name change? It might spark some difficult conversations, but the big girls at Sport England, and the boys, can accept it. I'm sure it can be done.