--- description: Acting "like a girl" should not be an insult title: This Ad Completely Redefines the Phrase "Like a Girl" image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Living](/tag/time-section-living/) ## Living Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # This Ad Completely Redefines the Phrase "Like a Girl" by [Hannah Goldberg](/author/hannah-goldberg/) ## Hannah Goldberg Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 26, 2014 6:26 PM CUT by [Hannah Goldberg](/author/hannah-goldberg/) ## Hannah Goldberg Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 26, 2014 6:26 PM CUT After today, you’ll probably never use the phrase “like a girl” in a negative way—intentionally or not—again. A new video seeks to redefine the phrase “like a girl,” as something strong and powerful. It’s part of the larger #LikeAGirl campaign by Always, the feminine hygiene brand owned by Procter & Gamble. Award-winning filmmaker Lauren Greenfield, who directed the 2012 documentary, _Queen of Versailles_, teamed up with Always to illustrate the brand’s mission to empower females and attack what [Always](http://www.always.com/en-us/likeagirl.aspx "undefined") calls a “the self-esteem crisis” among young girls. In the video, a cast of men and women of all ages are asked to describe what they think the phrase “like a girl” means. The result is troubling. Waving hands and flipping hair, the participants pretend to run “like a girl” and throw “like a girl.” Everyone—except, notably, the young girls—demonstrate that “just like a girl” is often perceived as an insult. Yet the young girls act out athletic and deliberate motions. The others soon realize their mistake. Branded female empowerment campaigns are nothing new: Consider Dove’s [“Real Beauty” ads](http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/04/17/watch-viral-dove-ad-uses-sketch-artist-to-illustrate-womens-true-beauty/ "undefined"), which use simple props to show how “real” women feel about themselves. And [Pantene has done similar work](http://business.time.com/2013/12/10/pantene-powerfully-breaks-down-every-sexist-workplace-stereotype-in-one-ad/ "undefined"), with a focus on dismantling gender stereotypes in the workplace. All of these ads have gone viral—an advertiser’s dream. The #LikeAGirl video could follow a similar path. Either way, it’s worth taking a minute to watch the video to see what these young girls have to say. After all, as one woman points out in the video, “I am a girl and that is not something that I should be ashamed of.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2927761/likeagirl-always-female-empowerment/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2927761/likeagirl-always-female-empowerment/"},"headline":"This Ad Completely Redefines the Phrase \"Like a Girl\"","datePublished":"2014-06-26T18:26:16.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:55:33.732Z","description":"Acting \"like a girl\" should not be an insult","url":"https://time.com/2927761/likeagirl-always-female-empowerment/","keywords":["Living","women","Culture"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Hannah Goldberg","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/hannah-goldberg/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-living/","name":"Living"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2927761/likeagirl-always-female-empowerment/","name":"This Ad Completely Redefines the Phrase \"Like a Girl\""}}]}] ```