Hasta La Creative!

Girl power is on the rebound. We have seen the female empowerment movement spring up in all the right places recently — in ad campaigns, among celebrities, with parents and advocates of young girls, and even within organizations as tech giants like Google and eBay try to be more accountable for increasing diversity in their ranks.

Last week, Ad Age highlighted how advertisers are getting in on the big push for all things girl with “fem-powerment” campaigns such as “Like a Girl” by Always, Dove’s “Real Beauty” and Verizon’s “Inspire Her Mind.” This article about the renaissance of girl power raised an important question: Do these ads really drive positive changes in our culture or is this just another case of “pinkwashing?” I would argue that these ads aren’t pushing us forward; they’re simply catching up to what’s happening in culture, reflecting ideals and attitudes that many women — and men — already hold true.

The women’s issue is one of the longest-running social justice debates in history. More than a century before women were granted the right to vote, First Lady Abigail Adams chided her husband and then President John Adams about the abject lack of validation of women in America — rather ironic in a country founded on the pillars of equality and freedom. President Adams acknowledged the sheer magnitude of women as an emerging force in many letters with his wife, declaring women as a “tribe more numerous and powerful than the rest.”

Continue reading at AdAge.com