Have Girl-Powered Ads Empowered Female Directors?
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“This Girl Can,” an ad from Sport England, attempts to encourage women to get fit by depicting them exercising in a totally honest way. Far removed from the glossy spots of Nike or Under Armour, it opens with a close-up of a swimmer’s jiggling backside and goes on to feature other “real” females — red-faced and sweaty, cellulite and body fat wobbling proudly. The ad has earned more than 7 million views on YouTube since launching in January and generated massive creative buzz.
But its director, Kim Gehrig, has an admission to make: “This project was the first time in which I actually admitted to being a female director.”
Australian-born Ms. Gehrig, a former creative at Mother who is signed to U.K. production company Somesuch, believes that her unisex first name has helped her get a foot in the door with agencies who assumed she was a man. She’s not alone; another female director named Kim, Backyard’s Kim Nguyen, says this has been suggested to her, too.
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