Exercise is hard enough already without your arm fat flapping like a chicken wing to discourage you. But if we could learn to stop worrying and love the sweaty slap of our chubby thighs, we might never think twice about hitting the gym or the field.
At least, that's the premise of Britain's "This Girl Can" campaign. The wiggling, jiggling, sweaty anthem is getting press and shares for its honest depiction of what average women working out look like—so that women of all shapes and sizes will feel better stepping up the plate or the Zumba stick.
A bit clumsily cut to Missy Eliott's "Get Ur Freak On" and having some of the worst typographic design you've seen in ages, the video has nonetheless racked up millions of views on Facebook and YouTube due to its inspiring, anthemic nature.
Sport England (a British government department previously known as the English Sports Council) funded the effort and did the research that found a serious gender gap in exercise. Some 2 million fewer women than men in the 14-40 age range regularly participate in sports. They tried to figure out why.
Was it because our ladyparts make it harder to lift weights? Nope. In other European countries, there's no such gap. What was holding England's women back?
Digging further, they found that body image issues were the main issue. This campaign is meant to be the solution—a website, a YouTube channel and an inspirational film series that celebrates the wiggling, jiggling and sweating that comes along with being a healthy active woman at any size.
It might encourage you to get out on the field. At the very least, it will fill your girl power needs until another anthemic video comes along next week.
CREDITS
Agency: FCB Inferno
Managing Director: Sharon Jiggins
Creative Director: Bryn Attewell
Art Director: Raymond Chan
Copywriter: Simon Cenamor
Planning Director: Vicki Holgate
Senior Account Director: Hollie Loxley
Producer: Ally Mee
Media Company: Carat
Production Company : Somesuch
Exec. Producer: Tim Nash
Director: Kim Gehrig
DP: David Procter
Producer: Lee Groombridge
Editor: Tom Lindsay at Trim
Post-production Producers: Andrew McLintock and Adam Sergant
Post-production: Framestore
Audio post-production: Wave Sound Studios
Music Company/Sound Design: Soundtree
