VicHealth continues its ‘This Girl Can – Victoria’ platform with new film via The Shannon Company
54 year old Sally throws a netball, Tina’s powering on a bike in her lycra, helmeted Miranda pushes through her opposition in roller-derby and Joys punches into a bag. They’re four of the twelve local women starring in the powerful new This Girl Can – Victoria campaign launched last night by health promotion foundation VicHealth via The Shannon Company.
The campaign, which hit screens last night, is a local version of the world-famous viral campaign by Sport England which inspired an incredible 3.9 million British women to ditch the couch and get active.
This Girl Can – Victoria aims to build upon this success and empower women across the state to get active and overcome feelings of judgment which new VicHealth research shows is stopping them from getting active.
The research reveals over half of Victorian women worry about being judged when exercising. They worry more than men about keeping up, being unfit and find it harder to go back to exercise when they haven’t done it for a while.
The ad features everyday Victorian women – no airbrushed Instagram models – overcoming their fears and giving it a go, curves, jiggles, wrinkles and all. The women, from all across the state, get their sweat on in a range of activities from boxing, cycling and roller-derby to netball and Aussie rules. Netballer Sally shoots goals in a game despite being told she’s ‘too old to play’ and Tina’s on the bike even after someone’s yelled out ‘fat chicks shouldn’t wear lycra’.
Says Jill Hennessy, minister for health: “This Girl Can – Victoria shows everyday women getting out there and having a go. This campaign is all about getting Victorian women active, feeling proud of themselves and reaching their goals.
“In Victoria, only two in five of us do enough physical activity to be healthy and we know that women in particular are less active than men. We want to inspire as many women as possible to get active and prove that in Victoria, all women and girls most certainly can.”
Says Natalie Hutchins, minister for women: “This Girl Can – Victoria is all about empowering women to smash outdated stereotypes about what they can or can’t do in the gym, on the sporting field and in our neighbourhoods.”
VicHealth CEO Jerril Rechter said the fear of judgment – as well as actual experiences of judgement – stop too many women from being physically active.
Says Rechter: “Over half of Victorian women worry about being judged while exercising and for over 40 percent this feeling of embarrassment or intimidation is so strong it actually stops them from taking part in sport or exercise.
“Concerns about how they look, that they aren’t skilled enough or that they should be prioritising their family or work over exercise are genuine obstacles for women. However, we know if women can identify themselves in advertising and in the media, they’re more likely to overcome this fear of judgement.
“This Girl Can features everyday women staring down their critics and getting active regardless of how they look or how sweaty they get.
“This campaign isn’t about making women feel bad about not doing enough exercise. It’s about celebrating what they can do, even if that’s just a walk around the block or a few laps of the pool.”
Sport England CEO Jennie Price said she was proud to partner with VicHealth on bringing This Girl Can to Australia.
Says Price: “We’re really proud of our partnership with VicHealth. This ad is visibly part of the This Girl Can family – but it’s your campaign…it’s all about Victorian women. We’ve had enormous success in England and I think it’ll be a fantastic success here in Victoria too.”
Rechter said she had been overwhelmed by the number of Victorian women wanting to share their stories of how sport and exercise have improved their confidence, health and wellbeing.
Says Rechter: “We’ve listened to the stories of hundreds of Victorian women who’ve told us about what being active means to them and what they’ve had to overcome to do it.
“The women featured in This Girl Can – Victoria are everyday women who’ve found the confidence to get out there and get active. They’re doing it for themselves – not for anyone else. They’re doing it because they love it, and because they can.”
Agency: The Shannon Company, Melbourne
Creative Director: Emma Hill
Director: Celeste Geer
1 Comment
The UK campaign was daring and provocative.
It held your attention from front to back and at the time, and made you go ‘what the?’.
Unfortunately with ‘franchise’ work you either need to bring the strength of the original or build on it. This just doesn’t quite have the same power.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsP0W7-tEOc
However it is a great campaign o/s that’s worthy of praise, and the production values on the local version are admirable. For people here not exposed to the UK version it will do good things.