This ad gives a new meaning to the phrase 'like a girl' inspring many around the world

While many claim the world is advancing in equality, insults directed at women persist, often disguised in phrases like "throws like a girl" or "runs like a girl." To challenge these disrespectful notions, the 2014 "Like A Girl" ad campaign by Always conducted a social experiment. The results provide a powerful lesson that redefines the meaning of the phrase "like a girl." 

"What does it mean to do something 'like a girl?'" the question pops up as the "Like A Girl" video begins. As part of this experiment, three grown-up girls, a man and a young boy were asked to mimic what it meant to do things like a girl. First, they were asked to run like a girl and every one of them, including the girls, ran with an exaggerated femininity. When asked to fight like a girl, the participants flimsily waved their hands with no signs of toughness. Finally, the most common insult, "throw like a girl," came up and the participants made a sloppy throw as though girls were incapable of it.

When the young boy was asked if he felt he insulted his sister while doing these actions, he said, "No. I mean, ya, insulted girls, but not my sister." Then came a few young girls asked to do the same three actions- run, fight and throw like a girl. In a shocking twist, these girls never exaggerated their femininity, nor did they mockingly do it all. They simply ran, fought and threw like how it's always done. Despite hearing the words "like a girl," they didn't relate it to an insult but rather a regular action of running, throwing and fighting. "What does it mean to you when I say run like a girl?" the interviewer asked one of the little girls and she said in her innocent little voice, "It means run as fast as you can." 

The video concludes with a powerful message: "Let's make #LikeAGirl mean amazing things," the text read. Filmmaker Lauren Greenfield partnered with Always to create this masterpiece of an ad campaign a decade ago. "I think that one of the things that I always was really interested in looking into is how girls deal with the confidence crisis that happens around puberty sometimes," Greenfield said in an interview with Always. The director was shocked at how even grown-up girls considered "like a girl" as an insult. With this campaign, the phrase "like a girl" was given a new meaning, "from being an insult to being an expression of strength and downright amazingness."

Greenfield's interview garnered over 250K views on YouTube, with people showering their love and support for this ad. "My friend and I were talking about the 'Like a girl' video and how if someone said, for example, 'You run like a girl,' you should say back, 'If you ran a little faster, you could too,'" said @Alyssa_. "Reclaim yourself, and don't let anyone tell you that you're less than others!" remarked @DamonMacready. "It's so inspiring and really acts as a wake-up call for me and most girls, I would say. I would also make comments such as, 'You scream like a girl,' 'You act like a girl,' 'That's girly,' etc. In a sense, I was disrespecting myself and looking down on my own gender. If we can't even learn to respect ourselves, how in the world do we expect others to respect us," added @aprylshen.