There "is more than a whiff of paternalism about two big campaigns on both sides of the Atlantic to encourage more women into sports," according to Emily Cadman of the FINANCIAL TIMES. In the U.K., Sport England’s much-praised #thisgirlcan advert -- which has been viewed more than 13 million times online -- "revolves around the astounding fact that exercise often involves getting out of breath." And this week, Nike "has launched a somewhat suspiciously similar campaign" in the U.S., #betterforit, which has the "equally profound message" that you need to practice to get better at sports. However sceptical you are about the campaigns’ concepts, "it is worth thinking about how infrequently billboards -- let alone TVs -- around the country are filled with pictures of women actively doing sport." Men looking for role models or inspiration to get off the couch "have a far wider diet." Football, cricket, snooker, motorsport, cycling and rugby union "will all be beamed into British living rooms over the next few weeks." If you are a woman -- or a young girl -- "what do you have?" Sport England "will get its first hint of whether its campaign has had any impact in the real world in June, when the next set of numbers on how many Britons participate in sports are published." It currently estimates 2 million fewer 14- to 40-year-old women than men play sport regularly in the U.K. -- despite 75% saying that "they want to be more active." Nike "is not spending big money on a new advertising campaign for altruistic reasons: it is betting that it can grow its womenswear line" from $5B a year at present to $7B by '17. This "is where the differences between the two campaigns start to grate." The Sport England campaign "deliberately casts non-models and features an array of accessible sports from boxing to football on an urban artificial pitch and swimming in an ordinary municipal swimming pool." The Nike campaign by contrast "remains focused on the body beautiful, and far more traditional female activities like yoga, running and studio cycling" (FT, 4/19).
