Vic Health’s This Girl Can campaign returns with message about not comparing oneself to #Fitspo images on social media
Vic Health has followed up on its 2018 This Girl Can campaign with a new instalment aiming to get women to exercise not for the benefit of how they look, but for how they feel.
The campaign features women from across the state of Victoria, including personal trainer Natasha Korbut and amputee swimmer Karen Veldhuizen, undertaking a variety of activities from football and soccer, to dance and skateboarding.
The This Girl Can campaign originated in the UK in 2015. Over two-and-a-half years the campaign inspired 2.8m British women to go out and do some activity or more activity. The 2018 Australian version so far has inspired over 400,000 women to get active.
This latest version from Vic Health is backed by research which found two-thirds of women are not motivated by ‘Fitspiration’ or ‘Fitspo’ content on social media, and that these images make a third of women feel bad or inadequate about their own bodies.
Vic Health head of This Girl Can, Melanie Fineberg, said of the research: “Our new research clearly shows that for many women what keeps them coming back to physical activity is the feeling they get rather than the number on the scales.
“The women in our ad celebrate how getting active makes them feel – whether it’s the fun of playing in a team, the calm of yoga or the joy of diving in the water.
“This Girl Can – Victoria isn’t about weight loss. It’s about moving our bodies because it feels good and because we can.”
Minister for health, Jenny Mikakos, said in a statement: “This Girl Can – Victoria is all about empowering women to believe in themselves and feel comfortable getting active, whether it’s going for a walk with their dog, doing yoga in their trackies at home, dancing with their friends or kicking goals on the sports field.
“I encourage Victorian women to give physical activity a go and show that in Victoria this girl definitely can.”
Fineberg added: “We’re bombarded with imagery of women with so-called “perfect” bodies working out without even breaking a sweat, which sends a message that there’s something wrong with us if we don’t look like that.
“Our research shows women want advertising that shows women of all shapes and sizes getting active in a realistic way – sweat, red faces, jiggles and all.
“The women featured in our campaign are everyday women with real stories and realistic bodies. We hope other women will relate to their struggles and triumphs and think if she can, I can too.”
The campaign was created by The Shannon Company.
