HuffImpact Post: Not Just Another Gender Violence Based Stastic

This is a blog  i wrote of the Huffington in commemoration of 16 Days of Activism against gender based violence

BRAND FIND: WHIP IT!

The first time i got introduced to Pantene was in the mid nineties while living in London. Barely reached two digits in age, i remember being fascinated by the Pantene shampoo advertisements on TV, wishing i too could have shiny long hair (every black girl's dream at some point or another). Fast forward 10+ years and other cool beauty product campaigns later like  Dove's Real Beauty campaign (which my then seemingly awkward & VERY chubby body could so identify with) and of course the  catch phrase most us have to come know so well, L'oreal's ' Because i'm worth it'.....i have now stumbled across 2013's brilliant brand advert by Pantene Phillipines, themed WHIP IT.  It is sassy, it is hip, it is so fitting and applicable and better yet it successfully connects to the source of confidence for many women - HAIR. WHIP IT also re-conceptualizes how WHIPPING of the hair can be seeing as POWERFUL, FEMININE, STRONG, BOLD, so very 21ST century. To me WHIP IT is asking women to OWN IT. 

I also commend them for including Filipino women of varying religious backgrounds, age and physical features. In short, this campaign is dope! I'd love to see a similar effective brand campaign for women done somewhere on the continent for the 21st century African woman in whatever the context may be.

Please Note: i completely understand the power behind effective packaging/marketing/consumerism attached to such adverts and i am a fan of them. Yes, a fan. We are bombard every day with millions of images, words, marketing ploys & messages that simple gestate clutter.....and i am a sucker for the good ones that 'get me'  so when beauty campaigns get it RIGHT especially to their female customers it is quite A-OK that their return on investment is HIGH. 

I'm all about commemorating 16 Day of Activism Against Gender Based Violence and so in the spirit of ACTING & celebrating woman - women + the girls girls girls....WHIP IT....please do. Always.

fambul dem, this is how we do....

For Us Girls - Young & Grown

I would tell my daughter this - as we continue to commemorate The Official 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence Campaign I would tell my daughter this....and i'd tell my girlfriends this too. So here goes the telling, the reminding, the passing on-ing...

“when the boys pull your hair and push you to the ground

during recess
I promise not to tell you that it’s because they like you.
when the teachers call home to tell me that
you pushed them to the ground in return
I’ll take you out of school early and buy
you your favorite ice cream.
when you get older and the boys
try to touch you when you don’t want to be touched
I’ll look at you like the sun when you come home
with anger in your fists.
they all tell you not to fight fire with fire
but that is only because they are afraid of your flames.
when the boys yell after you like hyenas
you yell back, baby.
I will not teach you to be afraid of your anger
so that you look for it in others.
I will not make you be the better person
because you already are.
you wanna fight ‘em? fight ‘em.
don’t you dare apologize for the fierce love
you have for yourself
and the lengths you go to preserve it.
when the boys try to tell you to soften up
I hope you make them bleed with your edges.
I hope you remember that you are not theirs
that their disappointment in you is not yours.
when the boys come to your door with pretty words and
angry eyes
I hope you show them the anger in yours.
I hope you show them just how strong your mommy
thinks you are.
I hope you show them the animal they can’t always
see in their own reflection.
when the boys come with the intention of hurting you
my advice will always stay the same, my darling:
give ‘em hell.”

—	when the boys come | Caitlyn S.