LIKE A GIRL

Caleb Wethington Wethington1
Professor Randall
Engl1020
2/10/15

Always Outdated

Ham Porter: “You play ball like a girl!” [entire group stands in shocked silence] Phillips: “What did you say?” Ham Porter: “You heard me.” Phillips:
“Tomorrow. Noon, at our field. Be there, buffalo-butt breath.” This is an excerpt from the film, “The Sandlot” that was released in 1993, but was set in the 1960’s. What you see here is an example of the phrase “like a girl,” actually having reference and meaning from one young man to another. It’s stating that Phillips plays baseball like a young girl, which was a huge insult and blow to his esteem, and all the others who heard the statement were blown away that it was even said; almost as if it were violent vulgar language. During the 2015 Super Bowl, the company Always, constructed and released a commercial that stated the phrase “like a girl,” still to this day has a valid form of hurt towards young girls. What they are wanting from this commercial is to help support young girls go through puberty with confidence, which is a wonderful thing; but “like a girl,” is a very outdated insult to girls. For the current generation “like a girl,” being an insult has faded away. Their claim that this simple phrase has this big of an impact, or even any impact at all is outdated, and wrong. If this commercial were to air from the 60’s through the 90’s it Wethington2 might have actual meaning and place to be talked about, but now to the girls of this day and age it gives no bother to them. The idea they 're trying to get across for young girls to have more confidence could and should be represented differently.
They should be encouraging girls to be themselves, and to not worry about what others think. Girls of this generation are more focused on being popular, and having more quantity of friends rather than quality. What Always tried to do was not a bad thing at all; just the way they went about doing so was not as effective as it could have been. The fact that they decided to air an advertisement that is promoting women 's strength on a day dedicated to a male dominated sport, is bold and does send a message. One message even weeks after is still talked about. Whether or not the ad presented the best way it could have is irrelevant, the word 's out and woman everywhere, are voicing their opinion on social media, and any way they can publicly. It 's more of a public service than an advertisement, which may or may not help them sell their product, but that wasn 't their intentions. All in all if you are trying to get your point across to millions upon millions of viewers, go about it in an effective way that isn 't outdated or wrong. Always in no way shape or form did a bad thing, they just did it the wrong way. Their Super Bowl appearance has left a mark on many girls and even boys (negative and positive), so at the end of the day they got the job done.

Works Cited Page

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjJQBjWYDTs This is my link to the AD.

Cited: Page https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjJQBjWYDTs This is my link to the AD.