Gillette Venus battles one-dimensional labels with new ' Use Your And' campaign

BOSTON — Procter & Gamble’s Gillette Venus is launching a “Use Your And” campaign to inspire women and girls to stand up against one-dimensional labels.



“We created this campaign based on what we were hearing from women. They feel that beauty brands tend to focus only on singular dimensions of women — either Super Model or Super Mom — when, in fact, most women are a fabulous mix of everything in between,” stated Charlene Patten, Gillette Venus global brand franchise leader. “Women are limited by one-dimensional labels from a very young age, which leads to significant loss of potential. For example, if she’s labeled pretty, it is assumed she can’t be smart so she behaves accordingly. At Gillette Venus, we believe that all women have the right to achieve their full potential by embracing their ‘ands’ and not be limited by any ‘ors’.”

The campaign derived from the results of a new Global Labels Research Survey by Gillette Venus, which revealed that most women around the world (70%) have felt labeled by others. Those labels can be assigned as young as 10 years old, and nearly half of those surveyed (43%) say those labels have had a negative effect on their lives. Despite the advances of women in the workplace and home, the survey shows that girls still feel being labeled affects their self-perception and life choices.

As part of the campaign, Gillette Venus is releasing the new “AND Stand” video to spark a global conversation and inspire women to use their ands — all of the qualities, attributes and characteristics that make a woman who she is. The video features real women telling personal stories of lost potential stemming from labels, set against a remastered recording of the iconic ‘She’s Got It’ song.



Gillette Venus is partnering with Claudia Chan, founder of S.H.E. Summit Global Conference & Women’s Empowerment Expert, to educate women in identifying their stereotypical labels and support them to use their ands. Women can visit GilletteVenus.com/ to access Claudia’s exclusive tips, tools and advice.



The Global Labels Survey conducted by Wakefield Research for Gillette Venus also uncovered:



Labeling/Stereotyping starts young and in school: The majority of women (70%) surveyed around the world first felt constrained by stereotypes or labels as early as 10 years old, reporting their classmates as the top group of people (67%) who have given them a label.



Women who’ve been labeled before more frequently label others: More women frequently label others who have been labeled themselves (62%) vs. women who have never been labeled (34%).




The Gillette Venus Global Labels Research Survey was conducted among 500 women between the ages of 16 to 45 in each of nine countries, between Oct. 24 and Nov. 10, using an email invitation and an online survey, for a total of 4,500 respondents.