“What are little girls made of?”
“They’re made of sugar and spice. And sweat. And fury. And grit. And strength. That’s what little girls are made of,” says world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki, wearing a black dress with spaghetti straps, while she hits an overhead smash.
This can be seen in a brand new commercial for the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) featuring top players playing tennis while dressed up in dresses and scarves. The commercial, by Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, closes with the tagline for the campaign: “Strong is beautiful.”
Ana Ivanovic is also featured in a 30-second spot saying, in Serbian with English subtitles: “During the war in Serbia, they bombed us all day and all night. But if I got up early enough, I could practice before the planes came.”
Li Na is also featured with subtitles saying, “China is a country of 1.3 billion people yet we’ve never had a No. 1 player or Grand Slam champion. No pressure.”
“This is a global sport and this is about celebrating our next generation of stars,” said Stacey Allaster, chief executive of the WTA.
Stefan Copiz, the creative director for the campaign from Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, said that the “Strong is beautiful” tagline is not meant to convey that the players are beautiful in a conventional sense, but rather to challenge conventional notions about beauty. The commercial that subverts the “sugar and spice” nursery rhyme line “serves as a manifesto” for the campaign, Copiz said.
“The duality we picked up on in women’s tennis is on the one hand they are tremendous athletes who have tremendous strength and power. But on the other hand they do it with such grace — the grace of ballerinas — and such beauty,” said Copiz.
(Story/Image: NYTimes)
