Sport England "Phenomenal Woman" (2017) 1:30 (USA)

Maya Angelou already helped sell Apple, so why not female positivity, too? It's a shame her poetry gets drowned out by the anthemic music in what is essentially one long vignette spot of women exercising. Women. From all walks of life, all shapes and sizes doing all kinds of exercise in all kinds of sports, together or alone. As much as I like the poem, it makes me realize once again the importance of good music. The Apple spot let the music complement Angelou's still, yet even voice. This music treats it like a competition. Now that we've had two Angelou-read spots in as many years, could we give it a rest and let copywriters start writing again?

FCB Inferno
Managing Director: Sharon Jiggins
Chief Creative Officer: Al Young
Senior Copywriter: Martin McAllister
Senior Art Director: Ben Edwards
Business Director: Hollie Loxley
Account Director: Isabelle Soskice
Account Manager: Alice Poole
Executive Planning Director: Vicki Holgate
Senior Strategist: Laura Coleman
Head of Broadcast/Producer: Jason Ayers
Production Assistant: Hanna Davis

Sport England
CEO: Jennie Price
Strategic Lead - Brand and Digital: Kate Dale

Director: Kim Gehrig
Production Company: Somesuch
Executive Producer : Tim Nash
Production Company Producer: Lee Groombridge Somesuch Script Writer: Rose Bretecher
Lighting/Cameraman: Robbie Ryan
Production Designer : Andy Kelly
Editor: Tom Lindsay @ Trim Editing
Casting: Leanne Flinn
Music & Sound Design: Soundtree
Post Production: Framestore

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Dabitch's picture

I agree that the Maya Angelou VO is poorly treated in this ad. This is a visual repeat of the "This Girl Can" ad of 2015, complete with the girl who runs around her block, except this time she says "right" and gets out of the couch instead of falling into it declaring that's she's knackered. I guess that's why they drowned Maya Angelou out, because in the other ad the music drove the boob-staring, jiggly-thighs and butt-following visuals.

And as pointed our prior, the grandmothers, mothers and young women in these ads are not "girls".