As the old saying goes, "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all." Unless, of course, you want to incur the wrath of Gisele Bundchen.
Bundchen stars in an empowering new spot for Under Armour that shows the best way to deal with naysayers: get a punching bag and kick the crap out of it. The commercial shows Bundchen doing just that as actual tweets about her are projected around her. The messages range from "Stick to modeling sweetie" to "Bravo! Gisele can do anything," all to the soundtrack of Bundchen's grunting as she shows that punching bag who's boss.
The new spot is part of Under Armour's new "I Will What I Want" campaign celebrating women getting out there and pursuing their dreams no matter what anyone else says. It's likely that the tweets used in this spot were reacting to the news of Bundchen being a part of this campaign. "It's a reminder that you don't need permission, advice, or affirmation when you have WILL," the campaign's description said.
Along with Bundchen, the campaign includes other strong women from the world of dance and athletics, such as downhill skiier Lindsey Vonn, pro tennis player Sloane Stephens, pro soccer player Kelley O'Hara and pro surfer Brianna Cope.
Most notably, American Ballet Theatre soloist Misty Copeland's spot went viral when it was released at the end of July. The clip shows Copeland en pointe (those calf muscles!) as the voice of a young girl reads a rejection letter from a ballet academy that said (presumably) Copeland wasn't admitted because she did not have the body type of a typical ballet dancer. And then she slays us with her impressive ballet moves as she dances off into the sunset.
The "I Will What I Want" campaign is part of what Under Armour Founder and CEO Kevin Plank calls his company's "womanifesto" to inspire women to be athletic and equal menswear sales. The athleticwear company hopes that the campaign will help it compete with Vancouver-based workoutwear chain Lululemon, which had a PR disaster in 2013 when customers complained about the company's sheer black yoga pants. Lululemon's founder Chip Wilson made things a whole lot worse when he responded to the controversy by saying, "Quite frankly, some women's bodies just actually don't work" for pants. "It's really about the rubbing through the thighs, how much pressure is there," he said.
That incident really hurt Lululemon's stock price and store sales, so it looks like Under Armour is primed to overtake their share of the "athleisure" market with this new campaign. And even if you have no interest in buying a sports bra, getting a reminder that you should ignore the haters and just do you from the two spots released so far are fantastic messages for any woman — or anyone, for that matter — to take to heart.
