In today's society, beauty is often viewed as a means of success for women—and GoldieBlox, the company with a mission to "get girls building," has some beef with that shallow notion.
As part of their holiday campaign, the company, which was founded by Debbie Sterling (who has a degree in Mechanical Engineering / Product Design from Stanford), has released a new and very meaningful commercial, which sees a group of young girls, all sporting pretty pink dresses and matching heels, breaking the mold while putting a stop to the stereotypes that often follow women.
The clip opens by sharing the fact that, "Fashion dolls teach girls to value beauty over brains. One is bought every 3 seconds," before the "Big Sister machine" tells the young women, who are marching in an assembly line and all dressed the same, "You are beauty, and beauty is perfection."
Each girl grabs a generic doll from the Big Sister machine as they stoically march forward, but it doesn't take long before the pint-size beauties rebel against the unrealistic female standards, smashing the machine and kicking off their heels while beaming from ear-to-ear.
The ad, which is set to the tune of Metric's "Help Me I'm Alive," promotes the company's latest project: an action figure for girls. Instead of a fairy-tale wand, the blond-haired figure is holding a hammer and has a tool belt wrapped around her waist while rocking a pair of purple—not pink!—overalls.
As GoldieBlox explains on their website, "In a world where men largely outnumber women in science, technology, engineering and math, girls lose interest in these subjects as early as age 8. Construction toys develop an early interest in these subjects, but for over a hundred years, they've been considered 'boys' toys.' GoldieBlox is determined to change the equation. We aim to disrupt the pink aisle and inspire the future generation of female engineers."
The company has previously made headlines for its innovative ad campaigns. Last year, they revamped the famous Queen song "We Are the Champions," for their much buzzed-about commercial, which featured young girls singing, "We are more than just princesses, we are champions."
GoldieBlox also snagged a 30-second spot at the 2014 Super Bowl and their products were picked up by Toys 'R Us last year.
While only time will tell if this particular commercial will make waves like the rest, the overall message is certainly worth sharing.
"Let's work together to get girls building the futures they deserve," the company says in its press release. "Our girls are so much more than pretty faces."
What do you think of the GoldieBlox ad? Tell us in the comments!