In his first blog of the year, Communications Officer, David Callan, wants you to set a date with your sofa on the evening of Monday 12 January.
We at the Alliance don’t normally encourage people to watch TV, but on this occasion we’re willing to make an exception. This Monday, make sure that you are in front of the telly for the ad break in Coronation Street so that you can see the public launch of a ground-breaking participation initiative.
Why are we asking this? Because it will see the launch of the ad campaign for This Girl Can and we promise you it’s worth watching and taking part in.
This Girl Can campaign is designed to be a celebration of active women across the country, demonstrating that girls and women of any size, ability or experience can make sport an enjoyable part of their lives.
It comes as research, carried out by Sport England (who are behind the campaign), reveals that by every measure, fewer women than men play sport regularly - two million fewer 14-40 year olds in total. Despite this, 75 per cent say they want to be more active. In some other European countries, this disparity doesn’t exist so there’s no reason why it has to exist here.
Further detailed research into what's stopping women turning their ambitions into reality found that a fear of judgement - on appearance, ability or how they chose to spend time on themselves - puts women of all ages off exercising.
That’s why This Girl Can aims to inspire more women and girls to wiggle, jiggle, move and prove that judgement is a barrier that can be overcome.
We're encouraging our members to join the cause and register with This Girl Can to use their materials and promotions for their own ends.
The airing of the advert at 7:45 on Monday makes the start of a nationwide campaign that will see cinemas, coffee shops, train stations, tube lines and billboards used to get more women participating in physical activity.
You can get a flavour for the campaign by watching some behind-the-scenes videos and following the @thisgirlcan.
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