Yesterday Lean Cuisine launched a new social campaign to help “women explore what having #ItAll means to them.” The brand teamed with an New York University social psychologist Emily Balcetis to test its theory that women are having a major impact on each other as they challenge the ideal that was never real but won’t seem to go away: Having it all.
https://youtu.be/AhBSaqsuyfU
Balcetis designed a social experiment for 18 participants, asking them about what they want in life via a questionnaire about their ideal family life, career, finances, personal enrichment, health and wellness, education, and more. Weeks later, the participants were invited to shop at a pop-up “#ItAll” store where items on the shelves mimicked the initial survey topics like career, salary ranges, and children. In the store, each participant brought with them women who have been influential in their life. The results showed that when the 18 subjects of the study brought friends with them, 89% set more ambitious goals and 77% chose greater aspirations in the aspects of life they deemed most important. The brand’s conclusion is that women help each other set a higher bar when striving for their “all.”
However, the responses online have been pretty critical, primarily focusing on the brand’s traditional image and product selling point of encouraging women to lose weight.
"Remember when we body-shamed you guys into attempting to survive on child-size rations of food? We did that to nourish female friendship. Don't forget to use the good & memorable hashtag #itall"
— Hot Take Appreciator (@IHateNYT) May 24, 2018
Having #ItAll means not having diet food directly targeted at me because I'm a woman. What year is it again?
— Aisha (@fakeaisha) May 24, 2018
Having #ItAll means eating real food without feeling guilt or stressing about the societal pressure to be rail thin. https://t.co/ZvgdAPAByn
— Ruby Rapture OF: /RubyandKiwi (@RubyRapture) May 24, 2018
for me, personally, it includes not being pandered to in dumb advertising campaigns like this one #ItAll pic.twitter.com/YOph5WasDb
— Kate Elizabeth Queram (@katequeram) May 24, 2018
https://twitter.com/zookmann/status/999563960335527936