Love Over Bias

Procter & Gamble have done it again.

What an important message.

In researching this advertisement program and what it took to get it together...

Procter & Gamble interviewed many many athletes about their process, about their lives, about their struggles getting to where they are today, their achievements, their hurdles.

What I think is important to note is that their struggle is our life's struggle. In life, we are faced with hurdles, with problems to solve, adventures to have, people to work with, maneuver around, and navigate through. Some do it gracefully, some do not. Some face more and more struggles than others. Some just curl up and stop.

P&G discovered that Olympic athletes struggled to overcome biases about what an athlete should look like, facing prejudices about how an athlete on the world stage should carry themselves, who they should love or how they should live their lives, or even how they worship.

This piece goes on to lift up the role of mother's in this struggle and how they become champions for their child's navigation to achieving their dreams and goals. These mothers are the ones who see so much more...how they see the potential in front of them and their willingness to do whatever it takes, picking up the pompoms of cheerleader, the hugs of comfort, or the sternness of perseverance. Not to negate the father's influence as well. They are obviously just as key to their child's success and advancement. 

More importantly, the film goes farther to encouraging us to think about bias, how debilitating bias can be, forcing each of us to look at our values, look at our beliefs, and how bias can limit human potential and our need to look beyond the elements of things we allow to debilitate and separate us in our lives should actually be things that bring us together, to embrace the differences in all of us. 

Celebrating everything we actually share. 

WE have different skin.

We have different journeys.

We have different people we love.

But we all have goals.

We all have life blood coursing through our veins.

All the same blood type.

And at our core...we are all humans.

We should embrace that deeply.

Things we should ALL keep in mind.

Marc Pritchard, P&G Chief Brand Officer, was quoted as saying the film's theme and goal is as follows, "At P&G, we aspire to create a better world for everyone- a world free from bias, with equal representation, equal voices and equal opportunities. When the world is more equal, society is better and it leads to economic growth."

Amen.

My mother was the guiding spirit of my life and I am so thankful for her guidance, her encouragement, her strong shoulder, her cheerleader stance and for her love and support. 

So as the film ends with...

Thank you, Mom.