
Introduction
This is the start of my research for my final major project. I had chosen the Adidas brief; Here to change the decreased numbers of female athletes, as more young girls are dropping out of sports than boys. I'm aiming to make a short advertisement that will captivate young women, encouraging them to follow their dreams in becoming athletes. My focus before starting my research was on the younger generation of girls (pre-teens and teenagers); I wanted to create an ad with cool characters that will motivate them to continue sports. Here I've gathered together all my research; looking at other campaigns and reading on different sub-topics within women in sports has helped me decide what my final idea will be.
Research Plan
1) Find similar campaigns and art related to my idea/the brief
- 2 similar campaigns & 1 Artist
- Analysis each of them and write what I liked and what I would change.
2) Research websites thats explain why girls drop out of sports​
- take down citations
- analysis the websites, videos and articles I find
- use the research to determine what I want to focus in detail on
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2.5) Go into detail on 1 specific topic
- take down citations
- analysis the websites, videos and articles I find
- use the research to determine what I want to focus in detail on
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3) Create a survey for my peers and friends on the topic of girls in sports
- Ask questions that are important to the project:
- ask them if they ever wanted to become an athlete
- "why do you think girls are dropping out of sports?"
- "Do you still want to become an athlete?"
- "Do you look up to/know any female athletes?"
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4) Analysis a documentary/video that counts as primary research
- Write about what is being said
- My opinion on what is being said
- (Citations)
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5) Create another survey (or a focus group) on my topic of choice (puberty?)
- Ask detailed questions so I can get detailed answers:
- Has puberty/your period come in the way of you playing sports? (your comfort)
- What do you do when you get cramps and your period is really bothering you? Do you stop being active?
- If you were a man, would you enjoy doing sports more because of the advantages? (not having a period)
- Do you still wish to play sports?
- If you never went through puberty, do you think you would’ve continued to be active? And if you’ve never really liked sports, do you think you would’ve started to like sports?
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5)
Although my plan is very well thought out, I may find other things I want to add, and I might change the order of things.
Contents
Adidas - Here To Create change

To help me better understand what i’m supposed to produce from this project, I have looked for examples of different creative ways in which are supposed to encourage young women into pursuing sports. This video made by adidas themselves (Adidas: Here to Create Change by TBWA\Chiat\Day New York, 2018) is supposed to give female athletes the spotlight; advertising the idea that they should be given more exposure in the media.
The video is only 40 seconds long but gets to the point. It shows different types of women playing their respective sports, showing how exciting it is and how well they’ve trained to get to that point. There are brief messages that pop up showing statistics that adidas wants to change like "of all athletes shown in media, only 4% are women". These phrases are short but make sense to the viewer, all while just using a few words in a 40 second ad. The music they’ve used is also well chosen; one of the lyrics go “you should see me in the crown” which suggests that women can be amazing athletes too, if given the chance. The song is also catchy which makes the video more enjoyable to watch. The video changes up the scenes a lot which keeps the audience engaged, as well as using various cinematic shots; showing different women doing different sports shows other woman that they can be an athlete no matter who they are or what sport they enjoy.
I will say that the video isn’t so persuasive in showing that female athletes should be shown in the media more than they are. It’s hard to create a meaningful and influential video with only 40 seconds and without making it too wordy. The phrase in the ad “When they’re not shown, they’re not seen.” doesn’t have a lot of meaning to it, and basically states the obvious. Having something more meaningful being said there, something that proves female athletes can be just as amazing as male athletes, would make the video a lot more impactful and persuasive.
For this brief I’ve decided on creating an animated advert encouraging young girls to pursue sports. Looking at this example I can see what works as motivation and intrigue in an ad, but I can also see what I would want to change when I create my own ad. I will strive to be more captivating, using things that teenagers would deem interesting.


Always - #Likeagirl
Our Epic Battle #LikeAGirl, 2014 Is an amazing campaign made by Always which focuses on demolishing the idea that “like a girl” is a bad thing. As well as increasing girls confidence when it comes to doing activities (mainly sports).
The video they’ve created compares the ideals of men/boys and older women to the ideals of young girls who are still quite confident and haven’t gone through puberty yet. Showing the difference between their answer when told to act out “running like a girl” or “throwing like a girl” tells us how girls become discouraged to be active during puberty/growing up. With the adults running in an insulting and stereotypical way and the young girls running how they would run, “as fast as they can”. I love this idea: seeing those young girls being so active, then looking at how the older men and women treat acting “like a girl” is a good way to persuade the audience to keep such energy alive in girls.

This video does well to ask relevant questions and gets straight to the point, showing the difference in mindset, and what puberty does to change how girls view being active and their confident in sports overall. There isn’t any prolonged talking and the video quite short as well (3 minutes) which doesn’t allow the audience to get bored, and it also captions some of the questions letting the viewer ask themselves what they think about the subject.
Although this is a good video for this campaign, it wasn’t a very interesting/active video to look at. For my ad I would like it to have a variety of angles and active scenes to be a lot more captivating, especially to a younger audience of young, active kids.

#keepherplaying
Here is another campaign example that I found: it’s a personal project made by xmx Luo,2020, unrelated to any sports brand but its topic is the same as the Adidas brief. This artists focus is in supporting female athletes and pushing them to continue their sport no matter trials they may have to surpass; this is similar to what I wanted to focus on.
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The group poster and individual posters all have satisfying colour palettes and simple but beautiful character designs which makes the overall campaign look aesthetically pleasing. Each character is designed to be unique in where they’re from, what sport they play and whether they have a disability or not. This is a good way to show representation, and to show all female viewers that no matter who they are they should follow their path to becoming an athlete. The facial expressions and actions of all the characters are strong and powerful, making for an assuring and inspirational poster. The name of the project itself is quick way to spread the message the it’s trying to convey. “#Keep Her Playing” is a media friendly title that is easy to spread, short and straightforward.
This campaign also includes quotes made by other female athletes such as Tanni Grey Thompson and Stacey Copeland. The quotes the artist chose to reference are inspirational and truthful; they make you think about why these sort of campaigns exist and what they’re trying to do for women who love sports.
Based on this campaign, I can see that my ad needs to have the same impactful characters and expressions to be as intriguing. However I feel as though ‘media coverage of female athletes’ is something that has been done so many times.


Adidas art-live


Another art piece made for a campaign that I found was by the user Ksenia Kopalova,2017 on Behance. She had created several drawings for Adidas (Russia), showing “girls and women who express themselves and shape their lifestyle through sports women being active”. Kopalova uses interesting poses and angles in all of her work, which complements her rough and sketchy art style. Having drawn this on paper you can see how she thought of her pencil strokes, making sure no mistakes were made or needed to be rubbed out to give it that final clean look. The most captivating part of her art is the exaggerated perspectives; colour is only used in the background to show the flow and movement of the character, and the direction is clear.
I do like the use of colour. The drawing of the woman itself is only in black colouring pencil, using the different values of black to shade, and plain white to highlight details is a typical style for shading. However this style suits the brands black and white logo, and the only time colour is used is to give movement to the background and the character. In the first piece, a range of blue tones is used to create shadows under the woman’s body.
This style almost feels like it should be animated; like the women in the drawing is about to start running a lap in a gif. I definitely would’ve enjoyed these pieces a lot more if they were animated.
I wouldn’t mind having a rough style like this when I get to the production of my animation; it will make it a lot easier for me to animate seeing as I’m not worrying about smooth lines. As well as not worrying about colour, and keeping my style as simple as possible. This will allow me to focus solely on the animation.
moodboard
Here I put together a small mood board of art, with the name of the artist and a link to the source, as inspiration for my animation. Using art like this will work as inspiration for how my animation may look like, and because all these posters relate to my brief, it's a lot easier to draw poses, facial expressions and passionate line work ideas from these drawings:
xmx Luo,2020 (behance)
Dennis Quiñones,2017 (behance)
Benedikt Luft, 2017 (behance)
Ksenia Kopalova,2017 (behance)
Animation Inspiration
Even though I have already done research on artists work and what I would like my animation to look like visually, I thought it would be a good idea to go further and look at actual animations (not relating to the topic of my brief). I've picked out some simple but popular animation styles that I feel won't be too difficult to follow but, not so simple that its boring to watch.
Some of my favourite animation styles come from anime's that I love to watch. For example, I love the energetic movement in the volleyball anime Haikyuu!! The animation is done carefully to replicate actual actions in real life volleyball; but at times it's so dramatically that you get extremely excited watching the anime, unlike if you wanted a real match. When a very powerful move is made by one of the characters in the anime, the animations line art gets quite rouge, and uses a lot more dark 'scribbled' lines to better show the direction and flow of the character. I really love this because the unrefined-ness of the animation shows a lot more motion than a smoother, thin line art would. It also adds a certain uniqueness to the anime, as I haven't really seen other anime's use this technique. I would definitely use this style of animating in my animation, whenever my character is doing something dynamic, to make the movement a lot more interesting and exciting to watch.
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Although most anime art styles would be too complicated for me to try and animate in the amount of time given, I find that the style of Sailor Moon is simple yet iconic, making it one of the most popular art styles from animated tv history. There is minimal shading for the characters, however the art doesn't seem to need it. The proportions of the characters are quite cartoony; Sailor Moons most prominent trope is the long, elegant legs and big eyes. I personally think this style is cute and fun; it's detailed but not so complicated that a starter like me can't animate in this style. Also, from what I've seen on social media, the Sailor Moon aesthetic has recently been popular among girls; this is good for the target audience of my project. In my planning I will try to implement some of Sailor Moons features in my own character designs, in tribute to this nostalgic style.




Finally, I decided to list down some western animated series' that are my favourite, and had the simplest animation style. I won't go as simple as the art of Adventure Time, as its animation isn't the most captivating. However, with a combination of Steven Universe's art style, with some Sailor Moon influence and dynamic line art animation from Haikyuu will be a style that's not only simple to animate, but intriguing enough for a younger, female audience. I will include a final, in-depth conclusion on the style of my animation when it comes to my planning.
Why Girls Are dropping out of sports.
There are many different reasons and educated guesses you could give as to why so many girls are dropping out of Sports however, to get a more definite answer I looked into different reliable sources/articles and read what they had to say on the topic.
The first article I looked at was (Women in Sport: Reframing Sport for Teenage Girls, n.d.) came from the website called greatersport.co.uk, talking about teenage girls in the Uk and different barriers that stop young girls from pursuing sports. An area that I feel like is important is encouraging girls to push through social and biological barriers. “80% of girls feel they do not belong in sport”; because men dominate the sports industry, young girls tend to feel small and unimportant when compared to boys in sports. Society sees that men have a better chance at becoming strong when it comes to athletics and so the focus is put on improving men rather than working on ways to get women to that same level. In fact, a huge reason why girls don’t engage in sports is because of “the impact of puberty”. And so because of a lack of help with puberty and encouragement at a young age, "64% of girls quit by the age of 16-17".
This is part of the reason why I want to focus on encouraging young girls with my AD; to push them through tough barriers and give advice and support.
Here I can choose to look into 2 different definite topics: The affects puberty have on women or, aiming to increase exposure of female athletes in the media.
Questionnaire
In contrast to the research I had done on the articles I read, I decided to collect a more personal audience review on this briefs topic to compare with the statistics I found online. I created a survey and got a plenty of my peers and family to answer questions so I could see their opinions on the matter of Women in Sports. The final survey can be seen below:
I was actually quite surprised at the results. Finding out a lot of my friends used to take interest in sports but gave it up in the end; most thought it was too difficult to continue, other thought that the outcome/reward for all that hard work was too little, but overall they just thought that it wasn’t suited for them. This compares well with the statistic that 64% of girls quit by the age of 16-17; all the people answering my survey fitted within that age range, and I had 1 out of the 14 teenagers say they still wanted to become an athlete.
Another thing to note is that more people know the names of male athletes than female athletes, with some only naming 1 or 2 female athletes: “Serena Williams, honestly she is the only one I know which is really unfortunate and actually proves the point of this project.” This shows me that there is definitely a problem with female athlete media coverage, which means young girls aspiring to be athletes have a disastrously small amount of role models to look up to.
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I’ve also asked my peers their thoughts on why girls are quitting sports; some said something along the lines of “I think girls aren't encouraged enough, in many schools there are no girls sports teams and most girls will be ignore within PE classes in comparison to the boys. As well as this, people believe that sports are 'boyish' to do which puts off any girls that don't want to be seen in that way.” Some felt it was because of “intense pressure, sexual harassment from coaches, health issues (periods affect certain sports)”.
As my final question, I asked what they think would encourage young girls in an advertisement. This question is quite vague, but good enough to get a general idea of what people think would interest young girls and keep them engaged.
Looking at the results from my questionnaire I can see that from a young age girls are discouraged to play sports in more ways than one. The fact that these answers are from people close to me but still match up pretty well to the uk statistics I found is good proof that the problems in women in sports have are real. And having results that are more personal will help me feel more attached to this topic.
"Sports are designed arounD men"
In this video by (TEDx Talks, 2019) an exercise physiologist and nutrition scientist named Stacy Sims talks about the differences between women and men’s biology when it comes to sports. The video tells you how women can be just as good in sports as men if they’re trained the right way and informed about the heights they can actually achieve when being an athlete. This is a good video that can encourage all women to get proper support, and to research what sort of training their body needs to improve their athletic ability.
The main point Sims makes in her TED talk is that the struggles young women go through with puberty and their menstrual cycle is one of the big reasons stopping girls from doing sports. However, if more people in sports talked about periods and worked on training around it, it will better improve sports performance from women. I myself shy away from talking about puberty and periods even when I'm not a very active person. I personally feel like this is a good topic to focus on as not many people acknowledge problems girls have with their periods while training. Being able to freely talk about the natural things men and women go through will help us know more about ourselves, whether we're an athlete, athletic person, or nothing related to the sort.
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Stacy Sims mentions how 50% or more of the population is female, however researchers in the sports industry “don’t necessarily study women in sport nutrition or exercise science”, calling women an “anomaly”. She responds by saying “aren’t the men the anomaly and they don’t know it yet?”. This links back to the point I made in the first paragraph, about acknowledging both female and male biology. This proves how one sided the sports industry is; by treating women like “small men” and not realising that their biologies are different. Women have their own set of nutritional and physiological needs in order to make them improve in sports and as athletes. Talking about these issues and not shying away from them because we may not know how to handle puberty in women is something that needs to be changed.
As I've mentioned before, some people believe it's unnecessary to study women in sports, calling them anomalies. I believe many researchers think this because the ratio of men to women in sports is very one sided. Others, in response to Stacy Sim's research, have asked her "why would we study women? We don't know enough about men."
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This point actually makes sense, considering the huge difference in the number of male athletes to female athletes. Seeing as men dominate sports, It would be most beneficial to learn more about men's biology when it comes to sports, to help out the majority.
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However, to rebuttal that thought, if researchers spent an equal amount of time studying women they could find out things that improve athletic abilities in both male and female athletes. Also, to make women feel included in sports, we should be aiming to keep things equal and fair, especially when it comes to physiology and nutrition. As Stacy Sim's says, "Women are Not Small Men."
From this research I can see how important it is to make women feel included and like themselves. This can be done by giving the correct information on their bodies and how to work around periods when training. In my animation I would like to embody this point; how important it is to get the correct support.
how puberty effects girls in sports
Referencing the article Women in Sport: Reframing Sport for Teenage Girls, n.d. it is said that 64% of girls would’ve quit sports at the age of 16-17 because of the affects puberty have. This point isn’t one that is talked about a lot when it comes to women in sports, so I chose to expand my research on this point. I looked into what affects puberty has on women and how it affects their performance in sports.
A very factual article titled Reframing Sport for Teenage Girls: Building Strong Foundations for their Futures, 2019 Has a section talking about the psychological ways puberty affects an athlete and does well to give different statistics. Girls reach puberty at an earlier age than boys which leads to more girls dropping out of sports at a younger age. A girls body will change which can cause low self esteem, in fact “8 out of 10 girls with low body esteem avoid trying out for a team or club”. Puberty can also make young girls feel vulnerable and emotional, so having one bad experience can leave a “long-lasting effect on confidence” and may take away the enjoyment of sports overall. “6/10 girls say that failing during puberty made them want to quit” and that “42% of 14–16 year olds say their period stops them taking part in physical activity inside school”. These personal barriers need to be combated with better support from coaches and family, more female athletes in the media to be seen as role models and education on how to train/exercise while having your period.
Another article I found called How Will Puberty Affect An Athlete, n.d. talks about the physical effects of puberty and how performance in sports can suffer. During puberty, a lot of body fat is gained which can add to body image issues (like what I mentioned earlier) but also gaining more body fat means a decrease in “mobility and speed”; this is especially true for female swimmers. Periods bring side effects of abdominal pain, headaches and fatigue; these things contribute to a “reduction in both aerobic capacity and strength during this phase” and can definitely effect “play and concentration on the field”. As young girls grow and develop with these changes, sports can become difficult to focus on, but with proper help, puberty can be worked around and young girls will be able to adjust to said changes.
survey
A had gotten a range of answers from my friends about their past experiences, and how they felt about sports then and now. Although I did have some people who weren’t in agreement with the rest, a lot of the girls had the same answer.
Has your period come in the way of you playing sports?
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Yes, before my period I felt free and didn’t have any movement limits, but I had to use a pad during pe and it felt uncomfy and I’m even skeptical about using a tampon which many recommended for sports.
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My period has definitely gotten in the way when it comes to playing sports because I'm not able to do as much as I would have if I wasn't on my period like do long distance running it can get uncomfortable when I'm on my period.
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I try not to let it, as I know that being active usually eases the pain of cramps. In terms of puberty and appearance, I know that being overly self conscious won’t help me in the long run and so I try not to be bothered by other people and focus on myself when playing sports.
What do you do when you get cramps and your period is really bothering you? Do you stop being active?
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I try to stay active as it helps reduce my cramps
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I stop doing anything that requires movement and stay in bed and go in a ball.
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Yes and I spend most of the day in bed as my cramps are really severe, even after taking painkillers
If you were a man, would you enjoy doing sports more, because of the advantages? (not having a period)
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Of courseeeee, I’ll be honest, men have a higher advantage to participate in certain sports, such as wrestling and women tend to shy away from certain sports because of their period
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Definitely, I’ve always loved swimming but when I realised you would need a tampon on your period I moved it to the back of my head.
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Probably but periods are tolerable and doesn’t affect your performance if you take medicine and take care of yourself
If you never went through puberty (not possible but you know, use your imagination gurl) do you think you would’ve continued to be active? And if you’ve never really liked sports, do you think you would’ve started to like sports?
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I’ve continued to be active despite puberty but I might have played more sports if I was less self conscious.
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I really would’ve liked sports, especially swimming and badminton
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If I never went through puberty I wouldn't really be as active as some would tend to be. I wouldn’t be going on long distance runs or walks, however my like for sports would be more positive than now.
Do you still wish to play sports?
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I still play sports which is middle distance running
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I would like to play sports that require weights or like badminton and volleyball they look like sports that I'm interested in and wish to play.
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Not really to be honest, I’ve found other hobbies and more things to love! In all honesty I wish my parents taught me to ice skate at a younger age because ice skating has always been a dream of mine
When asked If they stayed active during their period, a lot of the answers where yes; that they couldn’t stand the pain and would rest while they got cramps. However I was surprised to hear that a few of my friends said they’d try to do more activities, as they knew that being active would help reduce cramps and keep their period from being irregular. According to the article Reframing Sport for Teenage Girls: Building Strong Foundations for their Futures, 2019, ”by ages 14-16 78% of girls know the importance of an active lifestyle, yet only 28% of girls enjoy taking part in physical activity." I only recently found out during researching that being active during your period helps reduce cramps and keeps your period being regular. Usually I would try to do as little as possible during this period of time, which proves how encouragement for women to be active is lacking. If being active betters our lives in terms of our periods, which comes every month, shouldn't it be something that is completely encouraged by our teachers and mentors around us?
Another interesting question I had asked was “If you were a man, would you enjoy doing sports more, because of the advantages?”, Seeing as men are more encouraged to work out, and there’s a lot more knowledge on male athletes and how to train them. Someone had answered by saying “Definitely, I’ve always loved swimming but when I realised you would need a tampon on your period I moved it to the back of my head.” Having to worry about periods and body image is a huge thing for most girls when it comes to sports, however it shouldn’t be the case. Problems like those shouldn’t have to come in the way of doing something you really like. Another person answered with “If I was a man I would definitely enjoy sports like heavy lifting or javelin because it as a man you have strong muscles which can help you do those type of sports.” Most girls just think that the male figure is better suited for sports, it’s celebrated more when a man is muscular and athlete compared to a woman being muscular and athlete.
I asked “Do you still wish to play sports?” and another interesting response I got was “In all honesty I wish my parents taught me to ice skate at a younger age because ice skating has always been a dream of mine”. This shows how young girls aren’t encouraged enough to do different sports they may like, especially in the uk. A lot of the answers I had received had said yes they do still wish they played a sport, and even gave an example of their favourite sport. Another reason why someone didn’t follow up on their sport was because their sixth form didn’t have any sport clubs. Lack of encouragement in colleges and sixth forms is another reason why girls give up on their favourite sports.
Target audience profile

(Photo from Unsplash)
Age:
12 to 17 years old.
Gender:
Female.
Nationality:
British (research had been focused solely on England).
Secondary Nationality:
Europe, my research has been mainly UK based.
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Girls who worry about their periods/puberty getting in the way.
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Girls who feel discouraged to continue their sport/training because of lack of encouragement from adults/peers around them.
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Girls who don’t feel encouraged because of a lack of other female athlete role models.
Conclusion
After careful consideration of the different topics on Women In Sports, analysing campaigns and artist’s work, and reading through many articles, I have come to the decision to focus on how puberty affects young girls in sports. For my final product I will be creating an animation around 30 seconds long that encourages young girls to surpass the barrier that is puberty, by surrounding themselves with other female athletes as role models and family/friends/coach’s for the correct support. This ad will also server as a push for correct teaching for young girls, as some girls struggle to continue being active while on their period. As the (TEDx Talks, 2019) says, “women are not small men”, and so they should be taught/advised differently so they can train more effectively and improve their athletic ability.