Brawny is giving its packaging a dose of girl power for the month of March.
The brand’s iconic “Brawny man” logo will become the “Brawny woman” for the rest of March: Women's History Month. All eight-roll packs of paper towels will feature a woman wearing the Brawny man’s iconic red plaid shirt.
The move was initiated by Brawny’s parent company, Georgia-Pacific. For the second straight year, the company is pushing #StrengthHasNoGender to encourage women to take STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) career paths.
The ad campaign also features videos of women describing their achievements in various STEM fields.
Georgia-Pacific also announced its donating $75,000 to Girl Inc. in support of programs that encourage girls to enter STEM fields.
"Overall, what we hope to accomplish with this campaign is to promote conversation about what it means to be strong and resilient, and inspire women and girls everywhere to chase their dreams no matter what obstacles they may face," Laura Knebusch, Vice President Marketing Activation at Georgia-Pacific, told Real Simple.
But the Brawny woman hasn’t received universal praise. Some shoppers have taken to social media with the promise to #BoycottBrawny
.@Brawny I will #BoycottBrawny over your ill-conceived ad campaign #StrengthHasNoGender and urge others to do so. Here's why. pic.twitter.com/mvHWAIcQZc
— SCLaw (@_SCLaw_) March 4, 2017
#boycottbrawny Bounty is the superior brand anyways
— gueeds (@gueeds) March 5, 2017
rt my last tweet to get the word out #boycottBrawny, let's get it trending @apurposefulwife
— Dick Dickerson (@LightSurfer5) March 10, 2016
Alex Hider is a writer for the E.W. Scripps National Desk. Follow him on Twitter @alexhider.