L'Oréal’s Global Brand President tells the story behind their iconic slogan and why she wishes she could decommission it.
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00:00The slogan of the brand L'Oréal Paris, Because I'm Worth It, has a great story.
00:04It has been created in 1971 by a young female copywriter in New York, and she did that because
00:12all the advertising for female were done by male. And we wanted to launch a hair color in the U.S.
00:20called Preference that is still existing, and this hair color was very expensive. And she
00:26wrote a full copyright for the advertising saying that it's the best hair color in the world,
00:32it's also the most expensive, but I'm worth it. And it has been created in 1971, so it was the
00:39beginning of the feminism in the U.S. And claiming the self-worth of a woman in an advertising,
00:45it was really the first time it happened. So it has been building the old story of L'Oréal Paris
00:52giving power to women and giving them a sense of self-worth.
00:57Because we are all worth it.
00:59I think the slogan, Because I'm Worth It, passed the test of time because it's still so actual,
01:06so modern. You know that not a single country in the world has yet achieved parity.
01:11Half of the people think that we've gone far enough in a women's rights promotion.
01:17So I think that claiming and shouting out loud that the women are worth it is still so relevant.
01:26Those words are radical in reality, and we still need them to be radical.
01:31I'm afraid that this slogan will live for another 15 years, because I'm afraid that we need to
01:38repeat constantly to the women on the planet that they are worth it, that they have the equivalent
01:45worth, of course, than men, and that they are worth it. So I'm happy, and at the same time,
01:51I'm afraid that we have to keep this slogan alive and to enrich it with concrete action towards
01:58women. We have several actions. Number one is a street harassment, because we ask the women what
02:03is the third barrier to their self-development, and it's street harassment. Because they cannot
02:09have a job after university to gain money because it's at night, they don't want to
02:13take the subway. So it's really an issue not to walk free in the streets. So we create the
02:20stand-up cause that is now expanding in 46 countries. We have been training 3 million people
02:27to react in front of a street harassment case when you are a victim or a witness.
02:31Step number two, it's women in cinema. So during the Cannes Film Festival, we are promoting young
02:37directors. Step three, it's globally women in the workplace. So we create the Worth It resume,
02:44where all our spokespersons explain that, of course, they have successes, but before having
02:49successes, they had failures. And this Worth It resume pushes the women to dare, to dare to create
02:56a job, to dare to create a startup, and not to be pulled back by the fear of failure. So having
03:05women in the streets, women in cinema, and globally women in the workplace, we think we
03:10cover what is the active life of a woman. You know, being visible in the public spaces,
03:15being visible in the workplace. That's a bit the mission we want to have.