All-girls’ School “You’re Not a Princess” Campaign Mackenzie Witcher
Mercy Academy, an all-girls’ Catholic school in Louisville, Kentucky, is starting a new campaign for its students: “You’re not a princess.” It is using messages such as “You’re not a princess. But you can still rule the world,” and “Don’t wait for a prince. Be able to rescue yourself,” to inspire its students to be independent women. The campaign was created by Doe-Anderson, an advertising agency in Louisville. The students in entrepreneur courses use campaigns like this one to create real businesses and raise money. They also use them to help give publicity to the school and attempt to find new students. The campaign is mainly addressing Disney, which shows the “ideal princess.” This “ideal princess,” a girl who sits around and waits on her prince to come save her, is exactly the idea that Mercy Academy is trying to get out of girls’ heads. They are telling their students that they can do whatever they want and be whoever they want without any help from a man. By saying that “life’s not a fairytale” is inspiring girls to go work for their dreams. Many are encouraging this campaign. One person, Rebecca Cullers at AdWeek, says “Let me explain why this is so cool. Is this a new message? No, it's many decades old. Is it a common message? Sadly, also no. This type of talk is not only still new to a lot of people, it's particularly timely as the Disney-princess empire continues to expand by dainty leaps and fierce bounds. What's most remarkable is that a Catholic preparatory school is taking a view of women's education that doesn't end in a prince. Lord have mercy, but Mercy Academy has a progressive view on women's role in the world.” Others also agree with the campaign. They think that the campaign will be a way for girls to realize that they are so much more than a princess, that they can do things for themselves and not have to depend on someone else.