More and more ads are embracing girl power.
"Femvertising" ads -- advertisements that aim to celebrate and empower women and girls -- have made a splash over the past few years. And there's no sign of them slowing down.
In October 2014, women's lifestyle website SheKnows asked 628 women about their views on advertising. Ninety-one percent of respondents said that the way ads present women impacts girls' self-esteem, and 94 percent thought that showing women as sex symbols in ads is harmful. Given that women make 85 percent of consumer purchases, the fact that brands are taking women's opinions into account when creating their campaigns is good business sense -- and a positive step in the right direction.
This year, I helped judge the SheKnows 2015 Femvertising Awards, which recognizes companies "building awareness-generating, stereotype-busting messaging and images into ads that target women and girls."
Over 100 brands advertising everything from tampons to trucks entered the contest, and 12 were chosen as finalists, from which four ads earned wins.
Here are five awesome ads that were Femvertising Awards finalists and winners.