Three-year initiative aims to increase role football has in girls’ lives in UK.
Disney has teamed up with The FA for a new three-year partnership which aims to increase the role that football has in girls’ lives in the UK.
The partnership aims to increase participation in, and challenge perceptions of, girls’ football as well as empower and build the self-confidence of young females across the country.
The first initiative of the partnership sees Disney team up with the England women’s football team to challenge the clichés of what it means to be a modern Princess in an effort to promote and inspire girls to fulfil their potential.
The Lionesses, led by captain Steph Houghton, have channeled their inner Disney Princesses including Belle from Beauty and the Beast, Jasmine from Aladdin and Rapunzel from Tangled to show young girls that footballers can also be Princesses – and that they share the same attributes and characteristics such as courage, determination and kindness.
The new campaign, shot by celebrity photographer Scarlet Page, has launched ahead of this summer’s UEFA Women’s Euro 2017 in the Netherlands with the aim to get girls into football.
England Lionesses Steph Houghton, Lucy Bronze, Ellen White, Nikita Parris and Siobhan Chamberlain are pictured sharing their advice for young girls. They also star in a series of short films talking about the attributes they share with Disney Princesses and the barriers they have overcome to realise their dreams.
Off the back of the campaign, Disney and the Lionesses are encouraging the public to share their own inspiring and motivating images for young girls using the hashtag #DreamBigPrincess.
You can check out the video below:
Anna Hill, chief marketing officer at Disney UK and Ireland, said: “At Disney we always want our characters and storytelling to be really relevant, inspire and empower children to be confident and believe in themselves, so we’re excited to be teaming up with The FA and kicking off our partnership with such an exciting campaign with the Lionesses.
“Disney has a longstanding commitment to healthy living so by encouraging girls to get out and play football, this partnership will help both organisations achieve their goals.”
Mark Bullingham, The FA’s group commercial director, said: “We’re delighted to announce our partnership with Disney as the perfect company to help us double girls football participation by 2020.
“We both want to get a new generation of girls active through football, to have fun while learning life skills. Working together with Disney’s unique range of channels, characters and franchises will help us to achieve this.”
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