Sweaty Betty challenges ‘toxic exercise narratives’ with empowering campaigns

Sweaty Betty, a pioneer in female-first activewear, has revamped its 25-year-old image with the launch of a ‘Don’t Sweat It’ campaign series. This content reflects the brand's new female-empowering ethos as it ditches the "push harder" rhetoric.

Rolling out gradually via brand campaigns and social content, the new brand identity rallies around the new premise: Don’t Sweat It.

Research revealed that sports industry advertising is dominated by a "push harder" rhetoric, focusing on physical appearance as motivation. Meanwhile, the lifestyle sector contradicts this with messages of empowerment and feminism, claiming to embrace all body sizes and shapes whilst advertising activewear designed to lift, shape and disguise "problem areas".

Fluoro, the creative agency that works with Adidas and Ivy Park, has collaborated with Sweaty Betty to create the refreshed brand identity that will shape the activewear brand's positioning, narrative and advertising going forward. Sweaty Betty is prioritising health, wellness and capability over conforming to body ideals.

Sweaty Betty’s new identity will now be embodied in three pillars designed to uplift women:

• Shaped by sisterhood
• Crafted to create joy
• We sweat the small stuff

Melissa Mullen, Global Brand President of Sweaty Betty, said: "It’s important for us to ensure the message we’re putting out into the world isn’t about how exercise can make your body look, but how it makes us feel and what it can help us do. Women are subject to enough pressure without someone else defining the ‘right’ way to exercise.

"Thankfully, a reckoning is starting to happen surrounding health and actualisation vs aesthetics. We want to be at the forefront of that movement."