New Ad Campaigns Mix Women's Empowerment With Product Sales

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- More and more companies are relying on a deeper message to sell their products.

As CBS 2's Cindy Hsu reported, new thought-provoking ads empowering women and young girls have a lot of people talking.

There's the new ad from hair care company Pantene that encourages women to stop apologizing so often.

"I honestly feel like girls say they're sorry too much when they don't need to, so I Iiked it," said 15-year-old Samantha Edgerton.

The company Always, which sells feminine hygiene products, also released a new ad aimed at empowering women by challenging the negative perception behind what it means to "run like a girl," Hsu reported.

"I thought it was great, I felt so empowered," said 15-year-old Lara Strassberg.

The Always video was posted on YouTube just last week and already has more than 20 million views.

Natalie Zmuda, with Advertising Age, said the campaign is brilliant.

"Moms seeing that video are going to feel good about buying the brand for their daughters and then the daughters are probably going to continue to buy that brand," she said.

But some argue these new ad campaigns are a step back for women.

"I don't like the type of ads because it's almost like it just brings out the negativity of the whole thing," said high school teacher Natalie Roig. "They should just think we're all equal, let's just approach it that way."

While some say selling a product is the real goal, they like that these companies are mixing in social issues.

"Even if it is a publicity thing," said 15-year-old Erica Heathcote. "Whether you like the ad campaigns or not, they have people talking."

The ad campaigns also often include funding for educational programs that help women and young girls.

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