Rebecca Krenzer – Contributing Writer

rlk5568@psu.edu

Friday, Mar. 8 was International Women’s Day. Every year we see numerous brands push advertising campaigns promoting their support of women. Companies do this with Black History Month, Pride Month, and any other holiday that they can focus on for the briefest moments before moving on and forgetting about it until the next year. To me, these campaigns usually seem insincere, as if celebrating and supporting marginalized groups merely an obligation.

However, this year a Canadian-based brewery partnered with the Professional Women’s Hockey League and created one of the best Women’s Day campaigns I’ve seen yet. 

The PWHL, a professional ice hockey league in North America, consists of six teams located in Boston, Minnesota, Montréal, New York, Ottawa, and Toronto. These teams are comprised of the most elite women’s hockey players both nationally and internationally and is celebrating a very successful inaugural season.

On this International Women’s Day, the PWHL and Molsen Brewery announced their campaign: “See My Name”. This campaign changed the design of women’s hockey jerseys and placed the player’s names under their numbers where they are more visible. 

Traditional hockey jerseys feature a player’s last name at the top, just above their number for easy identification on the ice. But, these jerseys weren’t designed with women in mind. Many hockey players with longer hair wear ponytails under their helmets, which consequently, cover their names on the backs of their jerseys.

A 30-second commercial featuring hockey players Natalie Spooner, Blayre Turnbull, Ann-Renee Desbiens, Leah Lum, and Catherine Dubois, showcases this design flaw before revealing the new jerseys, which prominently display each player’s last name at the bottom of the jersey and a Molson logo at the top. The on-screen text of the ad states, “Molson is covering our name so hers can be seen.”

These special jerseys were worn for the Toronto vs. Montréal game on March 8, but the league announced in a press release that while this is currently a trial initiative, these updated jerseys represent just the beginning of Molson’s efforts to support and promote women hockey players.

Natalie Spooner, the top scorer in the league, expressed enthusiasm about the new partnership and showed her approval for the updated jerseys. In a press conference after the game she said, “I think it’s pretty cool… The main thing has always been ‘oh we wear cages,’ but this is something that is so simple that maybe we didn’t think of this, and Molson thought of it and brought this ‘See Your Name’ initiative to us.”

Like Spooner mentioned, women hockey players usually wear cages to protect their faces as they play and men in professional leagues don’t. This is one more thing that serves to set the PWHL apart from the NHL.

By recognizing the practical issue of player names being obscured by ponytails on traditional jerseys, the campaign not only acknowledges the unique experiences of women in sports but actively seeks to rectify them. Molsen has officially raised the bar for International Women’s Day campaigns. Superficial campaigns aren’t the answer anymore and other companies should look to Molsen as a guide for future holidays. Well done, Molsen.