Secret Deodorant Steps up Their Battle against Bullying - Announces Demi Lovato as New Mean Stinks Ambassador and Creates a Year-Long Anti-Bullying Program

Secret Deodorant Steps up Their Battle against Bullying - Announces Demi Lovato as New Mean Stinks Ambassador and Creates a Year-Long Anti-Bullying Program (Photo: Business Wire)

NEW YORK--()--It’s officially ‘back to school’ for thousands of students across the country and Secret Deodorant is committing to make this year ‘drama free’ with the second year of its Mean Stinks anti-bullying movement. In the second year of their program, Secret is stepping up its efforts by teaming up with musical artist, Demi Lovato as the new Mean Stinks ambassador, to inspire girls to “Gang Up for Good.” Girls can join Demi in the movement to help bring an end to mean behavior by taking the Mean Stinks pinky swear, by painting their pinky nails blue in a show of peace and solidarity to keep bullying out of their group of friends.

Kicking off a ‘drama free school year’ today, Demi surprised students at The Young Women’s Leadership School (TYWLS), a college preparatory all-girls public school founded by Ann Tisch in 1996, of East Harlem, New York. The surprise took place during a special anti-bullying assembly hosted by Secret Mean Stinks partner, girls’ relationship expert and longtime TYWLS supporter, Rachel Simmons. As an extension of the leadership development focus of TYWLS, Rachel joined Principal Dr. Althea Tyson to educate 9th grade students, an age often impacted by bullying, on the different types of bullies and the roles every girl can play to bring an end to it. Demi joined the assembly to share her personal experience on overcoming bullying and met with a group of students to hear their stories and discuss how they can “Gang Up For Good” to inspire change at their school.

“I’ve teamed up with Secret Deodorant as their new Mean Stinks ambassador because it’s important to me to use my voice to help end bullying,” said Demi Lovato. “Urging young women to ‘Gang Up for Good’ is a really great way to inspire us all to change the way we think when it comes to being a bully, witnessing bullying or being the victim of a bully.”

Beginning in October, girls nationwide can join this year’s Mean Stinks program by participating in a number of activities designed to educate about, and stand up to, bullying in fun ways. Beginning in October, National Bullying Prevention Month, a downloadable Mean Stinks “Gang Up For Good” Kit will be available featuring lessons and a detailed assembly plan for girls, schools and parents. For more information on obtaining a kit, visit facebook.com/meanstinks.

Throughout this school year, @MeanStinks will Tweet fun #GangUpforGood challenges to inspire girls with ways to wipe-out mean and spread more nice, and create a national movement of more gangs of good, starting within their circle of friends.

To help girls ‘stick-up’ against what really stinks, being mean, and protect against the ‘stink’ caused by wetness and odor, Secret has created new Secret Mean Stinks Clinical Strength. As part of Secret’s commitment to bring an end to girl-to-girl bullying, the brand will donate $1* from every Mean Stinks Clinical Strength purchase to Girls on the Run® to fund their girl empowerment programming and help prevent mean behavior before it starts. Secret Mean Stinks Clinical Strength is available at select major retailers nationwide and the P&G E-store.

“Secret Mean Stinks stands against all mean behavior, and Demi Lovato, as someone who has personally overcome bullying, truly embodies Secret’s fearless spirit, making her the perfect Mean Stinks ambassador,” says John Sebastian, Associate Marketing Director, P&G Personal Care. “We know she will serve as an inspiration to girls across the country to join forces to ‘Gang Up for Good.’”

Inspiring change is one piece of the puzzle, but to help keep bullying and drama out of the equation long-term, P&G and Secret have formed a relationship with leading researchers on youth social aggression at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, awarding them a P&G grant to develop an anti-bullying curriculum, with the intent to pilot it select schools this coming year.

The most recent U.S. Department of Justice report shows 30% of female students grades 6 – 12 were bullied at school or cyber bullied during the 2009 – 2010 school year. “Girls can be just as aggressive as boys, but they act out in much more subtle ways – often resulting in ‘hidden aggression’ that devastates millions of young girls while often going unnoticed by parents,” says Rachel Simmons. “Because girls don’t feel they can show their anger directly, it often is expressed in more secretive ways. By arming them with the proper tools to guide their conversations with friends and peers, they can learn to assert their feelings and resolve conflicts directly.”

For more information on the Mean Stinks movement and how girls and schools can get involved and “Gang Up for Good,” join the conversation on Twitter @MeanStinks and visit the new Secret Mean Stinks Facebook experience to find out the roles everyone plays in ending mean behavior, learn more about the different types of bullies, take the “Drama Free School Year” pledge, share your Mean Stinks pinky swear and more.

*Donation from purchases up to $150,000

About P&G Beauty & Grooming

P&G Beauty & Grooming products help empowers men and women around the world to look and feel better than they ever thought possible. With 11 billion dollar brands and products available in over 130 countries, P&G’s beauty and grooming products delivered sales of over $38 billion in fiscal year 2010/11, making it one of the world’s largest beauty and grooming companies. P&G Beauty & Grooming offers trusted brands with leading technology to meet the full complement of beauty and grooming needs, including Pantene®, Olay®, Head & Shoulders®, Max Factor®, Cover Girl®, DDF®, Frederic Fekkai®, Wellaflex®, Rejoice®, Sebastian Professional®, Herbal Essences®, Koleston®, Clairol Professional®, Nice ’n Easy®, Venus®, Gillette®, SK-II®, Wella Professionals®, Braun®, Crest®, Oral B®, Always®, Tampax® and a leading Prestige Fragrance division that spans from point of market entry consumers to high end luxury with global brands such as Hugo Boss®, Lacoste®, and Christina Aguilera®. Please visit http://www.pg.com for the latest news and in-depth information about P&G (NYSE: PG) and its brands.

About Young Women’s Leadership Network

YWLN is a 501c3 non-profit organization that empowers low-income students to achieve their highest educational potential. In the 2012-2013 school year, YWLN will serve over 10,000 students in New York City with our two life-changing programs, The Young Women’s Leadership Schools, a high-performing network of all-girls public secondary schools that provide a single-sex, college preparatory choice to underserved families; and CollegeBound Initiative, a year-round comprehensive college guidance program that works with every student from the 6th-12th grades to ensure that they have access to and can afford a college education. Please visit www.ywln.org for more information.

Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=50415065&lang=en

Contacts

Marina Maher Communications
Courtney Smith, 212-485-6885
csmith@mahercomm.com
or
P&G Beauty
Laura Brinker, 212-299-3796
brinker.le@pg.com

Release Summary

Secret Deodorant is committing to make this year ‘drama free’ with the second year of its Mean Stinks anti-bullying movement.

Contacts

Marina Maher Communications
Courtney Smith, 212-485-6885
csmith@mahercomm.com
or
P&G Beauty
Laura Brinker, 212-299-3796
brinker.le@pg.com