Response 2: Fearless Girl

To celebrate International Women's Day in March 2017, State Street Global Advisors
commissioned a statue of a little girl standing up to the Charging Bull statue on Wall Street
in New York City, called Fearless Girl. The statue was designed by Kristen Visbal. She is
supporting little girls in believing that they can make a difference in the world. State Street
Global Advisors is arguing for companies to hire more women in leadership positions and
are willing to give money to companies that do so. 

This is an argument of evaluation. State Street Global Advisors have taken the standard that women cannot be in leadership positions and have used Fearless Girl and their monetary support to companies who endorse gender equality to argue this. Fearless Girl has gotten some criticism in the media. Gina Bellafante, writer for The New York Times, argued that because Fearless Girl was put in place by a corporation she represents “corporate feminism” and is an “image of corporate imaging.” Christine Emba, writer for The Washington Post, argued that since Fearless Girl is a girl, the message of feminism will be thought of as “cute and inoffensive.” The artist of the Charging Bull, Arturo Di Modica, has requested Fearless Girl to be relocated because he believes that she is an “advertising trick” as well as stating the “piece exploits his work for commercial purposes and alters the perception of the bull.” Yes, it does change the meaning of the bull, but isn’t the point to make the little girl stand up to any challenge she will face?

Originally, Fearless Girl was only supposed to stay in place for one week but so many
people were affected by the statute that her time was increased to eleven months, next
month being her last. There is a petition on change.com that over 38,000 people, myself
included, have signed to keep her there permanently.

The image itself gives this argument the use of pathos. A little girl facing off with a bull makes people, mainly women, feel inspired. In front of the statue is a plaque that says, “Know the power of women in leadership, SHE makes a difference.” The goal was to make women and little girls feel empowered to make a change and become a leader in the workplace, and I think they did just that. Within minutes of Fearless Girl’s debut, many people had been attracted to her like a magnet. Little girls walked right up to her and stood right next to her, doing the same brave, superhero pose.

Ethos is present with the fact that the company that endorsed the statue promotes women in the workplace and will endorse other companies that do the same. Visbal has also won many awards for her work on Fearless Girl.

The use of logos is clear in Adweek’s video about Fearless Girl. According to the video, within twelve weeks there were 4.6 billion Twitter impressions and 745 million Instagram impressions about Fearless Girl. In New York City, Fearless Girl proudly stands as one of the six statues dedicated to women. 

The New York Times stated that “She [Fearless Girl] reminds you that while marching is important, sometimes you can make a difference by standing still.”