Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, is being lambasted by the media over her frank interview with Oprah Winfrey this week — but the “Suits” actress has always spoken out against injustice.
In a recently resurfaced clip, 12-year-old Meghan called out major soap company, Proctor & Gamble, over an ad the young star deemed sexist. The clip was from 1993 and initially resurfaced in 2017 on the NickSplat Facebook page.
In the clip, the royal was interviewed by cable show Nick News. The pre-teen was given a social study assignment where she and her classmates watched commercials to assess the advertising messages.
But when the Proctor & Gamble commercial aired, she was far from impressed.
“In the commercial, they said women are battling grease, meaning only women do dishes. When I heard this, the boys in my class started saying, ‘Yeah, that’s where women belong…in the kitchen,'” she says in the clip.
She also asserted, “I don’t think it is right for kids to grow up thinking these things, that just mom does everything. It’s always ‘Mom does this’ and ‘Mom does that.'” She continued, “It makes me feel like [boys are] going to grow up thinking that girls are less than them … like, boys are better than girls.”
Meghan is seen penning a letter to the company, asking them to change the language to “people all over America” and do away with “women all over America.”
Her argument for change was compelling — and the company heeded young Meghan’s words and changed their phrasing to “people everywhere,” as she requested.
“The gloves are coming off. People are fighting greasy pots and pans with Ivory Clear,” the updated ad declared just three months later.
“If you see something that you don’t like or are offended by on television or any other place,” Meghan told Nick News, “write letters and send them to the right people and you can really make a difference for not just yourself but lots of other people.”
