Real Estate

This resurfaced video shows an 11-year-old Meghan Markle asking a company to change its sexist commercial — and it worked

young meghan markle
A young Meghan Markle, in 1993. YouTube, Inside Edition
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  • Meghan Markle may have encouraged Procter & Gamble to change the tagline to an advertisement for dishwashing liquid when she was 11.
  • The tagline inspired jokes from her male classmates about how women "belong" in the kitchen.
  • After Markle wrote letters to Hillary Clinton, lawyer Gloria Allred, journalist Linda Ellerbee, and Procter & Gamble, the tagline was changed.
  • Inside Edition resurfaced a 1993 Nick News segment that chronicles the incident.

Meghan Markle may have encouraged Procter & Gamble to change the tagline to an advertisement for dishwashing liquid when she was 11, according to a speech she gave for UN Women on International Women's Day in 2015.

In the speech, she described seeing a TV commercial in school for Procter & Gamble dishwashing soap, whose tagline claimed, "Women all over America are fighting greasy pots and pans." After two male classmates made a joke about how women "belong" in the kitchen, Markle became frustrated.

"I remember feeling shocked and angry and also just feeling so hurt. It just wasn't right and something needed to be done," she said in the speech.

She told her father about the incident, and he encouraged Markle to make her voice heard. 

"He encouraged me to write letters, so I did, to the most powerful people I could think of," she said, which included Hillary Clinton, civil rights lawyer Gloria Allred, journalist Linda Ellerbee, and Procter & Gamble.

About a month later, Procter & Gamble made the tagline gender-neutral, changing "Women all over America" to, "People all over America."

A young Markle explains the incident in a 1993 Nick News segment on Nickelodeon, which was recently resurfaced by Inside Edition.

The video shows Markle and her classmates watching the commercial as part of a social studies assignment.

You can watch Markle's full UN speech here.

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I'm a senior transportation reporter at Insider covering electric vehicles, automated-driving technology, and ride-hailing. I joined Insider in October 2017 and previously worked as an intern at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. I graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with degrees in film and media studies and business economics. You can follow me on Twitter @matousekmark and email me at mmatousek@jkmperu.com.  If you have sensitive information you'd like to share and don't feel comfortable sending it to my work email or via a direct-message on Twitter, you can contact me on the encrypted messaging app Signal at 646-768-4712 or email my encrypted address at mmatousek@protonmail.com. Here's some of my work: Uber insiders are divided over Dara Khosrowshahi's leadership, with some worried the company has become 'boring' and 'confused' about its future Nikola founder Trevor Milton convinced the world he was the next Elon Musk. Insiders say a history of lies brought the billionaire down. 17 hours a day, 7 days a week: Cruise-ship workers describe the grueling conditions they face on the job We talked to 42 insiders about Tesla's factory of the future. They revealed the corners cut to hit ambitious production targets. 70-hour weeks and 'WTF' emails: 42 employees reveal the frenzy of working at Tesla under the 'cult' of Elon Musk Tesla is transforming how cars are sold. But 27 insiders say the company's methods mean slashed pay and living under the constant threat of getting laid off. Uber insiders reveal how DoorDash stole its delivery crown and left Eats in the dust Uber's trying no-meeting Mondays to give employees a break from 'tiring' back-to-back meetings, a leaked email reveals Leaked email reveals a Tesla VP expressed concern about employees coming to work with COVID-19 symptoms Leaked document reveals Nikola flip-flopped on whether it would spend any of its $17 million of customer deposits to fund the Nikola One Insiders reveal Alibaba's Jack Ma sought a partnership with Canoo to build electric delivery vans, but the deal fell flat because the startup couldn't meet his aggressive timeline Leaked email from Elon Musk reveals the Model Y is experiencing production 'challenges' while passing the Model 3 as the top priority at Tesla's US car factory Leaked email and audio reveal Carnival-owned Holland America has struggled to give refunds to some customers Leaked documents reveal the severance packages laid off Carnival UK workers will receive Inside Tesla's overhaul plan for its sales and delivery teams to solve one of its toughest customer challenges