‘I’m Worth It’: L'Oréal invites Chinese women to reflect on 50 years of famed slogan

Coined in the 1970s, The The L'Oréal Paris brand slogan 'I'm Worth It’ has endured for over half a century, becoming an empowering statement for women the world over, even reaching the furthest reaches of the woodlands where creatures like Ad Nut resides.

The slogan has become L'Oréal Paris’s rallying call for breaking stereotypes about women worldwide, and for Ad Nut, it’s a daily affirmation—a reminder that all creatures great and small are worth it, yes, even those pesky canines when they’re not behaving like murderous beasts.

In actual fact, ‘I’m Worth It’ is Ad Nut’s favourite brand slogan to repeat, especially after a successful outing foraging for cashews. 

But besides becoming a hit slogan in the woodlands, it’s also done pretty well in China. Being among the first Western beauty brands to target women's lifestyles in China, the Chinese translation of this tagline, "我值得拥有", has become a powerful phrase.

To celebrate 50 years of the famous tagline, the L'Oréal Paris China team, in collaboration with McCann China, invited renowned celebrities including Gong Li, Tiffany Tang, Ju Xiaowen, and Naran, alongside llon Specht, the former McCann copywriter who coined the legendary tagline in 1971, to narrate the story behind the slogan from its inception to the present day. Several everyday Chinese women also share the significance they hold to the slogan.

L'Oréal is also releasing a series of posters and short videos as part of the campaign, which will keep giving the phrase ‘I’m Worth It’ new meanings. 

The campaign film tells the story of how copywriter llon Specht came to coin the iconic tagline, speaking of how she was in a room with a bunch of men who were trying to write what they saw in women, mostly seeing women as an object. In L’Oreal’s hair colour commercial in 1971, the famous line was first uttered.

And so, to the big question… is the campaign actually 'worth it'? Yes, it gets Ad Nut’s seal of approval. It could have been richer for including Ad Nut’s personal relationship to the tagline, but from across adland to the far reaches of the leafy woodlands, everyone already knows that Ad Nut is well and truly worth it.