Vitamin Supplement Brand Olly Shares a Passionate Ode to Vaginas

PRETTYBIRD director Ashley Armitage has directed a refreshing campaign supplement brand Olly, featuring a TV commercial shown on streaming services including Hulu, YouTube and Amazon Prime, with cutdowns for social media.

Rejecting Big Dick Energy and censorship of the female body by the media, the campaign celebrates the power of the vagina and features a group of young women talking up the vagina in a swimming pool changing room, “Our vaginas are absolute magic. A source of pleasure and life. Let’s spread the word. Let’s give them the respect they deserve. Censoring us. Lame. Shaming us. So last year. It’s time for the vagina to shine. 

Ashley Armitage is an upcoming US-based filmmaker determined to use her craft to challenge out-dated gender stereotypes in a post #MeToo landscape, and spotlight some of the issues young women face in a society that still leans towards the patriarchy. 

“I directed a commercial for Olly to help destigmatise the conversation around women’s health and the vagina,” says Ashley about her commercial for the vitamin supplement brand. “You may think this would not be a big deal, but we’re living in a world where the mere mention of the word is still an issue for many. So, here is my effort to normalise talking about our vaginas and health. Say it with me: vagina!” said Ashley Armitage.

Ashley catapulted herself into photography and directing at the fine young age of 15 after observing the lack of diversity and representation in the media. Her work, which helps to dismantle the beauty standards, continues to push the boundaries of the expected and often out-dated ideals that society adheres to. Whilst marrying impactful imagery and a progressive outlook, the Seattle native turned New Yorker continues to inspire a next generation of female filmmakers through her campaigns. 

Ashley brings candour, style, and freshness to visual storytelling that dismantles beauty standards and breaks out-dated societal norms. Her work is masterful in its execution yet feels effortless, almost nonchalant, like a still from an art-house movie or a picture pulled from someone’s personal photo album. In 2018 Ashley helmed a commercial for Billie, which happened to be the first in history to show female body hair being removed. The spot went viral, appearing in countless news stories around the world. 

In 2019, it made the Glass Lion shortlist at Cannes and won the People’s Voice Webby for advertising, media and PR brand strategy. Her honest realism has generated global interest in her talents, and provides a refreshing antidote to the filtered and idealised images of beauty that bombard us daily on social media platforms. PRETTYBIRD UK’s head of new business, Mia Powell, first noticed Ashley’s talents when she saw her Billie Razor campaign, and quickly signed her to the roster.  

Ashley’s candid oeuvre is defined by a determination to challenge what she terms as the ‘cookie-cutter stereotypes’ that still dominate contemporary advertising. Working with a Pentax Asahi camera, she likes to cast real people to embody her no filter aesthetic, exemplified by the humorous realism of her ‘We Got You’ campaign for Zitsticka, which depicted young women with underarm hair not conforming to the regressive beauty standards that still populate adverts.

Having spent her high school years avidly shooting with her Canon AE-1 film camera everywhere she went, Ashley went on to UCSB for Cinema Studies and graduated with a BFA from UW in Photomedia. In her junior year of college, she began flying to New York and Los Angeles to shoot for magazines like Teen Vogue, Nylon, and Refinery29. She shot Teen Vogue’s 21 Under 21 campaign while just having turned 21 herself.

Ashley's clients include Adidas, Nike, Nordstrom, Levi's, H&M, Viceland, Billie, Bumble, Hanes, and Showtime, and her work has been featured in Dazed, i-D, Teen Vogue, Vogue UK, and Vogue Portugal. She has appeared in campaigns for Gucci's Guilty fragrance, Nylon x Polaroid, Nordstrom, and Chanel x i-D. Her photographs have been exhibited in galleries in New York, Amsterdam, Berlin, Los Angeles, and Seattle.