Meghan Markle shared one of her favourite stories as part of her talk ‘Afro Women and Power’ on the final day of her quasi-royal tour to Colombia last night.
The Duchess of Sussex, 43, was keen to share one of her most cherished anecdotes: describing how she persuaded manufacturing giant Procter & Gamble to change a “sexist” advert in 1993 by writing a letter when she was just 11 years old.
It’s one of Meghan’s favourite tales, which she previously credited with starting her life’s “trajectory” of speaking out against “inequality”.
The Duchess often uses this children’s tale in her speeches and interviews, despite some doubts about its validity.
In fact, when Meghan tried to reference the letter she wrote to P&G when she was 11 on her 2017 Vanity Fair cover, it was reportedly cut out because it didn’t pass the magazine’s fact check.
Meghan Markle referenced her famous story about Procter & Gamble in her talk ‘Black Women and Power’ last night
Last night, Meghan recalled: ‘I was very, very lucky to feel, at a young age, that my voice was heard.
“And I think that’s a luxury that many young women and girls often can’t afford.
‘I was 11 years old and you may know this story. I had seen a commercial that I thought was sexist and I wrote a letter, several letters, about it and the commercial was changed.
‘When you’re 11, you realize very quickly that your small voice can have a very big impact.
“I think it creates the framework to feel empowered to use your voice, because you know you’re being heard.”
At age 11, Meghan wrote to Procter & Gamble to object to sexism in a dish soap ad that included the line: “Mothers across America are fighting back against greasy pots and pans.”
She asked them to change the ad to “people all over the United States,” and the company subsequently changed the language.
She later appeared in an interview on Nick News in 1993, saying she was “furious” about P&G’s Ivory Clear advertisement.
Meghan appeared in an interview on Nick News in 1993, saying she was “furious” about P&G’s Ivory Clear advert.
The duchess said she had also sent a copy to Hillary Clinton, but her claim that she received a response is fraught with question marks.
She added: “When they heard this, the boys in my class started saying: ‘Yes, that’s where women belong: in the kitchen. ’”
“I don’t think it’s right for children to grow up thinking that mummy does everything,” Markle told Nick News in 1993.
‘If you see something you don’t like or that offends you on TV or anywhere else, write letters and send them to the right people and you can really make a difference, not just to yourself but to many other people.’
Young Meghan also sent the letter to famed civil rights attorney Gloria Allred, then-first lady Hillary Clinton and Nick News host Linda Ellerbee.
After Ellerbee received the letter, she and a camera crew from her show went to meet Markle.
Meghan said she received letters of encouragement from all three, including Clinton, and said she felt “amazing” during her 2015 speech at the UN.
But the account was removed from a Vanity Fair cover story in 2017 after “fact-checkers raised questions about its accuracy,” a biography claimed in 2022, as no evidence could be found that Meghan had received a response from Clinton.
The anecdote was removed from the cover story “after consultation with P&G and advertising historians,” according to Tom Bower’s book, Revenge: Meghan, Harry and the War Between the Windsors.
In an excerpt from the book printed in The Times, he added: “Nor could they find evidence, as Meghan claimed, that she received a response from (Hilary) Clinton.
Meghan speaks as part of the panel at the Afro Women and Power forum in Cali
Prince Harry on stage with his wife Meghan for a group photograph after his speech
Meghan appeared on Nick News after lobbying the manufacturer to change a 1993 TV ad for dishwashing liquid.
‘Unbeknownst to Kashner, Thomas Markle knew that Clinton and P&G had not responded to Meghan. The success of her ‘campaign’ was fictitious, invented by a father who adored her.
It is also unclear whether Meghan’s letter alone convinced P&G to change the ad.
It’s a story Meghan loves to tell, though, and it was the opening track on her Archetypes podcast with Spotify, spending four minutes reminiscing before moving on to her guest, Serena Williams.
Recalling the 2018 letter, she said: “The truth is that at 11 years old I don’t think I even knew what sexism meant.”
She continued: ‘I just knew something hit me internally and told me something was wrong.
“And using that as my moral compass and moving forward from when I was 11, at that age I was able to turn this commercial around.”
And he added: “This really paved the way for me to be able to say that if there was a wrong, if there was a lack of justice and there was inequality, then someone had to do something. And why not me?”
In March of this year, Meghan told the story once again during a celebrity-studded panel at SXSAW to mark International Women’s Day.
Meghan relived the exchange as she proclaimed to the audience: “Your voice is not small, it just needs to be heard.”
In 1993, Meghan appeared on Nick News, an educational children’s program that aired on the popular cable network Nickelodeon.
In a video previously discovered by Inside Edition, Markle is seen on the show as she and her classmates watch a TV commercial for Ivory dish soap.
Addressing the camera crews directly, the 11-year-old said: “I don’t think it’s right for kids to grow up thinking that mummy does everything.”
“It’s always mom who does this and mom who does that.”
And he concluded: ‘If you see something you don’t like or that offends you on television or anywhere else, write letters and send them to the right people.
“You can really make a difference not only for yourself but for many other people.”
In 2015, she recalled the incident during a speech at the United Nations, also to mark International Women’s Day.
“I remember feeling shocked and angry, and also very hurt,” Markle said in the speech.
“It just wasn’t right and something had to be done.”
2015: Markle recalled the incident during a speech at the United Nations, once again to mark International Women’s Day.
2019: Meghan spoke about the exchange again during a panel discussion hosted by King’s College London for its annual celebration of women.
She said at the time that her father, Thomas Markle, had inspired her to make a change.
“She encouraged me to write letters, and so I did, to the most powerful people I could think of,” Meghan shared.
And again in 2019, she discussed the exchange during a panel discussion, alongside musician Annie Lennox and former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, hosted by King’s College London for its annual celebration of women.
Meghan, who was pregnant with her son Archie at the time, said: “I honestly don’t think I even knew what sexism meant when I was 11. I just knew that something was hitting me internally and telling me it was wrong, and I knew it was wrong.
“And using that as my moral compass and moving forward from when I was 11, at that age I was able to turn this commercial around.”
And he added: “This really paved the way for me to be able to say that if there was a wrong, if there was a lack of justice and there was inequality, then someone had to do something. And why not me?”
Despite the disagreement between P&G and a young Meghan, any rifts appeared to be resolved in 2021, when Meghan and Harry’s Archewell Foundation joined forces with the American consumer goods giant.