Meghan Markle shared one of her favourite tales as part of her ‘Afro women and power talk’ 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 best-loved 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 go-to tales, which she has previously credited with starting her life’s ‘trajectory’ of speaking up against ‘inequality’.
The Duchess often uses the childhood tale in her speeches and interviews, despite some questions being raised about its validity.
Indeed, when Meghan tried to reference the letter her 11-year-old self wrote to P&G in her 2017 Vanity Fair cover, it was reportedly cut after it failed to pass the magazine’s fact-checking.
Meghan Markle referenced her notorious Procter & Gamble tale in her ‘Afro women and power talk’ last night
Speaking last night, Meghan recalled: ‘I was very, very fortunate at a young age to feel as though my voice was being heard.
‘And I think that is a luxury that a lot of young girls and women aren’t often afforded.
‘I was 11-years-old, and you may know this story, I had seen a commercial that I felt was sexist, and I wrote a letter, several letters, about it, and the commercial was changed.
‘When you’re 11-years-old, you realise very quickly that your small voice can have a very large impact.
‘I think it creates the framework to feel empowered to use your voice, because you know you’re being listened to.’
Aged 11, Meghan wrote to Procter & Gamble to object to sexism in a dish soap advert which included the line: ‘Mothers around America are fighting greasy pots and pans.’
She asked them to change the advert to ‘people all over America’ and the company subsequently amended the language.
She subsequently appeared in an interview on Nick News in 1993, saying she was ‘furious’ at the advert for P&G’s Ivory Clear.
Meghan appeared in an interview on Nick News in 1993, saying she was ‘furious’ at the advert for P&G’s Ivory Clear
The Duchess said she’d also addressed a copy to Hilary Clinton – but her claim she received a reply has question marks over it
She added: ‘When they heard this, the boys in my class started saying, ”Yeah, that’s where women belong – in the kitchen”.’
‘I don’t think it is right for kids to grow up thinking that mom does everything,’ Markle told Nick News in 1993.
‘If you see something that you don’t like or offended by on television or any other place, write letters and send them to the right people and you can really make a difference, not just for yourself but for lots of other people.’
Young Meghan also sent the letter to famed civil rights lawyer Gloria Allred, then-first lady Hillary Clinton, and Nick News anchor 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 back from all three, including Clinton, and said it felt ‘amazing’ during her 2015 speech at the UN.
But the account was stripped out of 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 of Meghan receiving a response from Clinton.
The anecdote was cut from the cover story ‘after consulting P&G and advertising historians,’ according to Tom Bower’s book Revenge: Meghan, Harry and the War Between the Windsors.
In an extract from the book printed in The Times, he added: ‘They could also find no evidence, as Meghan claimed, that she received a reply 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 following her speech
Meghan appeared on Nick News after lobbying the manufacturing company to change a TV ad for dishwasher liquid in 1993
‘Unknown to Kashner, Thomas Markle knew Clinton and P&G had not replied to Meghan. The success of her ‘campaign’ was fictitious, invented by an adoring father.
It’s also unclear whether Meghan’s letter alone persuaded P&G to change the advert.
Nevertheless, it’s a story Meghan loves to tell – and was the first subject of her Archetypes podcast with Spotify, spending four minutes on the recollection before turning to her guest, Serena Williams.
Recalling the letter in 2018, she said: ‘Truth be told, at 11 I don’t think I even knew what sexism meant.’
She continued: ‘I just knew that something struck me internally that was telling me it was wrong.
‘And using that as my moral compass and moving through from the age of 11, at that age I was able to change this commercial.’
She added: ‘It really set up the trajectory for me to say, if there was a wrong, if there is a lack of justice, and there is an inequality, then someone needs to do something. And why not me?’
In March this year, Meghan told the tale once more during a celebrity-studded panel at SXSAW to mark International Women’s Day.
Meghan re-lived 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 program for children that aired on the popular cable network Nickelodeon.
In a video previously unearthed by Inside Edition, Markle is seen on the show while she and her classmates were watching a television commercial for Ivory dish washer soap.
Speaking directly to camera crews, the 11-year-old said: ‘I don’t think it’s 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 concluded at the time: ‘If you see something that you don’t like or offended by on television or any other place, write letters and send them to the right people.
‘You can really make a difference for not just yourself but lots of other people.’
In 2015 recalled the incident during a speech at the United Nations – again to mark International Women’s Day.
‘I remember feeling shocked and angry and also just feeling so hurt,’ Markle said in the speech.
‘It just wasn’t right and something needed 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 once again discussed the exchange during a panel discussion hosted by King’s College London for the annual celebration of women
She said at the time that her father, Thomas Markle, had inspired her to bring about change.
‘He encouraged me to write letters, so I did — to the most powerful people I could think of,’ Meghan shared.
And, once again in 2019, she discussed the exchange during a panel discussion, alongside musician Annie Lennox and former Prime Minister of Australia Julia Gillard, hosted by King’s College London for the annual celebration of women.
Meghan, who was pregnant with son Archie at the time, dished: ‘Truth be told, at 11 I don’t think I even knew what sexism meant. I just knew that something struck me internally that was telling me it was wrong, and I knew that it was wrong.
‘And using that as my moral compass and moving through from the age of 11, at that age I was able to change this commercial.’
She added: ‘It really set up the trajectory for me to say, if there was a wrong, if there is a lack of justice, and there is an inequality, then someone needs to do something. And why not me?’
Despite the disagreement between P&G and a young Meghan, any rift seemed to be put to bed in 2021, when Meghan and Harry’s Archewell Foundation joined forces with the US consumer goods giant.
