Under Armour Heads Off the Sidelines for a Campaign Aimed at Women

ADVERTISING for Under Armour tends to feature elite athletes competing on fields, but to promote its women’s line the athletic apparel brand has a new commercial starring a nonathlete.

The spot, which will be introduced Monday, features Misty Copeland, a soloist with the American Ballet Theatre, who appears not in her standard leotard and tutu but rather in a midriff-exposing tank top and an underwear style called Pure Stretch Cheeky.

The spot opens with Ms. Copeland, who in 2007 became only the third African-American female soloist in the 74-year history of the Ballet Theatre, in a sunny dance studio. She rises to the tips of her toes, the muscles in her calves as angular as bent elbows, and her bulging quadriceps resembling a soccer player’s.

“Thank you for your application to our ballet academy,” says a voice-over performed by a 14-year-old girl, Raiya Goodman, also African-American. “Unfortunately you have not been accepted. You lack the right feet, Achilles tendons, turnout, torso length and bust. You have the wrong body for ballet. And at 13, you are too old to be considered.”

Up-tempo music begins to play, and Ms. Copeland appears in the same outfit on a stage, now spinning, kicking, and leaping. It is not until the close of the minute-long commercial, when Ms. Copeland, finally at rest and looking triumphantly into the camera, is identified by name and as a professional ballet dancer.

An end card introduces a new tagline for the campaign, “I will what I want” — an elongation of a long-running slogan for the brand, “I will” — and the name of a new website for female consumers, IWillWhatIWant.com.