Even though women are statistically safer drivers, girls are exposed to bias from early on that makes them less confident behind the wheel. That's the insight behind a new campaign from French car marque Peugeot, which set out to tackle some sexist stereotypes over the holiday season.

Citing a study published by the French National Institute for Travel and Safety Research, which showed that the gender stereotypes children are exposed to from an early age have a significant impact on driving confidence in later life, Peugeot encouraged little girls to register with a gift swap, where they could swap any unwanted gifts for one of its toy cars.

The effort was backed by a digital and social media film, seen here, that shows little girls revealing how already, at a young age, they already believe driving is more of a "boy thing." The film then shows the girls enthusiastically swapping their "girly" toys for cars. 

The first two days of the campaign, which ran in Germany and France, saw more than 1.2 million people register for the toy car gift packs, and they were all claimed within 24 hours. Peugeot hopes that this will encourage girls to play with cars more, and therefore become more confident drivers (as well as, presumably, buy more of its cars.)

The campaign comes from Omnicom's OPEn (Omnicom for Peugeot Engine), a collective of talent from across the Omnicom network dedicated to the Peugeot brand. Headquartered in Paris, it has local teams oeprating across 17 different countries.