Procter & Gamble’s Secret deodorant brand, an official sponsor of U.S. soccer, took out a full-page ad Sunday in The New York Times to back the women’s team in their battle for equal pay. The ad urged the federation to be “on the right side of history.” The company also said it’s making a donation to the World Cup-winning team’s players association—a total of $529,000, or $23,000 each for the 23 players. The New York Times writes, 

It is the first of more than a dozen U.S. Soccer partners and sponsors to side so openly with the team in the equal pay fight, and its support could increase the pressure on federation officials on the eve of mediation discussions to try to resolve the players’ federal gender discrimination lawsuit.

On NBC’s “Meet the Press,” team co-captain Megan Rapinoe said more companies should be doing the same. Powerful corporations “have so much weight that they can throw around, and I think that they just need to get comfortable with throwing it around,” she said. (Watch her comments starting around 31:40.) Will others join P&G? Because as Rapinoe says, “big sponsors can just write the check.” 

"This announcement is just the most recent example of Secret’s long-standing, continual commitment and creative support of Equal Pay," said P&G in a statement. The client's in-house team served as creative lead on the ad. It worked with DeVries Global, which was behind copy ,PR and social; and Berlin Cameron, which oversaw ad design and layout.