PUBLISH A51 Clarence I. Rowan

1. Redefining Beauty for the Last Decade
DOVE: Real Beauty Campaign

2. A brand from Unilever
Started out as a soap brand in 1957 in the U.S.
Has now started to sell products such as Body Washes, Hand
and Body Lotions, Facial Cleansers, Deodorants, etc.
DOVE

3. Started out because of a study called The Real Truth About Beauty: A
Global Report in 2004.
Found out that only 2% of the women in the world would describe
themselves as beautiful.
Dove wanted to challenge the beauty being marketed by different brands.
Beauty being: having flawless skin, skinny/thin bodies, etc.
Real Beauty Campaign

4. “The repetitive use of unrealistic, unattainable images, which consequently
pose restrictions on the definition of beauty.”
The Problem

5. To change women’s perception of what can be defined as “beautiful.”
To let women around the world to feel more comfortable in their own skin;
to encourage women to embrace their own bodies.
To initiate a discussion and debate on the definition of beauty.
“Women’s differences should be celebrated, rather than ignored, and that
physical appearance should be transformed from a source of anxiety to a
source of confidence.”
“You are more beautiful than you think.”
Objectives of the Campaign

6. Make ads showing “real women”. Dove selected women whose physical
appearances were not considered as “stereotypical beauty” (women who
have wrinkles, short, overweight, etc).
Use different mediums: TV commercials, magazine spreads, talk shows, and
the internet.
Strategy

7. 2004: The campaign launched on September 2004.
2005: Dove created an advertisement that featured six women with real
bodies and real curves. This was used to say that not only being thin is
beautiful. During this time, women visited campaignforrealbeauty.com to
discuss beauty issues.
2006: Evolution: a short film showing how the transformation of a model’
s face through photoshop. This raised awareness on how unrealistic the
beauty is being marketed to us. Today, it has over 17 million views on
YouTube.
This was also the year the Dove Self-Esteem Fund was created. This fund
aims to inspire and educate women on the wider definition of beauty.
Campaigning for 10 years

8. 2007: Dove celebrated “pro-age”, recognizing the beauty in women who
were aged 50+ years old - the wrinkles, age spots, grey hair, etc.
A short film titled, Onslaught, was also released this year telling parents to
“talk to your daughter before the industry does” about beauty.
2010: The Dove Movement for Self - Esteem that was created for self-
esteem building and to inspire and educate women around the world has
now reached 7 million girls and is aiming to reach 15 million girls by
2015.
Campaigning for 10 years

9. 2011: The Real Truth About Beauty: Revisited revealed that only 4% of
women considered themselves beautiful. 72% of girls aged 10 to 17 years
old felt pressured to be beautiful and 11% of girls are comfortable in
describing themselves as beautiful.
2013: Dove’s Real Beauty Sketches went viral last year in the internet. The
video on YouTube gained nearly 135 million views and also won several
awards such as the titanium Grand Prix which is awarded for “innovative
and transformational work.”
Campaigning for 10 years

10. 2014: The most recent video of Dove on YouTube for their campaign is
“Patches”. This video showed a group of women who suffered from low
self-esteem being prescribed with “beauty patches” but in reality, these
patches did not contain any ingredient at all. This video was supposed to
promote “inner beauty” in women. However, it received negative feedback
and was described as “patronizing” and “garbage”. However, even though
it received negative feedback, it was still able to provoke discussion; it was
still able to make people talk about beauty, which is one of the goals of
Dove’s campaign.
Campaigning for 10 years

11. Besides the results the campaign has gained throughout the last 10 years, I
also learned that Dove’s campaign was somewhat the pioneer on
challenging the “beauty” being marketed to us. After launching their Real
Beauty Campaign, other brands such as American Eagle started using
“real” girls for their products and using the slogan, “Get Real. Think Real.
No Supermodels. No Retouching.”
Insights/Lessons Learned

12. While doing my research, I also learned that this campaign has received
both positive and negative feedbacks. Positive, for being able to challenge
the way we view “beauty” in our society and negative, for being
hypocritical since Dove belongs to the same company that produces Axe,
a brand that is said to belittle women. However, even though the brand’s
sincerity is questionable, we cannot deny that Dove was able to make
people discuss and debate about beauty. These people were not only
able to debate with their peers but also with other people all over the
world through the internet. Dove was able to make a community online
that questioned and discussed real beauty.
Insights/Lessons Learned

13. Evolution: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhCn0jf46U
Onslaught: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ei6JvK0W60I
Real Beauty Sketches: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpaOjMXyJGk
Patches: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGDMXvdwN5c
Links

14. -http://www.dove.us
-http://www.takepart.com/article/2014/01/30/10-years-after-doves-
real-
beauty-campaign-brands-are-fighting-female-form
-http://www.in-mind.org/article/the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-of-the-
dove-
campaign-for-real-beauty
-http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/21/dove-real-beauty-
campaign-
turns-10_n_4575940.html
Sources

15. -http://www.marketplace.org/topics/business/which-doves-real-beauty-
campaign-faces-real-backlash
-http://adage.com/article/the-viral-video-chart/dove-s-real-beauty-
sketches-viral-campaign-year/245608/
Sources