Dove and Real Beauty

USLP

Unilever Sustainable Living Plan is committing to improve health and well-being for one billion people and provide improved livelihoods to many millions more by 2020 and halving the company’s environmental impact

3 pillars of USLP

1. improving health and well-being

2. reducing environmental impact

3. enhancing livelihoods

CFRB

campaign for real beauty: with the mission to make more women feel beautiful and redefine beauty

DSEP

dove self esteem fund: complemented the advertising campaign through educational resources that taught millions of young girls about body confidence

tickbox campaign

Born in Canada in 2003, this campaign displayed five images of real women and asked people to choose if they were Oversized or Outstanding? Wrinkled or Wonderful? Grey or Gorgeous?

curves

Originating in Europe in 2005 before coming to the U.S., this campaign for a Dove firming cream showed six ordinary women in their underwear, happy and unashamed of their bodies.

little girls

Aired at the Superbowl in February 2006, this video showed little girls who wished they looked different to announce the launch of the Dove Self Esteem Fund.

evolution

Launched in October 2006, this 75 second film from Canada showed how air brushing and digital manipulation was used in advertising to create the perfect look. It garnered 40,000 views on the first day and, by 2018, had reached at 19.6 million views.

onslaught

Aired in october 2007, it showed the pressure that the beauty industry put on little girls and advised moms to speak to their daughters before the beauty industry did. It invited considerable backlash.

sketches

In 2013 Doves asked an FBI forensic artist draw two images for each of several women: one based on their own description of themselves and the other based on how another person described them, leading the women to realize that other people saw them as much more beautiful than they did themselves. The video has been viewed over 180 million times.

patches

This April 2014 Dove campaign offered women a patch that helped them feel more beautiful and self-confident. In the end, the women discovered that the patch was just a placebo and they feel beautiful without it.

choose beautiful

Launched in April 2015, it asked women to choose between two doors – Average and Beautiful. Dove claimed that the spot prompted 3.6 million women to choose beautiful

brand say

communicating their philosophy and purpose to people in emerging markets

brand do

showing the real action (education, programs, advocacy) to create social impact to appeal to traditional markets who wanted to see what they were doing

1. dove’s work with girls

2. dove’s work with women

3. dove’s work to ensure environmental sustainability

masterbrand

single brand identity used across multiple product categories

main criticism of dove’s campaign

conflict with other unilever brands

• axe, fair and lovely

purpose driven marketing

marketing that focuses on a social or emotional mission

marketing budget

1. product/category advertising

2. masterbrand/brand mission advertising that encouraged women to recognize their own beauty (CFRB)

3. social mission expenditures that advertised and funded the work done in the DSEP

dove social change pyramid

level 1 (top): group level interventions by trained personnel

level 2 (middle): standalone individual or group level interventions with no professional inputs

level 3: targeted broad scale interventions, whole school approach

level 4 (bottom): broad scale societal level intervention, industry regulation

steve miles

executive vice president after 2008 led strategy to embed purpose into the brand while driving growth

• led lifebuoy’s handwashing campaign

silvia lagnado

global brand director who launched the campaign for real beauty

sharon macleod

dove executive (canada) helped launch early cfrb campaigns like tickbox

CAR

center for appearance research who was a academic partner ensuring dove’s programs are evidence-based and effective

WAGGGS

world association of girl guides and girl scouts, partner helping reach millions of girls globally

UK all-party parliamentary group on body image

government group supported by dove to influence policy on body image issues