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Case Study: Dove’s “Real Beauty” Brand Campaign

Case Study: Dove’s “Real Beauty” Brand Campaign 6 min read

In the world of skincare, Unilever’s Dove has not only solidified its position with products promising moisture and softness but has also reshaped the beauty industry through its groundbreaking “Real Beauty” campaign, launched in 2004 . This article delves into the multifaceted facets of Dove’s campaign, exploring its inception, objectives, social impact, marketing mix analysis, key elements, pros and cons, and the profound long-term implications it has had on the brand and the beauty industry as a whole.

A Revolutionary Approach to Beauty Standards

Dove’s “Real Beauty” campaign embarked on a revolutionary journey by challenging and redefining the prevailing beauty standards. Departing from the conventional models seen in beauty ads, Dove opted for authenticity, featuring real women of diverse body types, ages, and ethnicities. This bold move aimed not only to celebrate the natural beauty of women but also to inspire a global conversation on self-image and societal perceptions of beauty.

The Objectives: Beyond Skin Deep

The campaign’s objectives were multifaceted. Firstly, Dove sought to broaden the narrow beauty standards dictated by media and society, offering a more inclusive definition of beauty. Secondly, it aimed to stimulate a global conversation, urging people to reconsider their perceptions of beauty. Lastly, Dove sought to boost women’s self-esteem by featuring diverse women, fostering a positive self-image.

Impacting Society: Beyond Beauty Products

The social impact goals were evident from the outset – Dove aimed to change the narrative around beauty, inspiring women worldwide to embrace their unique beauty. Furthermore, the campaign sought to influence other brands and the advertising industry to adopt a more inclusive and realistic portrayal of women.

Analyzing the Marketing Mix

Dove’s “Real Beauty” campaign serves as a stellar example of a well-executed marketing mix, strategically incorporating the four Ps – Product, Price, Place, and Promotion.

• Product : Beyond skincare, Dove sold an idea – a new definition of beauty that was inclusive and diverse.
• Price : The brand maintained its value-based pricing strategy, reinforcing the message that real beauty is not a luxury but a right accessible to every woman.
• Place : Widely available globally, Dove’s products reached a broad audience. The digital presence further expanded its global reach, making it a conversation transcending borders.
• Promotion : The campaign leveraged unconventional strategies, featuring real women across various mediums, from TV commercials to digital platforms.

Key Elements of Authenticity

The campaign’s authenticity lay in its use of diverse models and the introduction of the “inner goddess” concept. By showcasing real women of different ages, sizes, and ethnicities, Dove aimed to boost self-esteem and change the narrative around beauty.

Navigating Pros and Cons

While the campaign successfully shifted beauty ideals towards inclusivity, it faced criticism for inconsistencies, particularly concerning Unilever’s ownership of brands with contradictory messages. Instances of racial insensitivity in certain ads also sparked public outcry. Despite these challenges, the campaign significantly impacted the beauty industry and resonated positively with consumers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpaOjMXyJGk

Results and Outcome of the Campaign

Dove’s “Real Beauty” campaign was not only a triumph in challenging traditional beauty standards but also an exceptional success in terms of its financial impact and long-lasting resonance. The results can be analyzed based on the information provided:

Free Media Exposure:

The campaign generated remarkable buzz, resulting in free media exposure worth 30 times Dove’s initial spend . This indicates the campaign’s extraordinary reach and effectiveness in capturing public attention.

Website Engagement:

The campaign’s website drew a substantial 1.5 million visitors . This high level of engagement suggests that people were actively seeking more information about the campaign, indicating a strong public interest and involvement.

Viral Videos:

Dove strategically released a series of viral videos that resonated with viewers. These videos aimed to showcase the self-critical nature of women regarding their appearance while highlighting their true beauty. The viral nature of these videos amplified the campaign’s impact and facilitated widespread conversation.

Inclusive Advertising:

Dove’s decision to feature women of all shapes and sizes in their underwear, with the tagline “ Tested on real curves ,” was a pivotal move . It challenged the conventional use of runway models in beauty advertisements and celebrated the diversity of everyday women. This approach resonated positively with the target audience, fostering a sense of representation and inclusivity.

Financial Impact:

The most tangible result of the campaign’s success was reflected in Dove’s finances. The company experienced a remarkable 10% increase in revenues within a single year. This substantial growth indicates not only a positive response from consumers but also the campaign’s effectiveness in driving sales.

Long-Term Sustainability:

The campaign’s enduring success is noteworthy, considering it is still running nearly 20 years later. This longevity underscores its sustained impact on Dove’s brand image and continued relevance in addressing societal perceptions of beauty.

Inspiring a Movement

The revolutionary impact of Dove’s campaign transcends the beauty industry. It has inspired other brands across various sectors, from lingerie with Aerie’s #AerieREAL campaign to cosmetics with CoverGirl’s #IAmWhatIMakeUp initiative. Even sports apparel, as seen in Nike’s ‘Better For It’ campaign, has embraced inclusivity, inspired by Dove’s groundbreaking initiative.

Conclusion: A Lasting Legacy

Dove’s Real Beauty campaign has left a lasting legacy in the marketing world, not only for its strategic approach but also for the profound impact it had on societal perceptions of beauty. The campaign’s success can be attributed to several key factors that set it apart from traditional marketing strategies.

Emotional Connection:

Dove’s ability to tap into people’s emotions played a pivotal role in the campaign’s success. By addressing a sensitive and prevalent issue – women’s self-image – Dove created a deep emotional connection with its audience. The campaign resonated with the insecurities many women face, fostering a sense of empathy and understanding.

Empowerment Over Exploitation:

Unlike some marketing campaigns that leverage fear, shame, or the desire to conform to societal standards, Dove chose a path of empowerment. The brand celebrated women for who they were at that moment, rejecting unrealistic beauty standards perpetuated by the media. This approach not only differentiated Dove from its competitors but also contributed to building a positive brand image.

Everyday Product Focus:

The decision to center the campaign around everyday products, such as soap and body wash, showcased Dove’s commitment to promoting realistic beauty standards in everyday life. This strategic choice allowed consumers to actively participate in promoting a new paradigm while purchasing products they regularly use. This broad appeal significantly contributed to the widespread success of the campaign.

Affordability and Accessibility:

Dove’s commitment to offering affordable and accessible products further amplified the impact of the Real Beauty campaign. By keeping prices reasonable and ensuring widespread availability in stores like Target, Walmart, and convenience stores, Dove made it easy for a diverse range of consumers to support the cause. This inclusivity ensured that the success of the campaign wasn’t limited to a specific demographic with higher purchasing power.

In conclusion, Dove’s Real Beauty campaign stands as a testament to the power of authenticity, empathy, and social responsibility in marketing. By addressing a societal issue with sensitivity and promoting positive change, Dove not only garnered customer loyalty but also contributed to a broader conversation about inclusivity and self-acceptance. The campaign’s impact transcended the realm of marketing, leaving a lasting legacy and setting a benchmark for brands aspiring to make a meaningful difference in society through their advertising efforts.

Also Read: Dissected: Snickers “You’re Not You When You’re Hungry” Campaign

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Home » Management Case Studies » Case Study: Lessons From the Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty

Case Study: Lessons From the Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty

Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty has been started in 2004. The primary purpose of the campaign is to promote real images of women in contrast to thin and unrealistic images of models. This campaign shows that advertising is a strong communication medium that has a great impact on the attitudes and tastes, values, and choices of consumers . The campaign is based on visual communication and emotional appeal which influence perception of the message and forces information retrieval. The campaign was launched in England, the USA, and Canada as a response to declining sales caused by a saturated market and increased competition.

The Purpose of the Campaign

The practical purpose of the campaign is to increase sales and brand awareness . Dove is one of the top players in the body care market. However, Dove has many competitors, and thus it needs to come up with an efficient marketing tool to win a considerable share of the market. Even though some people might say that the images on the website are not proper, everybody will remember the company after its Campaign for Real Beauty. Besides, its target audience consists of women, and they will get attracted to the products which are claimed to make them into princesses. Every girl and woman wants to feel hot and beautiful.

The advertising strategy was chosen very carefully because the product was not new and Dove has needed a new approach to impress consumers. The campaign aims to change fashion and create a culture of meaning-affecting behavior of women and their tastes. It creates certain standards which affect priorities and buying patterns of women-consumers. Many teenage girls identify themselves with their peers and ideals created by the media. In contrast, adolescent women identity and compare their self-image with successful business ladies and ideal body images of models. Fashion media has affected all spheres of our life creating special trends and markers which are accepted by the majority of society. Although, fashion became more and more risque demanding new ways of expression and new extremes to appeal to potential consumers. Dove tries to change these traditional images and roles of women depicting the diversity of body images and ‘curves’.

The Campaign for Real Beauty is trying to create a view of what beautiful women can enjoy every day. The Dove Company started a fundraiser for their Dove self-esteem fund to help young girls with low self-esteem and they also have collected photographs of real women for their “Million faces album” showcasing the diversity of beauty

The purpose of the campaign is to unveil false body images and help women to realize their beauty. Fashion forms social identity pf women of all ages creating and popularizing ideal body image. Most fashion magazines and TV shows include information about possible services which will help potential clients to improve their appearance: nose, face, breast surgery, etc. Besides commercial purposes, Dove tries to change social images of biddy and a modern woman. From a transitional viewpoint, if a woman (despite her age) does not meet certain standards she/he can be “excluded” from social interaction. Fashion popularizes this idea depicting that ideal body and stylish clothes can make all women happier and even luckier. Social identity forces women to compare their bodies to those they see around them, and researchers have found that exposure to idealized body images and stylish clothes lowers the satisfaction of women with their attractiveness. Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty changes these stereotypes of women, especially young girls and adolescents who are forced to change their appearance to meet criteria established by fashion. To some extent, fashion creates ideal self-images advertising stylish ways of life and depicting ideal body images of all ages. The design of most fashion magazines is aimed to depict the differences between an ugly and ideal body which can be achieved by trendy clothes or plastic surgery.

The target audience of Dove’s Campaign is women of all ages, classes, and nationalities. The slogan “real women have curves” attracts millions of women around the world promoting realistic images of the body and age differences. The purpose of images is to remind women that they are beautiful and sexy. Vivid images get fixed in people’s minds and always have a major immediate effect on the consumer. Practice shows that advertisements can have both a major immediate effect and minor effects the influence of which on the potential customers will take a long time. The major immediate effect can occur in the case when the company has something new to say in the advertisement.

Using Realistic Body Images for the Campaign

Using visual images, Dove appeals to the emotions of consumers portraying “people like me”. The media involve TV commercials, the website, local and national press, billboards. All advertisements portray realistic body images, the daily lives of people, their problems, and possible solutions. Dove does not take it for granted that audiences have a high attention level. Researchers underline that while the preceding figures may readily be categorized as symbolic portrayals of emotion, the occurrence of such symbols in social interaction is less apparent. However, one could argue that such basic expressions as smiling and frowning appear in so many contexts and so often that they have become symbols of emotion. About the portrayal of such masking smiles advertising and news, advertisements illustrates a social situation in which such a masking smile might occur. Significant effects were found for the overall advertisement appeal, image appeal, and purchase intentions when there was congruence between consumer sensing/intuiting type and visual imagery across the four product categories tested.

It is possible to say that Dove uses visual images as a non-linguistic device to draw customers’ attention. It can be explained by the fact that advertising seldom leads to immediate purchase response, advertising’s effects must somehow be mentally stored away if they are to alter the probability of buying at a later time. In this sense, the brand image notion is an early manifestation of a multiplicity of perception, learning, or attitude theories. For instance, based on numerous visual clues (body images) and hints, Dove’s advertisements appeal rationally and emotionally to potential consumers. Largely intuitive creatives should be sensitized to the fact that when communicating the benefits of a given product or service, the target might consist mostly of sensors and that marketing communications are more effective when tailored to the predominant consumer type.

Realistic body images increase motivational intensity which affects three stages of the choice processes. It affects the first stage by determining the appropriate stopping rule for a brand generation. Very low levels of motivation will cause the consumer to retrieve only the most accessible brands, whereas high levels of motivation will cause the consumer to actively “search” for brands that may be less accessible. At the second and third stages, the motivational intensity will affect the number of criteria used by the consumer to consider and select brands. Low levels of motivation will favor the use of an overall attitude when it is accessible. In many cases, viewers are impressed more by visual images than by verbal messages or information announced in ads.

From a psychological point of view, the “unique” effect of Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty is explained by a conceptualization of the choice process. It incorporates the use of previously obtained information including knowledge about brands, political events, their attributes, and attitudes. Second, it allows for the use of memory. In billboard messages, consumers generate some brand information from memory, rather than relying solely on externally available information. Accordingly, the current contents of working memory will cue, and bring to mind other associated information from long-term memory. These ads are real attention-getters—everyone’s talking about them. On that level, they’re a smashing success. Also, Dove now owns the “friend of the everywoman” angle.

Consumer Culture and Fashion

In contrast to its competitors, Dove popularizes a particular lifestyle and consumer culture , it persuades the customer to buy their products as symbols of unique consumer culture and fashion. If motivation is high, consumers will attempt to use the most diagnostic information available, even when it takes effort to access it. Billboard advertisements are a good example of visual images which influence consumers’ choice and buying behaviors. This medium allows Dove the construction of persuasive messages that reflect the recipients’ self-concepts. Similarly, to motivational intensity, the opportunity to process information also will act to constrain the brand, attribute, or attitude information used by consumers during choice. Billboards messages are more effective to the extent that they use appeals that are designed to correspond to the self-concepts of the recipients. Dove uses information and images to impress viewers or remind some pleasant moments of their life. Relevant information will be further processed, whereas irrelevant information will be allowed to “fade” from working memory. This process affects the product choice and priorities of viewers, alter their previous choice and lifestyle. Commercial success came in 2005 when the company generated more than 650 million imprints.

Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty proves that the success of the product is in many ways pre-destined by the advertising strategy which the company uses. In the modern era, using sex in advertising has become one of the most popular practices for companies. They do no longer need to attract consumers with advertising based on competitive prices or higher quality than their competitors. Instead, they use sex as a peculiar magnet that is going to attract consumers to their stores year after year. Statistical results show that the campaign is very successful: (1) it increases sales of Dove beauty products and new product lines; (2) it creates a dialog, debate, and discussion about the true meaning of beauty; (3) it attracts media; (4) and it promotes the CFRB website. Dove is involved in sponsorship and philanthropic activity . The company established the Dove Self-Esteem Fund and the Program for Aesthetics and Well-Being at Harvard University.

In its global advertising campaign, Dove pays special attention to publicity and philanthropy. Public relations (press releases, conferences, corporate newsletters, audio-video presentations, and the website) help Dove to inform the general public about the new product line and its benefits. In general, public relations are the marketing communications function that carries out programs designed to earn public understanding and acceptance. The marketing purpose of public relations activities is to achieve objectives that cannot be achieved by other means or as cheaply by other means. Dove uses public relations and panel discussions (at launch in New York, and later through partnership). In its campaigns, Dove involves such popular photographers as Elena Dorfman, Tierney Gearon, and Emily Shur. Dove supports an online photo gallery “Beyond Compare: Women Photographers on Beauty”.

In sum, Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty proves that the message plays an important role in how it is perceived and interpreted by the end consumer. Despite the company’s emphasis on natural beauty in the promotion and some disapproval, the campaign is a huge success among women of all ages and cultures. Yes, the campaign encouraged natural beauty and a free attitude to life. That is the way of thinking of many young people nowadays. The company only reflects this way of thinking and achieves huge success during it. Dove says that a woman does not have to spend plenty of time near the mirror adjusting everything: she has a natural beauty.

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• September 2019 (Revised June 2021)
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Dove and Real Beauty: Building a Brand with Purpose

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• | Language: English
• | Pages: 24

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• Faculty Research
• Dove and Real Beauty: Building a Brand with Purpose  By: Mark R. Kramer
• Dove and Real Beauty: Building a Brand with Purpose  By: Mark R. Kramer, Myriam Sidibe and Gunjan Veda

Advertisement

Dove on how it created an influencer community

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By The Drum, Editorial

November 28, 2023 | 7 min read

Listen to article 4 min

Dove and Collectively have won the Influencer Partnership category at The Drum Awards for Social Media. Here is the award-winning case study.

Here's is the award-winning activation.

Dove has consistently championed diverse beauty representations, aiming to foster a positive relationship with beauty that's universally accessible. In 2023, our focus extended to amplifying Dove's social impact mission and iconic products, propelling competitiveness, and encouraging consumer action.

Aligned with our commitment to real women consumers, Dove has pioneered creator-led marketing, amplifying the voices of independent female small business owners who own personal brands online. Our collaboration with these allies significantly boosts Brand Lift, cementing influencers as crucial channels for Dove's business outcomes.

This year, we built upon previous successes, empowering influencer voices to advocate for body confidence and inclusivity across diverse Dove product categories and social impact pillars. Our initiatives spanned various product categories, including Skin Cleansing, Deodorant, Hair, Hand Hygiene, and Purpose pillars. Our goals for the year:

Expand engaged reach on a larger scale by growing the influencer community.

Establish Dove as an actionist beauty brand through innovative influencer relationship-building, challenging industry norms.

Foster a broader social impact movement through the One Dove Community, harnessing the energy of our influencer partners to engage followers in Dove's causes actively.

Drawing from insights gained over four years of collaboration with Collectively, we devised the following strategies to achieve these goals:

Increased investment in Macro and Elite talent to amplify messaging reach.

Capitalized on consumer sentiment and TikTok trends to enhance brand resonance.

Actively nurtured Earned and Nano Communities to cultivate new interests and broaden share-of-voice.

Consistently elevated influencer content through A/B testing across formats, messaging, and assets.

Adopted a "relationship first" approach, creating content resonating with both Brand and Talent Partners, effectively integrating creators into the Dove family.

Invested in 3-5 briefs per influencer annually to deepen relationships and strengthen audience affinity.

Strategically blended Dove's successful tactics with competitor insights to elevate content in 2024.

Tracked commerce-driving traffic to major retailers to measure direct sales impact.

As of June 2023, with 45% of the annual scope completed, our efforts have reaped remarkable results:

14 campaign briefs executed

312 creators activated

693 social posts shared

An impressive 684 million total impressions generated

607,000 organic engagements achieved

An encouraging 7.5% Actual Organic Engagement Rate

A strong 48.6% Comment Relevancy Rate

1.2 million link clicks recorded

Our influencer community remains a testament to Dove's dedication to diversity, comprising varying body types, sexual orientations, abilities, and ethnicities:

37% Black or African American

23% Hispanic

9% Size Diverse

5% Different Abled

Dove's strategic prowess has translated into a competitive advantage, evident through impressive performance results:

Actual Impressions delivery nearly doubled year-over-year.

View Rate witnessed a substantial 30% increase year-over-year.

Click-through Rate rose by a commendable 29% year-over-year.

Dove's Unique Approach to Social Impact: Spotlight on Campaigns

#PasstheCROWN - #BlackHairIsProfessional:

Dove co-founded the CROWN Coalition in 2019, championing the CROWN Act to eliminate race-based hair discrimination. This year, our brief focused on workplace hair discrimination with an expanded creator content series on LinkedIn, Instagram, and TikTok to tell real women’s stories about their experiences wearing their natural hair. The partnership with LinkedIn for the #BlackHairIsProfessional campaign was pivotal, highlighting workplace hair discrimination. The campaign's potency on LinkedIn was evident, achieving an impressive 19x impressions-to-follower ratio. The campaign spurred viral conversations, with professionals rallying around the cause of embracing natural hair in the workplace.

97M impressions

6.1% Actual Engagement Rate and 3% click-through rate

Viral conversation on LinkedIn led to 9MM organic earned conversion impressions in the first 4 weeks (~6MM in week 1)

More than 450,000 professionals have taken the free LinkedIn learning courses on more inclusive and equitable work environments

#BlackHairIsProfessional has given thousands of Black women a safe space to talk about their hair journeys at work with more than 300,000 posts, actions, and tags

#17YearsofChange & #ChangeIsBeautiful:

In a groundbreaking move, Dove introduced an updated body wash formula and packaging after 17 years. Dove collaborated with trend-driven comedians, skin experts, and emotional storytellers from the One Dove Community to support this launch for distinct campaigns. The program exceeded expectations by garnering a 535% surge in impressions, with viral posts such as this one, amassing 2 million views: TikTok Video.

4.2 million Impressions

An impressive 9.16% Actual Engagement Rate

A remarkable 21% View Rate

-This endeavor exemplified Dove and Collectively's prowess in merging product and purpose marketing, effectively intertwining product narratives with purpose-driven marketing and inclusive casting. The "Change is Beautiful" content, emphasizing embracing change as a beautiful process, achieved exceptional engagement and click-through rates, surpassing benchmarks by over 2 times. Audience reactions indicated positive sentiment and intent to purchase: “This is the first ad I’ve seen in a long time that actually made me want to buy the product.” - comment on @itskatesteinberg’s viral TikTok post.

#CrownCollection & #HairLove:

To support products catering to textured hair—Dove Crown Collection and Hair Love for kids—creators shared genuine mother-daughter stories, empowering families to embrace their natural hair. The campaign exceeded engagement rate and comment relevancy benchmarks, successfully reaching engaged audiences with impactful content. Achievements encompassed:

Over 2.5 million impressions (paid and organic)

A strong 9% Actual Engagement Rate

Impressive engagement, particularly on Instagram Reels

Notable Click Through Rates for IG Stories exceeding benchmarks

Campaign for Kids Online Safety:

Dove marked a significant milestone by entering its third year of efforts to enhance girls' self-esteem and raise awareness about harmful beauty content on social media. The Campaign for Kids Online Safety, a collaboration with Common Sense Media, aimed to hold social media platforms accountable while safeguarding young individuals' mental well-being. Through the enactment of the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), both kids and parents were empowered, giving them a say in shaping the online experiences of youngsters for the betterment of their mental health. Our strategic approach to supporting this partnership was divided into three distinct influencer cohorts—parents, advocates, and social media trailblazers—spanning major platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn. This collective effort worked harmoniously to amplify diverse personal stories and perspectives. The results were extraordinary:

3.2 million impressions/views, exceeding the initial goal by an impressive 64%

In-feed View Rate of 9.05%, with Instagram Reels standing out at an impressive 23.75% view rate

A remarkable Comment Relevancy Rate of 53.86%, with LinkedIn engagement leading at 82.52%

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Dove • Unilever

Dove - Turn Your Back (case study)

Agencies: David • DAVID Madrid • Ogilvy UK

Description

Dove is encouraging people to 'turn their back' on the new Bold Glamour filter as part of its mission to create a #NoDigitalDistortion movement. The influencer-led campaign, developed by Ogilvy and DAVID, is kicking off with content creators sharing how they personally feel about the Bold Glamour filter and the damage it can do (and is doing) to social users. The Bold Glamour filter presents a concerning ideal of ‘beauty’ – one that looks real, too real. In the seven days since it launched, the hashtag has been viewed more than 365M times (probably more by now). The campaign is galvanising people to stand together and physically turn their backs on this harmful form of digital distortion. Through research done by the Dove Self-Esteem Project 38% of girls in the US say they can’t live up to the beauty standards that influencers project on social media, and 80% say they have already applied a filter or used a retouching app to change the way they look in their photos by age 13. As a result, 48% of girls who distort their photos regularly have lower body esteem compared to 28% of girls who don’t. More detail in the attached release. The filter launched while Ogilvy was hosting a global creative meeting with members of its creative community from around the world. The brief was put out as a Borderless Brief to the creative community and in less than 24 hours they agency had over 250 slides worth of ideas. The end result is a product of the borderless creativity that drives Ogilvy’s global creative network. In the end, the team rallied around the idea for #TurnYourBack, which was created by DAVID Madrid and Ogilvy UK with production assistance from DAVID São Paulo.

This professional campaign titled 'Dove - Turn Your Back (case study)' was published in Spain, United Kingdom, and United States in June, 2023. It was created for the brands: Dove and Unilever, by ad agencies: David, DAVID Madrid, and Ogilvy UK. This Ambient, Content, and Digital media campaign is related to the Beauty and Health industries and contains 1 media asset. It was submitted over 1 year ago by LLLLITL.

Brand: Dove (Unilever). Advertising Agencies: Ogilvy London and DAVID Madrid. Countries: United-Kingdom and Spain. Production: DAVID Sao Paulo. Media: Mindshare London. PR: Ogilvy London.

Dove Chief Marketing Officer: Alessandro Manfredi. Brand Director: Pau Bartoli. Head Of Marketing: Lynsey Smith. PR: Sarah Potter. Brand Director: Kathryn Fernandez. Content Director: Jillian Engel. Vice President: Firdaous Elhonsali.

DAVID Madrid Chief Creative Officer: Pancho Cassis. Chief Operating Officer: Sylvia Panico. PR Director: Sandra Azedo. Chief Creative Officer: Saulo Rocha. Creative Director: Pedro Sattin, Jose Sancho. Art Director: Daniela Botero. Copywriter: Miguel Ángel Gómez.

Ogilvy North America Chief Creative Officer: Lisa Bright. Chief Strategy Officer: Lindsey Gonnella.

Ogilvy UK Executive Creative Director: Daniel Fisher. Creative Director: Liam Bushby. Creative Director: Alison Stevens. Creative: Ian Brassett, Dave Anderson. Chief Client Officer: Jo Bacon. Managing Partner: Doug Le Patourel. Account Director: Carmen Vicente Soto. Account Manager: Grace Boyle. Project Manager: Jay Perez. Producer: Chloe Jahanshahi, Megan Sturgess. Social: Rahul Titus. Business Director: Andrea Maylor.

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Dove - My Beauty, My Say

Pride in every wash

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The Dove Code – Dove’s 20-Year Campaign for Real Beauty: Navigating the Impact of AI

The Dove Code – Discover Dove’s stance on AI, authenticity, and empowering women. Dive into the real beauty movement!

In a world where beauty standards constantly evolve and technology reshapes our perceptions, Dove stands as a beacon of authenticity and inclusivity. For two decades, Dove has been at the forefront of a transformative campaign, challenging societal norms, media portrayals, and industry standards to redefine what it means to be beautiful. However, as the brand commemorates its 20th anniversary of championing real beauty, it finds itself confronted with new challenges in the digital age.

Back in 2004, Dove’s groundbreaking campaign began with a stark revelation: only 2% of women globally considered themselves beautiful. Since then, Dove has tirelessly worked to make positive beauty experiences accessible to all. From urging the beauty industry to widen its representation to advocating for transparency in digital manipulation, Dove has been a catalyst for change.

To mark this milestone, Dove conducted a comprehensive study to assess the current state of beauty worldwide. The findings paint a sobering picture. Despite some progress, the pressure to conform to unrealistic beauty ideals remains pervasive. In the United States alone, over one-third of women would sacrifice a year of their lives to achieve an ideal appearance. The standards have evolved, but the expectations have become increasingly unattainable, encompassing contradictory attributes like being both slim and curvy.

Moreover, the rise of artificial intelligence presents a new frontier in the battle for real beauty. With the exponential growth of AI-generated content, women are bombarded with digitally altered images that blur the line between reality and fantasy. Nearly nine out of ten women and girls report exposure to harmful beauty content online, with AI exacerbating the issue. Despite the potential for empowerment, many feel pressured to alter their appearance based on AI-generated imagery.

Dr. Phillippa Diedrichs, a Research Psychologist specializing in body image, emphasizes the importance of representation in combating these challenges. As AI technology advances, distinguishing between genuine beauty and manufactured perfection becomes increasingly difficult. Dove’s commitment to authenticity is underscored by its decision to never use AI in place of real people in its advertising.

In response to the growing influence of AI, Dove has introduced the Real Beauty Prompt Guidelines, offering practical guidance for creating more representative images in AI-generated content. The brand’s latest campaign, “The Dove Code,” reflects on the impact of AI on beauty perceptions, advocating for women to reclaim the power to define beauty on their own terms.

Alessandro Manfredi, Dove’s Chief Marketing Officer, reaffirms the brand’s dedication to championing real beauty. By rejecting AI in its communications and empowering women to embrace their authenticity, Dove continues to lead the charge towards a future where beauty is a source of happiness, not anxiety, for every woman and girl. As the campaign slogan declares, Dove seeks to uphold “The Dove Code” of real beauty in an increasingly digital world.

Credits: Campaign: The Dove Code Agency: SOKO Image Production Company: Saigon Motion Production: Diprod Studio VFX: The Mill Audio Production: Hefty

This campaign is about: Real beauty campaign, Dove 20-year anniversary, Beauty standards evolution, Impact of AI on beauty, Dove Real Beauty Prompt Guidelines, Real vs AI-generated beauty, Dove “The Code” campaign, Beauty industry transparency, Women empowerment in beauty, Dove research on beauty ideals, The Dove Code, Beauty & Wellbeing, Personal Care, Dove Self-Esteem Project, Artificial Intelligence, AI beauty standards, Dove Real Beauty Campaign.

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