Launched in September 2004, Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty challenged traditional beauty standards and promoted self-acceptance, featuring images of real women of different ages, shapes, sizes and ethnicities that bucked the trends of previous campaigns in the sector.
It was based on the insight that only 2% of women globally considered themselves to be beautiful, largely because of the idealized images of women they were bombarded with in advertising, media and popular culture. And remember, this was before the dawn of smartphones and social media that have piled on the pressure even more.
It resonated so much that the essential philosophy behind the campaign is still being utilized in Dove’s communications and marketing to this day, as evidenced by the #TurnYourBack activation that won Campaign of the Year at March’s 25th anniversary PRWeek Awards.
#TurnYourBack pushed back on the Bold Glamour generative AI filter trend that swept social media last year. The filter airbrushed users to a single beauty standard, altering people’s faces so much that some thought it should be banned for its potential mental health effects. Within 72 hours of the filter’s launch, Dove partnered with 68 influential creators asking them to #TurnYourBack on the filter.
It was a classic extension of Dove’s No Digital Distortion movement and Self-Esteem Project, which were themselves built on the Campaign for Real Beauty concept.
Nowadays you see women of all ages, shapes, sizes and ethnicities on the front of magazines, on fashion show runways and beyond. This isn’t solely down to Dove’s campaign, but it sure contributed a hell of a lot to the revolution.
Originated by Ogilvy & Mather and activated in partnership with Edelman, the campaign was named best of the last 20 years at PRWeek’s 20th anniversary awards back in 2019. It was the ultimate proof of the value of acting purposefully in terms of building a brand and producing profit for a company, showing that the two are not mutually exclusive.
I remember being at the launch of the Campaign for Real Beauty in London in September 2004. Interestingly, the lead presenter was a man, Ogilvy’s legendary creative strategist Rory Sutherland, which I’m sure wouldn’t have been the case today.
But Sutherland’s unique take on marketing and branding certainly fitted the mood of the night, as the great and the good of the British advertising industry gathered to celebrate what was immediately clear would be an iconic piece of work.
Sutherland’s mantra has always been to do things backwards. In other words, start with the consumer and utilize bottom-up strategy to work toward the business case at the top of the funnel. And that was certainly the philosophy of the Campaign for Real Beauty. As Dove’s CMO Alessandro Manfredi said this week: “We have demonstrated there is no tradeoff between purpose and profit.”
Kathryn Fernandez, senior director, Dove purpose and engagement North America, and the rest of the Dove team rang the opening bell at the NYSE earlier this week, noting on LinkedIn: “This long-standing campaign continues today with its unwavering dedication to representation, confidence and empowerment.”
Dove also marked the milestone by recommitting to the philosophy behind Real Beauty and pledging it would never use AI to represent real women in its advertising.
It released a global beauty study that estimated up to 90% of what we see on our screens will be the product of generative AI by 2025. Almost eight out of 10 women (73%) feel more pressure to be beautiful than eight years ago, and nearly nine out of 10 women and girls (85%) say they have been exposed to harmful beauty content online.
So, the work is by no means finished yet. I’m looking forward to seeing how the Dove team and other brand marketers use creativity to tackle important issues such as these over the next few years, while continuing to sell more products and make profit for their companies.
