 | This article contains content that is written like an advertisement .(April 2020) |
The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty is a worldwide marketing campaign launched by Unilever in 2004 aiming to build self confidence in women and young children. [1] Dove's partners in the campaign included Ogilvy, Edelman Public Relations, and Harbinger Communications (in Canada) along with other consultants. [2] Part of the overall project was the Evolution campaign.
In 2004, Dove and Ogilvy organized a photography exhibit titled "Beyond Compare: Women Photographers on Real Beauty". The show featured work from 67 female photographers which led to the Real Beauty campaign. [3] The Dove Real Beauty campaign was conceived in 2004 during a three-year creative strategic research effort, conducted in partnership with three universities, led by Joah Santos. [4] The creative was conceived by Ogilvy Düsseldorf and London. [5] [6]
The study resulted in a new consumer-centric versus product-centric advertising strategy, which Joah Santos referred to as P.O.V. - Purpose | Objective | Vision. [7] The concept led all of Ad Age top five Campaigns of the Century, increasing sales from $2 billion to $4 billion in three years. [6] The plan abandoned Unilever's traditional brand essence ladder in favor of a POV strategy "To make women feel comfortable in their own skin and to create a world where beauty is a source of confidence rather than anxiety." All Dove Real Beauty advertisements must therefore adhere to the POV strategy, each with its own unique perspective. The original advertising insight/tension indicated that only 4% of women consider themselves beautiful. [5] Ogilvy Düsseldorf and London [5] created it.
The first stage of the campaign centered on a series of billboard advertisements, initially put up in Germany and United Kingdom, and later worldwide. The spots showcased photographs of regular women (in place of professional models), taken by noted portrait photographer Rankin. [8] The ads invited bypassers to vote on whether a particular model was, for example, "Fat or Fab" or "Wrinkled or Wonderful", with the results of the votes dynamically updated and displayed on the billboard itself. [9] Accompanying the billboard advertisements was the publication of the "Dove Report", a corporate study in which Unilever intended to "[create] a new definition of beauty [which] will free women from self-doubt and encourage them to embrace their real beauty." [10]
The series received significant media coverage from talk shows, women's magazines, and mainstream news broadcasts and publications, [11] generating media exposure that Unilever has estimated to be worth more than 30 times the paid-for media space. [12] Following this success, the campaign expanded into other media with a series of television spots (Flip Your Wigs and the Pro-Age series, among others) and print advertisements ("Tested on Real Curves"), culminating in the 2006 Little Girls global campaign, which featured regional versions of the same advertisement in both print and screen, [13] for which Unilever purchased a 30-second spot in the commercial break during Super Bowl XL at an estimated cost of $2.5 million. [14]
In 2006, Ogilvy were seeking to extend the campaign further, and by creating one or more viral videos to host on the Campaign for Real Beauty website. The first of these, Daughters, was an interview-style piece intended to show how mothers and daughters related to issues surrounding the modern perception of beauty and the beauty industry. The film, Daughters, touches upon the self-esteem issues found in many young girls today. Dove's Self-Esteem Fund supports their campaign by using statistics that demonstrate how young women and girls are more apt to have distorted views of beauty. [15] It was during the production of Daughters that a series of short films entitled "Beauty Crackdown" was pitched to Unilever as an "activation idea". [16] [17] The concept was one that art director Tim Piper, who proposed to create Evolution with the budget left over from Daughters (C$135,000 [18] ), pushed. It was originally intended to get people to the Campaign for Real Beauty website to see Daughters, and to participate in the workshops featured on the site. [17] After Evolution, Ogilvy produced Onslaught and Amy . Onslaught is an emotional video about the harsh reality of young girls and the influence that the beauty industry can have on them. [1]
In April 2013, a video titled Dove Real Beauty Sketches was released as part of the campaign, created by Hugo Veiga. It went viral, attracting strong reactions from the public and media. [5] In the video, several women describe themselves to a forensic sketch artist who cannot see his subjects. The same women are then described by strangers whom they met the previous day. The sketches are compared, with the stranger's image invariably being both more flattering and more accurate. [19] The differences create strong reactions when shown to the women. [5]
In October 2013, Free Being Me , a collaboration between Dove and the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts was launched, with the aim of increasing "self-esteem and body confidence" in girls. [20]
In 2017, Dove and Ogilvy London created limited-edition versions of body wash bottles meant to look like different body shapes and sizes. Dove produced 6,800 bottles of the six different designs and sent them to 15 different countries. [21]
Individual ads caused different reactions; both positive and negative. Evolution won two Cannes Lions Grand Prix awards. [2] Writing for The Daily Telegraph , Katy Young called Real Beauty Sketches; "[ Dove's] most thought provoking film yet [...]. Moving, eye opening and in some ways saddening, this is one campaign that will make you think, and hopefully, feel more beautiful." [22]
The campaign has been criticized on the grounds that Unilever also produces Fair and Lovely, a skin-lightening product marketed at dark-skinned women in several countries. [23] It was also widely noted that Unilever brand Lynx's advertising campaign would seemingly contradict the sentiment of the Campaign for Real Beauty. [24] Moreover, Unilever owns Axe hygiene products, which are marketed to men using overtly sexualized women, and SlimFast diet bars. [25] [26] Writing for Forbes, Will Burns called such criticism "totally irrelevant". [26] He explained: "No one thinks of Dove as a Unilever brand, for starters (nor should Dove) [...]. But more to the point, does Dove's idea mean teen boys don't still want to smell good for the ladies? Or that people who are overweight don't want to lose a few pounds? These are different brands solving problems for completely different audiences." [26] The criticism has also been justified by others that state their concerns that the images that Dove portrays in their ads are supposed to be unedited and "real"; however, there have been comments made stating they have been photoshopped to smooth the appearance of the women's skin, hide wrinkles and blemishes, fix stray hairs, etc. Photo retoucher Pascal Dangin, who works for Box Studios in New York, told The New Yorker he made edits to the photos, "Do you know how much retouching was on that?" he asked. "But it was great to do, a challenge, to keep everyone's skin and faces showing the mileage but not looking unattractive." [27] The women who are targeted by these ads have mixed reviews as well. Some women were turned off that Dove was in essence telling them they knew the insecurities they felt and what all women felt. Social networking sites such as Facebook became an outlet for women to express their praise and criticism. [28]
The campaign has been criticized positively and negatively by consumers, critics, and other companies because of the way Dove has chosen to portray their messages for their audience. Writing for The New York Times , Tanzina Vega produced the article "Ad About Women's Self-Image Creates a Sensation". In this piece it portrayed how different people viewed the Dove Real Beauty Campaign in different ways. First, was "Brenda Fiala; a senior vice president for strategy at Blast Radius, a digital advertising agency. Fiala stated that Dove was trying to create a sense of trust with the consumer by tapping into deep-seated emotions that many women feel about themselves and their appearance". [29] What she also believed for the Dove Real Beauty Campaign was that the campaign "hits on a real human truth for women", [29] and that, "Many women undervalue themselves and also the way they look". [29] On the other hand, in this same ad, it states that some people criticized the ad's for the campaign believing they were contradicting their true message. In the article by Vega; Jazz Brice, 24, a viewer of the campaign, explains during an interview how she took the messages from the Dove Real Beauty Campaign "I think it makes people much more susceptible to absorbing the subconscious messages, and that at the heart of it all is that beauty is still what defines women. It is a little hypocritical". [29] The campaign has had an impact worldwide in both positive and negative ways with the help of Dove's social media outlets such as; Facebook and Twitter. The Dove Campaign was one of the first campaigns to be considered as going "viral" in the sense that to be viral was new and generally unknown at the time of the beginning of the campaign (2004). [30] Some viewers considered the message a positive impact on the way women were viewed while others viewed it as the opposite.
With the positive and negative feedback received from the viewers and consumers of the campaign, the Dove Company did not just want to "talk" [30] to media about the problem they wanted to "act" [30] on the issues and embrace the advantages of the campaign for the future. In the article, "Dove' Real Beauty Campaign Turns 10: How a Brand Tried To Change The Conversation About Female Beauty", written by Nina Bahadur from the HuffPost interviewed a spokesperson for the Dove Company about the types of feedback they have got from the Dove Real Beauty Campaign and how it has impacted the company. Sharon MacLeod, vice president of Unilever North Amean rica Personal Care, told HuffPost; "[We were thinking], we have to walk the talk" she also stated, "We can't just be getting people stirred up; awareness and conversation isn't enough. We actually have to do something to change what's happening." [30] Since the start of the campaign, Dove has started funds for women and girls to promote their message along with more advertising in attempt to bring more awareness to women of different ages and cultural backgrounds. The company of Dove believes they still have a chance to bring a greater impact on society and the generations to come when it comes to the impact of societies’ views of beauty and the impact it has on women and young girls. [30] As stated in the interview with MacLeod, "We're going to try to change a generation", MacLeod tells HuffPost "You have to wait until they grow up to see what happens." [30] Some critics on the other hand believe that the campaign focuses too greatly on the physical aspect of beauty instead of other areas that should have more focus. From The Cut, Ann Friedman states the following about the Dove Real Beauty Campaign: "These ads still uphold the notion that, when it comes to evaluating ourselves and other women, beauty is paramount. The goal shouldn't be to get women to focus on how we are all gorgeous in our own way. It should be to get women to do for ourselves what we wish the broader culture would do: judge each other based on intelligence and wit and ethical sensibility, not just our faces and bodies." [31] Critics and defenders of the Dove Real Beauty Campaign have both pointed out on occasion that because Dove is trying to redefine what society and women believe as beauty does not essentially mean that women and younger girls will feel different about themselves, this is also stated by Ann Friedman when she suggests to the HuffPost as evidence that Dove's message about beauty is important and necessary. An estimated 80 percent of American women feel dissatisfied with their bodies, and 81 percent of 10-year-old girls are afraid of becoming "fat". Can a series of ad campaigns really change institutionalized body hatred? [30]
Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a specific good or service, but there are wide range of uses, the most common being the commercial advertisement.
Sex appeal in advertising is a common tactic employed to promote products and services. Research indicates that sexually appealing content, including imagery, is often used to shape or alter the consumer's perception of a brand, even if it is not directly related to the product or service being advertised. This approach, known as "sex sells," has become more prevalent among companies, leading to controversies surrounding the use of sexual campaigns in advertising.
Unilever plc is a British multinational fast-moving consumer goods company founded on 2 September 1929 following the merger of British soap maker Lever Brothers and Dutch margarine producer Margarine Unie. It is headquartered in London.
Viral marketing is a business strategy that uses existing social networks to promote a product mainly on various social media platforms. Its name refers to how consumers spread information about a product with other people, much in the same way that a virus spreads from one person to another. It can be delivered by word of mouth, or enhanced by the network effects of the Internet and mobile networks.
Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) is a British-owned Indian final good company headquartered in Mumbai. It is a subsidiary of the British company Unilever. Its products include foods, beverages, cleaning agents, personal care products, water purifiers and other fast-moving consumer goods (FMCGs).
Jean Kilbourne is an American public speaker, writer, filmmaker and activist, who is known for her work on the image of women in advertising and her critical studies of alcohol and tobacco advertising. She is also credited with introducing the idea of educating about media literacy as a way to prevent problems she viewed as originating from mass media advertising campaigns. She also lectures about the topic, and her documentaries based on these lectures are viewed around the world.
Dove is a personal care brand owned by Unilever, a British consumer goods company.
Online advertising, also known as online marketing, Internet advertising, digital advertising or web advertising, is a form of marketing and advertising that uses the Internet to promote products and services to audiences and platform users. Online advertising includes email marketing, search engine marketing (SEM), social media marketing, many types of display advertising, and mobile advertising. Advertisements are increasingly being delivered via automated software systems operating across multiple websites, media services and platforms, known as programmatic advertising.
Ogilvy is a New York City-based British advertising, marketing, and public relations agency. It was founded in 1850 by Edmund Mather as a London-based agency. In 1964, the firm became known as Ogilvy & Mather after merging with a New York City agency that was founded in 1948 by David Ogilvy.
Axe or Lynx is a French brand of male grooming products owned by the London- and Rotterdam-based company Unilever and marketed toward the younger male demographic. It is marketed as Lynx in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Malta, Australia, New Zealand and China.
Foote, Cone & Belding (FCB), is one of the largest global advertising agency networks. It is owned by Interpublic Group and was merged in 2006 with Draft Worldwide, adopting the name Draftfcb. In 2014 the company rebranded itself as FCB.
Evolution, also called The Evolution Of Beauty, is an advertising campaign launched by Unilever in 2006 as part of its Dove Campaign for Real Beauty, to promote the newly created Dove Self-Esteem Fund. The centre of the Unilever campaign is a 75-second spot produced by Ogilvy & Mather in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The piece was first displayed online on 6 October 2006, and was later broadcast as a television and cinema spot in the Netherlands and the Middle East. The ad was created from the budget left over from the earlier Daughters campaign, and was intended to be the first in a series of such online-focused campaigns by the company. Later such videos include Onslaught and Amy.Evolution was directed by Canadian director Yael Staav and Tim Piper, with sound design handled by the Vapor Music Group, and post-production by SoHo.
Ameritest is an international advertising research firm, headquartered in Albuquerque, New Mexico, which provides its clients with worldwide market research on their advertising concepts, and executions.
Brian Collins is an American designer, creative director, and educator. He is the Chief Creative Officer of COLLINS:, an independent strategy and brand experience design company. Previously, he served as Chairman and Chief Creative Officer of the brand and innovation division of Ogilvy & Mather for ten years.
Onslaught is an online advertising campaign created by Unilever in 2007 to promote the Dove Self-Esteem Fund. It is the third such piece to be released, following Daughters and Evolution. As with the previous spots, the 80-second spot was managed by advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather and was directed by Tim Piper. The campaign won a number of prestigious awards from within the advertising industry, including at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival.
Timothy (Tim) David Piper is an Australian writer and director. Working for Ogilvy & Mather Toronto, Piper wrote and co-directed create Dove's "Evolution" television commercial. For this, Piper was one of Time Magazine's finalists for being in its 2008 TIME 100 list for his work for Dove's.
Dollar Shave Club, Inc. is an American company based in Venice, California, that delivers razors and other personal grooming products to customers by mail. It delivers razor blades on a monthly basis and offers additional grooming products for home delivery.
Dove Real Beauty Sketches is a short film produced in 2013 as part of the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty marketing campaign. The aim of the film is to show women that they are more beautiful than they think they are by comparing self-descriptions to those of strangers.
Twitter Amplify is a video advertising product that Twitter launched for media companies and consumer brands in May 2013. The product gives broadcasters the opportunity to publish real-time in-tweet video clips that are accompanied by pre-roll or post-roll advertisements. It is Twitter's major initiative in social television, designed to enhance the user experience with premium and timely TV highlights, enable broadcasters to reach new audiences and provide brands with a cross-platform tool for reaching the social conversation around major events.
SHE Media is an American digital media company. It operates the website properties BlogHer, SheKnows, STYLECASTER, and HelloFlo. It has been a brand of Penske Media Corporation since 2018.