Dove launched its "Real Beauty" campaign in 2004 to promote a wider definition of beauty beyond narrow physical standards. Initial ads featured images of average women and asked viewers to label them in limiting ways. This highlighted society's tendency to over-judge women on looks. Later campaigns showed the transformative power of accepting one's natural appearance. While some criticize Dove's focus on physical beauty, supporters say it has started important discussions about redefining attractiveness and body image. The campaign aims to keep promoting these messages through ads and educational programs.

1. Dove Real Beauty Campaign
Submitted by Karan Venugopal
Email ID:karan.venugopal@gmail.com
Submitted to: Kadia Shriram
Program: MKM915MMU
Date : 20.03.2020

2. Introduction
• In the early 2000s, Dove executives began to try a way
to restore a name that was being dominated by other
companies.
• To learn about women's desires and concerns, their
PR agency, Edelman, conducted a survey of more
than 3,000 women in 10 countries.
• The executives at Dove saw an advantage when it
emerged that just 2 per cent of the women
interviewed thought themselves attractive.
• If they went past the soap bar and added other items
like shampoo and body wash, could they launch a
beauty conversation too? Would a strategy digging
into what people think and feel help make Dove more
important— and more profitable?

3. Dove Real Beauty
• Dove's first moves in the Fight for Natural Beauty included advertisements called "Tick Box," which launched
in Canada and distributed across the United States and UK. The outdoor billboards displayed pictures of
women with two next-door tick-box choices like "fat or fit?" and "blue or gorgeous?“
• Passersby might write their votes to a number listed, and the percentages appeared on the billboard next to
the picture. The campaign attracted 1.5 million people to the Real Beauty Brand website, telling Dove it was
on the right track— this was a issue women needed to speak about.

4. Evolution
• A few months after "Tick Box," Dove launched a advertising
advertisement showcasing "actual" groups of diverse women in the
underwear.
• One of the women included on the original ads was Gina Crisanti, who
was confronted by a young agent while at her job at a café throwing
the garbage away.
• He wanted to support the movement to make other females feel
inspired and comfortable in their bodies, according to Crisanti.
• "I grew up not being happy with my body shape and size at all," Crisanti
told NBC News in 2005. "I hated being curvy. I hated having big breasts.
And I hated having curly hair. In my 20s, I realized all those [ideas] were
simply self-destructive. Once I started to develop an alternative
definition of beauty, all of it started to fall into place."Dove was— and
still is— one of the few major advertisers to speak about how we
perceive feminine attractiveness, according to Kilbourne, who has been
researching ads since the' 70s.
• "There are very few ads that vary in any way, that contradict the
traditional pictures," she told HuffPost.
• Several other companies have followed suit, capitalising on a message
of female empowerment to associate their products. Commercials like
"Labels For Women" by Pantene focus on concepts close to those of
the Coalition for Real Beauty, like the instant decisions that people
create solely on the looks of a woman— and why it shouldn't matter.

5. Potential Issues
• Knowing the initiative will be dismissed as a superficial publicity tactic, the team behind the Advertisement
for True Beauty decided that it wasn't enough to actually speak about such topics.
• "[We were thinking], we have to walk the talk," Sharon MacLeod, vice president of Unilever North America
Personal Care, told HuffPost. "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.“
• And then, in 2004, Dove created a fund to work with groups including the Girl Scouts, Boys & Girls Clubs of
America and Girls Inc. to coordinate events like online bullying debates and photographic projects
showcasing the beauty girls see around them around the community.
• A series of short films were produced by the team at Dove Canada to raise awareness about the fund and
the wider initiative. Former creative leaders at Ogilvy & Mather Nancy Vonk and Kestin collaborated with
directors Tim Piper and Yael Staav to create "Children," a series of interviews with mothers and their
children; "Onslaught," a look at how the makeup industry affects young girls; and "Evolution" to show how
make-up and digital enhancements can make an ordinary woman appear like a supermodel that quickly
blew up on YouTu (Right now the video has 16.9 million views)

6. Conclusion
• But is Dove's idea of change what we should be focusing on?Not everyone agrees with the importance the
campaign places on physical beauty.
• Both the campaign's detractors and supporters have since pointed out that even because women redefine
attractiveness, that doesn't mean they necessarily feel differently about themselves. Some see this as a call
to shift the discussion entirely, as Friedman says, some as evidence of the significance and relevance of
Dove's message regarding appearance. An overwhelming 80 percent of American women feel
uncomfortable with their bodies and 81 percent of 10-year-old girls dread being "fat." Will a series of ad ads
ever change institutionalised body hate?
• The Dove Team really believes the initiative will be there for a long time to come.

7. Refferences
• https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/dove-real-beauty-campaign-
turns-10_n_4575940?ri18n=true
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dove_Campaign_for_Real_Beauty