Dove launched a “#MyBeautyMySay” campaign that serves as an evolution of its previous “Real Beauty” effort. The Unilver brand worked with Ogilvy & Mather, Havas, Edelman and PHD on the campaign which launches with the 90-second “Beauty on Your Own Terms.”
Based around the insight from a new Dove global study finding that “7 in 10 women believe they get more compliments about how they look than on their professional achievements,” the effort also addresses criticism of the brand’s “Choose Beautiful” effort last year, alleging the spot implicitly upheld the importance of physical beauty while supposedly addressing beauty stereotypes. This time around, there’s no room for such ambiguity.
“They said I was too pretty to fight,” says professional boxer Heather Hardy. A group of other women add their own moments of others trying to define them by their physical appearance. There’s a fashion blogger who was told she’s “too fat,” a partner at a law firm who was discriminated against because of her appearance, a model who was told she’s “too masculine,” and an older psychologist who was told to “dress her age.” After telling their stories, each woman stands up for their own definition of beauty, and the spot concludes with the “#MyBeautyMySay” hashtag.
“Dove knows that women are constantly scrutinized about how they look,” Dove director of marketing Jennifer Bremner told Adewek. “They are under pressure to ‘look the part’ and this stops them from achieving their full potential. Many women recognize self-respect remains a battle to be won.”
“Now, more than ever before, women are breaking barriers and challenging stereotypes—and it is time for society to start acknowledging this,” she added. “With #MyBeautyMySay we hope to inspire women everywhere to take a stand against judgments that belittle their accomplishments.”
In addition to “Beauty on Your Own Terms,” the campaign also includes online spots focusing more closely on the stories of women from the ad. We’ve included several below.