The beauty brand’s new campaign features the use of deepfakes to make a point about how easy it is for young women to be fed dangerous messages online
Dove’s new ad follows last year’s #ReverseSelfie and continues Dove’s mission to raise awareness of the impact social media has on self-esteem, particularly amongst young women.
According to Dove’s Self-Esteem Project research, two in three girls in the US are spending more than an hour each day on social media, which is more than they are spending in person with friends. Their feeds are filled with beauty advice which presents idealised imagery and advice which can create low self-esteem.
To highlight this, Dove brings a number of mothers and daughters together for a new ad, which shows them discussing the influence of social media, before events take an unexpected turn.
Dove’s new ad follows last year’s #ReverseSelfie and continues Dove’s mission to raise awareness of the impact social media has on self-esteem, particularly amongst young women.
According to Dove’s Self-Esteem Project research, two in three girls in the US are spending more than an hour each day on social media, which is more than they are spending in person with friends. Their feeds are filled with beauty advice which presents idealised imagery and advice which can create low self-esteem.
To highlight this, Dove brings a number of mothers and daughters together for a new ad, which shows them discussing the influence of social media, before events take an unexpected turn.
The twist comes via the use of deepfake technology, which sees a series of beauty influencers replaced by the teens’ mothers, who are then shown spouting the harmful advice they see online.
This stunt element is then used to prompt more open conversations between the mothers and daughters before the campaign is brought to a close with a push for parents to visit the Dove Self-Esteem Project website to find advice on how to help young people navigate social media.
As with the #ReverseSelfie campaign, this new ad does a good job of raising awareness of the challenges teenagers face on social, even if there are not always clear solutions to the problems.
Resource:
Creative Review. “Dove Continues to Raise Awareness of Harmful Social Media,” April 27, 2022. https://www.creativereview.co.uk/dove-continues-its-mission-to-raise-awareness-of-harmful-social-media/.
Personal Analysis:
Dove always has been one of my favorite brands, and I enjoy following their campaigns as it usually relates to raising social awareness. This time, the campaign highlights how social media can perpetuate unrealistic beauty standards and contribute to low self-esteem, body shaming, and anxiety. The campaign aims to encourage people to think critically about the content they consume on social media and promote self-love and body positivity. Overall, the campaign is a good example of a brand using its platform to address a social issue and promote positive change. This got me thinking: what if we consider brands to be part of a social change while designing a new social media platform, a social media that “makes” brands to be good! To care more than selling their products and services. Brands can be part of a social change while still focusing on their values and mission rather than solely on promotions. However, I believe it would still bring some values for brands that ends up in more sells and eventually consumerism.
