The campaign that launched in September 2004 began with an advertising campaign that featured women whose appearance strayed from the stereotypical beauty standards that are commonly seen in the media. The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty was communicated to the public through print and television advertisements, Web site, workshops and films. Dove wanted to get “real” feedback by having the ads ask viewers to judge the women’s appearances.In February 2007, the third phase of the campaign was introduced with Dove using advertisements that targeted women 50 years and older.
This celebrated the beauty in older women. Currently, the campaign focuses on young girls and self-esteem. For this part of the campaign Dove created self-esteem workshops and online self-esteem tools for mothers and daughters. In addition, Dove has created online films such as “Evolution,” “Onslaught” and “True Colors” which was a highly regarded commercial during the 2006 Super Bowl (annual championship game of the National Football League).
Viewers were asked to cast their votes on Dove’s Web site, campaign for realbeatuy.com. The second phase of the campaign launched in June 2005 was print and outdoor advertisements that featured six everyday women who had real bodies and real curves. This phase was created to challenge the ideal body type standards set by the media.
Many of the tools used for the campaign are funded by the Dove Self-Esteem Fund. This aims to build confidence and self-esteem in young girls.In 2010, Dove set out a bold new vision for the brand with the Dove Movement for Self-Esteem. The Dove Movement for Self-Esteem provides women everywhere with opportunities to mentor the next generation and celebrate real beauty. There are many ways to become involved. Dove invites women everywhere to join the brand in making its vision a reality.
The study also found that only 11% of girls around the world feel comfortable using the word beautiful to describe their looks, showing that there is a universal increase in beauty pressure and a decrease in girls' confidence as they grow older. Though Doveefforts have moved the needle in a positive direction, there is more to be done.In April 2013, a video titled Dove Real Beauty Sketches was released as part of the campaign. The sketches are compared, with the stranger's image invariably being both more flattering and more accurate. It went viral attracting strong reactions from the public and media.
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 differences create strong reactions when shown to the women. That’s what Dove wanted to show its consumer that "you are more beautiful than you think".
In 2004, the first year of the campaign, global sales surpassed $1 billion, exceeding company expectations. Dove’s public relations company built in news coverage for Asia with the Dove “models” appearing in 618 different newspaper clippings with a circulation of 139 million. By the end of 2005, sales in the Asian-Pacific market increased from 19 percent to 26 percent. In the first six months of the campaign, sales of Dove’s firming products increased 700 percent in Europe and in the United States, sales for the products in the advertisements increased 600 percent in the first two months of the campaign.
