While Dove isn't a fashion brand, the beauty, hair and skin products it sells are all very important aspects of the fashion industry. The reason I picked to portray Dove's campaigns is because the brand has done extensive research on their primary customers and through those results developed two large campaigns on beauty awareness and self-esteem. Dove asked their primary target consumer, women between the ages of 15-64 from all over the world questions about what beauty meant to them, what were social expectations and definitions of beauty and how the felt about their own beauty. Above we see a picture that supports some of the data found in the research, on the right side we see the original picture, what the model really looked like, while on the left we see the picture that was placed in the billboard after the make-up, the hair styling and photoshop. The difference is drastic, and only supports the idea that the social standards, as per magazines and campaigns is not only unattainable but unrealistic.
With the results from this research, they didn't only developed a campaign and a foundation to help women built their self esteem, but built their entire brand image around this cause. Low self-esteem and distorted perception of beauty, can cause several problems such as depression, eating disorders, low engagement in social activities and unhappiness. By helping these girls and women become more confident and feel more beautiful, Dove is doing a social good and associating its brand with those positive feelings. Dove knows how important it is for women to feel good about themselves no matter what, by developing a campaign that didn't advertise a beauty product they needed to look better but instead aimed at making people feel better with what they already had, the brand really distinguished themselves from any other beauty brand. Below, we see a campaign that shows real girls as Dove's models, not really skinny, not all young and extremely made-up, just real women comfortable in their own skin with radiant smiles; a much more realistic beauty portrait.
Dove commissioned The Real Truth About Beauty study as a way to explore what beauty means to women today. StrategyOne, an applied research firm, managed the study in conjunction with Dr. Nancy Etcoff and Massachusetts General Hospital- Harvard University, and with consultation of Dr. Susie Orbach of the London School of Economics. Between February 27, 2004 and March 26, 2004, the global study collected data from 3,200 women, aged 18 to 64. Interviews were conducted across ten countries: the U.S., Canada, Great Britain, Italy, France, Portugal, Netherlands, Brazil, Argentina and Japan.
The study evolved out of a desire to talk to women around the world about female beauty. According to the study, “Dove knows that the relationship women have with beauty is complex: it can be powerful and inspiring, but elusive and frustrating as well. We sponsored this study in order to probe more deeply into this intricate relationship. Dove wanted to understand how women define beauty; how satisfied they are with their beauty; how they feel about female beauty’s portrayal in society; and, how beauty affects their well-being.” This was the first comprehensive study of its kind.
The following statistics are a sampling of results from the study:
• Only 2% of these women describe themselves as “beautiful”
• About 3/4 of them rate their beauty as "average"
• Almost 1/2 of them think their weight is "too high"
The previous findings are particularly the case in the U.S. (60%), Great Britain (57%) and Canada (54%).
• Almost half of all women (48%) strongly agreed (8, 9, or 10 on a 10-point scale) with the statement that: “When I feel less beautiful, I feel worse about myself in general.”
• Just 13% of all women say they are very satisfied with their beauty, 12% with their physical attractiveness, 17% with their facial attractiveness and 13% with their body weight and shape.
• The study revealed that women see beauty and physical attractiveness as increasingly socially mandated and rewarded. Almost two-thirds strongly agreed that: “Women today are expected to be more physically attractive than their mother’s generation was” (63%); and, “Society expects women to enhance their physical attractiveness” (60%).
Larry Koffler, the senior vice president of consumer brands at Edelman, maintained that the research was vital to the campaign: “Without having a foundation in the global research study, which showed that the image of beauty was unattainable, we wouldn’t have had the credibility in creating the materials, in pitching stories and being able to answer some of the folks that didn’t agree with the campaign.”
After the initial study, Dove commissioned two more studies, one in 2005 and one in 2006. The additional information furthered Dove’s research about women’s perceptions of beauty across several cultures.
The later studies revealed the following data:
• 90% of all women 15-64 worldwide want to change at least one aspect of their physical appearance (with body weight ranking the highest).
• 67% of all women 15 to 64 withdraw from life-engaging activities due to feeling badly about their looks (among them things like giving an opinion, going to school, going to the doctor).
• 61% of all women and 69% of girls (15 to 17) feel that their mother has had a positive influence on their feelings about themselves and their beauty.
• 91% feel the media and advertising need to do a better job of representing realistic images of women over 50.
• 97% believe society is less accepting of appearance considerations for women over 50 compared to their younger counterparts, especially when focused on the body.
• Nearly 60% of women believe that if magazines were reflective of a population, a person would likely believe women over 50 do not exist.
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