20 years ago, Dove showed the world what beauty looks like when it's real. In 2004, it began with a startling truth; only 2% of women globally considered themselves beautiful. Since then, Dove has been dedicated to taking action to make a positive experience with beauty accessible to everyone by challenging society, media and the beauty industry itself to widen its representation, be transparent about digital distortion, and face-up to the harmful impact unrealistic beauty standards have on women and girls. To mark 20 years of championing real beauty, Dove conducted a new sweeping study to understand the state of beauty around the world today. While there has been some positive change, two decades later, the state of beauty in 2024 wasn't pretty.
Dove's Real Beauty campaign and the research that it published in 2004 was a defining moment in its history, as it created a ‘lightning-in-a-bottle’ effect across the world. Dove celebrated 20 years of Real Beauty by launching our 'state of beauty' findings and changed the conversation through our evolved POV of autonomous beauty. By activating in the US and London to launch this campaign and following up with media outreach and celebrity partnerships, Dove successfully strategized its key anniversary moment to help set new digital standards of representation. Dove stood for “real” to champion transparency and diversity in beauty by becoming the first beauty brand to commit to never using AI in place of real people in its advertising.
To deliver the launch moment Dove reaffirmed its commitment to real beauty while modernizing Dove Equity, which propelled Dove into the cultural zeitgeist in a way that was seen by the masses. Through a social first approach we drove massive social conversation while securing quality press coverage.
Dove created the Real Beauty Prompt Guidelines - easy to use guidance on how to create images that are more representative of Real Beauty on the most popular generative AI programs. The Dove campaign, The Code, reflects the impact of AI on beauty and sheds light on the importance of women having the power to see real beauty reflected in emerging media.
The campaign was also supported by an inspiring cast of empowering women across generations - singer and actor Reba McEntire, TV host, actress and entrepreneur, Drew Barrymore, actor, Beanie Feldstein, and actress and executive producer Marsai Martin, - who lend their voices and stories to raise awareness and celebrate real beauty. To kick off the launch event, celebrity partners shared their voices on Instagram and TikTok as a Collab with @Dove. Continuing the conversation in the press and in person, Dove invited earned media and influencers to attend an event full of panels and interactive photo moments to celebrate Dove’s 20 years of real beauty. This created a surge of coverage in the press and on social media that captured Dove’s stance and event in full. Dove then utilized brand voices to double down on their commitment to never use AI to replace real women in a humorous social video, facing off AI vs. Real Beauty.
Secured over 490+ pieces of coverage and garnered 3B+ media impressions across broadcast, online, and print. The exclusive campaign debuted on the TODAY Show and was featured on Access Hollywood. Dove collaborated with celebrity talent Reba McEntire, Drew Barrymore, Beanie Felderstein, and Marsai Martin for a social first #KeepBeautyReal campaign & top tier press opportunities with outlets such as E! Online and People. To launch the campaign, Dove hosted a star-studded event in NYC for 160+ media and influencers with special celebrity guest hosts, Drew Barrymore, Beanie Felderstein, and Marsai Martin to commemorate two decades of real beauty.