73% of Women Feel That Advertising Still Sets an Unrealistic Standard of Beauty

Following Dove’s success at this year’s Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity – including being shortlisted for over 100 awards and winning 13 Lions – as well as its continued success over the last four years having won a total of 52 Lions, Dove continues to demonstrate the impact of its media and advertising strategies, paving the way for other brands to embed purpose into their business. 

Twenty years ago, Dove took a bold stand against unrealistic beauty standards and redefined the beauty industry with the Campaign for Real Beauty. The Campaign for Real Beauty challenged society, media and the beauty industry itself. Ultimately, reshaping culture today. 

To mark 20 years of the Campaign for Real Beauty, Dove conducted a sweeping study across the globe to understand how beauty impacts women and girls today. While there has been some positive change, with 43% of women and 47% of girls feeling better represented in beauty advertising and media, overall, the state of beauty is not pretty.  

Research found that 73% of women feel that advertising still sets an unrealistic standard of beauty and 27% of women think the media has a negative impact on how they feel about their appearance. 

New and emerging technology - including the rise of AI, is also threatening to undermine 20 years of progress from Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty. Dove continues to take action to protect representation, and is committed to equipping the industry with the necessary tools to enact change, including:   

• The Reimagine Beauty Book, in partnership with Getty Images and co-written by award-winning author Emma Dabiri with raw, unretouched imagery curated by Photographer and Author of Atlas of Beauty, Mihaela Noroc. The book was officially announced at Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity to industry leaders and is now being extended to consumers worldwide.  
  

o Reimagine Beauty features personal stories from more than 60 women from around the world and is a rallying call for beauty autonomy. It is now available to order from Reimagine beauty | Dove for £68 while stock lasts. Net proceeds from the book will go directly to the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS), the largest voluntary movement dedicated to empowering girls and young women in the world. Through the sale of one book, WAGGGS will be able to provide self-esteem education to over 50 young people worldwide.

• The Real Beauty Prompt Playbook: is an easy-to-use guide developed by Dove on how to create images that represent real beauty on the most popular generative AI programs, as well as a glossary of terms to make prompting more inclusive and help set new digital standards of representation. Through learning how to prompt with a broader definition of beauty in mind, together, we can shape the future of AI to be inclusive and representative.  

“While all of us at Dove are incredibly proud of the success we had at Cannes Lions, there is still more to do as an industry to shatter unrealistic beauty standards.” says Firdaous El Honsali, global vice president, Dove. “Dove remains committed to promoting authentic representation and keeping beauty real and will continue to take action to change how women are represented, be transparent about digital distortion and face-up to the negative impact that unrealistic beauty standards can have on women and girls.” 

The work Dove began in 2004 is far from over. Until all women and girls see beauty as a source of confidence, not anxiety, Dove will not stop its mission. Together, let’s change beauty.