In 2019, Dove partnered with Getty Images, Girlgaze, women & non-binary individuals everywhere to create Project #ShowUs, a collection of 10,000+ images that offer a more inclusive vision of beauty for all media & advertisers to use.
In 2020, it went further in its quest to make beauty inclusive. It made advertising agencies the target of a new campaign, It’s on Us. Dove has pledged that if a brand chooses one of its models, it will pay to cover the cost of the appearance fee.
The idea comes from LOLA MullenLowe, Madrid, which worked with independent casting agencies to develop the challenge. Models across various collectives and backgrounds were hired to participate. 70% of women do not feel represented in media and advertising and every day, women’s lives are affected by these limitations, exclusions and stereotypes.
Brands such as Magnum, Krispy Kreme, Cif and Nedbank took up the challenge and supported the message from Dove and LOLA MullenLowe, Dear brands, we can all do something to change this.
“For over 60 years, Dove has been taking action to represent real beauty – working to shatter stereotypes. We know from research that if women don’t feel represented, it can hold them back from reaching their full potential. The effects are vast, negatively impacting health, career and relationships. As an actionist brand that continuously challenges narrow beauty ideals, it is our duty to help others to represent all beauty in their advertising.
“By giving brands and companies the tools to show a more diverse representation of beauty, we are helping to change the way women are represented, which is proven to have a positive impact on how confident women feel in their appearance,” stated Sophie van Ettinger, global vice president at Dove.
“This project really drove home how difficult it is to promote real beauty in advertising. Even when offering Dove’s real beauty women to brands at no cost at all. Hopefully, this campaign will encourage many more to genuinely do something about this problem,” Tomas Ostiglia, executive creative director, LOLA MullenLowe Madrid.
Credits:
Agency: LOLA MullenLowe, Madrid
Executive Creative Director: Tomás Ostiglia
Global Creative Directors: Jorge Zacher, Kevin Cabuli & Kirk Gainsford
Copywriters: Jorge Zacher & Joaquín Cuadrado
Art Directors: Yan Graller, Gines Gomez & Felipe Antonioli
Global Business Director: Tom Elliston
Account Supervisor: Flora Bell
Production Director: Felipe Calviño
Producer: Jorge Saade, Riska Emeran
Production Company: 7Films
Executive Producer: Nina van Rensburg
Director: Laurens van Rensburg
DOP: Luke van Rensburg
Producer: Saskia Finlayson
Music: The Racer by Tristan Barton
Post-Production: 7 Films
Client: Dove
Global Dove Masterbrand VP: Sophie Van Ettinger
Global Dove Masterbrand Senior Brand Manager: Hugo Rawlinson
Global Dove Masterbrand Assistant Brand Manager: Isabella Revelli
