Dove’s Real Beauty platform began in 2004 when it found that only 2% of women globally considered themselves beautiful. A new global Dove study shows that not enough has changed. Images of unattainable beauty still proliferate and one of the biggest threats to the representation of real beauty is AI.
Dove’s ongoing mission to dismantle toxic beauty standards has created the Real Beauty Prompt Guidelines in the campaign, The Code, created by Brazilian independent agency, Soko, to challenge and transform the portrayal of women on AI-generated content. The easy-to-use guidelines show how to create images that are more representative of Real Beauty on the most popular generative AI programs.
“At Dove, we seek a future in which women get to decide and declare what real beauty looks like – not algorithms. As we navigate the opportunities and challenges that come with new and emerging technology, we remain committed to protect, celebrate, and champion Real Beauty. Pledging to never use AI in our communications is just one step. We will not stop until beauty is a source of happiness, not anxiety, for every woman and girl,” explained Alessandro Manfredi, chief marketing officer, Dove.
“We are honoured to lead the global campaign creative marking the 20 years of Dove advocating for Real Beauty. The prevailing trend within AI-generated imagery showcases a homogenised beauty standard, mainly featuring blonde hair and depicting white, tanned skin, mirroring societal biases. When Soko tested prompts for women’s imagery adding ‘according to Dove real beauty campaign’ we realised the results were dramatically more diverse, inclusive and real. That’s a code Dove embedded on AI forever because of 20 years of campaigns for real beauty. Dove changes AI, because the brand has been actually changing beauty,” stated Brisa Vicente, partner and co-CEO of creative agency Soko.
At the heart of the campaign Dove commits to never using AI to replace real women in its ads.
The campaign film was produced by Saigon and directed by Juliana Curi in partnership with The Mill, Diprod, Big Sync Music and HEFTY. It shows 100% actual results from AI tools using the prompts shown, underlined by the song, Pure Imagination, performed exclusively for the campaign by rising singer, Victoria Canal.
The campaign will also be supported by an inspiring cast of women across generations such as singer and actor Reba McEntire; TV host, actress and entrepreneur, Drew Barrymore; actor. Beanie Feldstein; and actress and executive producer Marsai Martin. These women will lend their voices and stories to raise awareness and celebrate real beauty.
Dove’s 2024 The Real State of Beauty global report found that over 1 in 3 women in the US would give up a year of their life to achieve an ideal look or body. The study shows that while beauty ideals have evolved over the years to be more inclusive across race, orientation, gender and size, the checklist of appearance ideals is growing and impossible to meet – from looking healthy (81%) to also being slim (72%) and having a small waist (69%) while also being curvy (59%).
In fact, 2 in 3 women believe that women today are expected to be more physically attractive than their mother’s generation was. As society and technology progresses, pressures to look a certain way are coming from all fronts.
Today, almost 9 in 10 women and girls say they have been exposed to harmful beauty content online. One of the biggest threats to the representation of real beauty is Artificial Intelligence. With 90% of the content online expected to be AI-generated by 2025, the rise of AI is a threat to women’s wellbeing, with 1 in 3 women feel pressure to alter their appearance because of what they see online, even when they know it’s fake or AI generated.
While AI has the potential to foster creativity and access to beauty, with 1 in 4 women (24%) and almost 2 in 5 girls (41%) in the US agreeing that being able to create different versions of yourself using AI is empowering, there is still an urgent need for greater representation and transparency in content created by AI.
