Dove, a personal care brand that empowers women to celebrate their true themselves, is marking 20 years of championing real beauty. Since 2004, 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 to widen its representation, be transparent about digital distortion, and face up to the harmful impact unrealistic beauty standards have on women and young girls.
The brand conducted a study ‘2024 The Real State of Beauty: A Global Report’ for its latest campaign. It found that 1 in 3 women in the United States would give up a year of their life to achieve an ideal look or body. The study highlighted the fact 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%).”
Dove’s study stated that 2 in 3 women believe that women are expected to be more physically attractive than their mother’s generation was. “Almost 9 in 10 women and girls say have been exposed to harmful beauty content online.” Dove believes artificial intelligence (AI) is the biggest threat to the representation of real beauty. “With 90% of the content online expected to be AI-generated by 2025, the rise of artificial intelligence 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.”
Dr Phillippa Diedrichs, research psychologist at the Center of Appearance Research at the University of West England and body image expert, said women feel less confident in their own beauty than they did a decade ago. “Representation is more important than ever. As AI technology continues to evolve, it is becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish between what is real beauty and what is manufactured by AI.”
Alessandro Manfredi, chief marketing officer at Dove, said the brand strives for a future in which women get to decide and declare what real beauty looks like, and not algorithms. “As we navigate the opportunities and challenges that come with new and emerging technology, we remain committed to protecting, celebrating, and championing 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.”
As such, Dove has created the Real Beauty Prompt Guidelines. This is an easy-to-use guidance on how to create images that are more representative of Real Beauty on the most popular generative AI programs, for anyone that wants to explore the new technology. Moreover, Dove’s new 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 new and emerging media.
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