Beauty has become a convoluted notion. In 2017, beauty can be seen in the form of perfectly sculpted eyebrows, hair extensions, crop tops, and whatever “thigh-brows” are…(I must have missed that memo).
Women as a collective are bombarded with thousands of images and symbols forced in our faces every day, dictating how to be beautiful, alluring, and attractive to those around us. We’ve seen commercials with scantily clad women eating burgers, washing cars – even succumbing to the dominance of men in commercials and billboards plastered all over the city. But it’s all innocent, right? It’s no secret that sex sells.
The issue at hand is that 68% of women can’t relate to the models they see in print and digital media ads. 68% of women are made to feel that whatever semblance of beauty they have isn’t legitimate. Further, these women are effecting advertiser’s profit margins because they just aren’t relating to the content in front of them. But women are resilient. And we’re fighting back.
Dove in partnership with Mindshare Denmark shake up the way advertisers present women in their creative through a clever and impactful “Image Hack” PR campaign geared to alter the content available online representing “beautiful women.”
The photos tagged on Google and Stock Image sites have always portrayed the same stereotypical beauty standard we see in ads today. To combat this, Dove found a way to leverage one of the biggest stock sites in the world – Shutterstock. The brand used this medium to upload and tag thousands of photos of women partaking in activities that empower instead of sexualize. Dove expanded their reach by partnering with award-winning photographers to create a massive library of non-stereotypical photos of women at their best and uploaded these to Shutterstock as well.
As the movement gained traction, other photographers from around the world joined in and helped to completely alter the content for “beautiful women” on Shutterstock. As if this incredible Shutterstock stunt wasn’t impactful enough on its own, Dove pushed the envelope even further by running ads that targeted large advertising agencies in hopes to change the way they advertise women in their creative.
A rather noble response came from many agencies that were targeted; they placed ads everywhere with photos from Dove’s campaign to show their support of the movement.
This has been a massive win for women everywhere, and the campaign results have surmounted any expectations. Advertisers and businesses have been using the pictures in their own promoting, including Frisko, Ford, Panorm, and more.
So, this is for all of the women out there who don’t conform to what they typically see depicted in magazines; wherever you fit into society, we accept you, and we will fight for you. View the campaign video here.