Women Soar with Dove Beauty Legacy Campaign

Dove is doing it again—bringing out your true emotions after watching their videos (in my case, tears). In other words, they’re creating a video and social media campaign that could help women realize their inner and outer beauty.

Crying is a side effect. The videos tend to have that effect on me.

It is estimated that only 4% of women around the world consider themselves beautiful. This is because women see over 200 negative body image advertisements on television per day and this could be a direct extension of marketing schemes encouraging women to purchase perfection.

A Question of Legacy

The “Legacy” campaign, which launched at the end of September, features a 3-minute short film that shows the way girls feel about their beauty. It begins with how their mothers and role models feel about theirs.

First, Dove beauty asks the mothers how they feel about their bodies. In a separate session, they ask the daughters the same question.

When the moms read their daughters’ answers, they were shocked at the similarities. The daughters had inherited the mothers’ ideas of beauty, right down to liking their legs because they’re good for running.

At the end of the video, Dove beauty prompts: “What’s your beauty legacy?”

What Do You #feelbeautifulfor?

Dove continues the conversation via social media by prompting women to share what beauty means to them with the #feelbeautifulfor hashtag. The submissions are inspiring:

• #feelbeautifulfor spending part of your day to help someone else
• #feelbeautifulfor loving yourself
• #feelbeautifulfor my little T-Ball player
• #feelbeautifulfor being a two-time cancer survivor
• #feelbeautifulfor loving my age

The tweets and Instagram images are pulled into a feed on dove.us/legacy. Dove beauty has also linked up with other brands and popular blogs to giveaway products to women who use the hashtag. Women from all over are revealing answers as diverse as they are. Dove’s Self-Esteem Educators also chat with customers about self-love to further engage them.

Why the Legacy Campaign Strikes a Nerve

For 10 years, Dove has engaged women and girls in a conversation about what it means to be “beautiful”. The Campaign For Real Beauty kicked off in 2004 to begin broadening the definition of beauty by challenging stereotypical conventions. Remember that one photo of an older woman that asked viewers to define her as wrinkled or wonderful? So well done.

How does Dove continue to engage its audience and tug at our heartstrings, specifically in the “Legacy” campaign?

1. The video starts a dialogue. When watching the video, I thought, “My goodness. What perceptions or misperceptions have I inherited from my mom? How does that affect me today?”
2. The story is highly shareable. Just like Dove’s former campaigns, “Legacy” spans across all platforms. The hashtag #feelbeautifulfor can live anywhere.
3. The story is compelling. I could feel the emotion the mothers displayed. And the video features a group of women and girls with diverse looks, much like Dove’s audience. I can relate to them.
4. It’s not about the products. It’s about the people. I forgot that Dove was selling a product. I became engrossed in the story as opposed to the Dove deodorant or soap.

The campaign may not convince me to buy the newest body wash, but I’ll definitely think about the legacy I’ll leave behind for my future children. Dove, I think that’s a success.

Share Your Beauty

What would you submit to #feelbeautifulfor? Share examples of other campaigns that have brought out emotion in you and a more humanized feeling toward a particular brand in the comments below.