2024 Silver Thoughtful Marketing

Agency: Ogilvy UK

Client: Dove, Unilever

Entry Title: The Real Cost of Beauty

Executive Summary

Dove had a winning formula for tackling toxic beauty on social media which was also delivering record growth. But while this was working for the brand, wider toxic beauty content was still harming the mental health of three in five kids.

Strategy

The majority of girls feel pressure to look perfect and match what they see on social media, with reports showing that by the age of 13, 53% of American girls hate their bodies. Parents are also struggling: 89% fear for their child’s safety online, but many find it impossible to moderate screen time.

With such a pressing need for change, Dove decided to support the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA). The bill, introduced to US Congress members, supports updating social media design standards, safeguards and tools to better protect kids online and limit their exposure to toxic beauty content.

This became the most ambitious goal in Dove campaign history: to create a lasting impact by endorsing a radical policy.

Creativity

Dove wanted to generate huge momentum for the cause. It sounded an alarm highlighting the scale of the crisis and started the conversation with an emotionally stirring piece of content. To inspire others to join in the teams created a hero film that told the story of Mary: a real girl who almost lost her life from an eating disorder.

Using her photos, videos, and journal entries, spanning over a decade, Dove created a film that showed her downward spiral after getting her first phone and joining social media. It was set to an emotional female cover of Joe Cocker’s iconic song, ‘You Are So Beautiful to Me’, reimagined by popular musician and staunch feminist, Self Esteem.

It’s the story of millions of girls. The film was supported with print and social assets which used real examples from girls’ real social media feeds highlighting the everyday toxicity they were exposed to. Viewers were driven to endorse KOSA with a call to action at the end of the film, and a link to Dove’s website to sign and support the petition.

Results

‘Toxic Influence’ followed previous cutting-edge campaign ‘Reverse Selfie’ in demonstrating Dove’s ‘actionist’ strategy, taking the fight to forces on social media that destroy self-esteem.

When social media tried to ban it for highlighting the platforms' danger, the campaign pivoted to LinkedIn resulting in 20,000+ organic shares, with many proclaiming Mary’s story as their own. The film has now received more than 69 million views, over 11.1 billion impressions, and became the most shared Dove film of all time.

Cost of Beauty generated 100,000 petition signatures. It proved its effectiveness by increasing key brand metrics and helping to grow penetration and value sales. It won support from 62 senators.

The Team

Ogilvy - Mark Callender, Senior Strategist - Daniel Fisher, Global Executive Creative Director (Unilever) & Special Projects - Jo Bacon, Global Client Lead, WPP Unilever - Morgan Starr, Associate Creative Director - Luke Woodard, Associate Creative Director - Lucy Tone-McGurk, Client Partner - Lindsey Gonnella, Chief Strategy Officer, Unilever - Francesco Grandi, Chief Creative Officer

Dove Masterbrand & Skin Care Dove, Unilever - Leandro Barreto, Global Vice President