Case study | Dove (Unilever): 20 years on – Dove and the future of Real Beauty
This case study was originally published in the WFA DEI in Content Production guide (June 2024)
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Artificial intelligence is perpetuating unrealistic beauty standards which could soon dominate the digital world. That’s why, 20 years after launching its pioneering Campaign for Real Beauty, Dove is committing to never use AI to represent real women in its ads.
Two decades ago, Dove took a pioneering step to change the culture of beauty advertising with the launch of its Campaign for Real Beauty. Discarding stereotypes, the brand broke with convention by featuring real women instead of models in its ads – a move that resonated with audiences all over the world.
Twenty years on, Dove has commissioned its biggest study to understand how beauty impacts women and girls today. We learned that there has been some positive change. Today, most women feel better represented by the beauty industry. But in 2024, the explosion of artificial intelligence presents a new threat to real beauty.
Almost 9 in 10 women and girls said they had been exposed to harmful beauty content online and 1 in 3 feel pressure to alter their appearance because of what they see online, even when they know it’s fake or AI-generated. With 90% of online content predicted to be AI-generated by 2025 (source), the rise of AI is a clear threat to women’s wellbeing.
This is why Dove is increasing efforts to protect real beauty – committing to never use AI-generated content to represent real women in its advertisements. And Dove is taking action to equip creators, brands and anyone using AI with the Real Beauty Prompt Playbook, a free tool to help create visual content that widens the representation of beauty on the most popular generative AI tools.
Continuing Dove’s work with The Code
Dove’s new campaign, The Code, proposes a reflection to the viewer: the fact that AI, like any new technology, has the power to become whatever people want it to be. AI can mirror the societal biases towards women’s representation, but it can also learn to become more diverse and inclusive. The campaign does this by showcasing the irreversible change Dove has already made, creating a universal code for changing beauty.
