DOVE-MY BEAUTY MY SAY !

Dove is a worldwide known company which sells more soap, cleansers and generally personal care products than any other company in this domain. As the years were passing by, it was becoming more and more synonymous with soaps, and nowadays when we think of soap, our mind automatically goes to Dove. The company was founded in 1957 and it became rapidly successful despite the fact that started later than the others, thanks to its innovative ideas and its love for the skin.

During the years of its presence, many developments have been made, in order to end up launching the perfect product for its consumers, a fact that shows how passionate and focused Dove is on its purpose. From the start, what was wanted to be heard was its better quality in comparison to the traditional soaps’ quality. Through advertisements with slogans such as “Dove is much better for your skin”, “Suddenly regular soap is old-fashioned” and “Dove creams your skin when you wash”, it accomplished its goal and started gaining consumers’ trust.

Dove now has a wide range of products for our skin moisturizing, which are classified in five categories:

1) Washing and bathing

2) Skin care

3) Antiperspirant Deodorants

4) Hair care

5) Dove collections

Something that is worth-mentioning is the absence of any make up or cosmetic product. This decision were made because Dove wants to encourage people to start embracing themselves, the way they are, and making them realize as well, that every single one of us is unique in many different ways. In a few words, Dove supports and promotes natural beauty, in a society that has forgotten seeing the inside of a person and cares more about the appearance. This point of view led the company to many highly successful campaigns, encouraging the love for every type of body.

Dove has released many campaigns throughout the years empowering women of all ages and races, emphasizing on what “Beauty” really is, and that is just… being yourself! All the campaigns have a great, most of the time moving, meaning and it makes you think not only about yourself and how you perceive your own image, but also how society has been telling you to do. For example, the Choose Beautiful campaign (2015) was based on a social experiment. There are two doors, one with the “Average” sign and one with the “Beautiful” one. For days most of the women went through the “Average” one, some of them took a minute before choosing it but some didn’t even hesitate. After a couple of days of picking the “average”, more and more women decided to go with the “ Beautiful” sign door, and that says a lot about how women are afraid to label themselves as “ Beautiful” because they think that beauty standards are unreachable! Another successful Dove campaign was the Real Beauty Sketches, (2013) with the form of a social experiment as well. A professional sketcher is willing to draw women with 2 ways, by hearing how they describe themselves and by hearing how others describe them. The results are way different as the “self- image sketch” is always more strict, closed off and unflattering than how they appear in the eyes of a stranger, which leads into thinking that we might be very unfair judges of ourselves!

There are many more social experiment to go on with but what really caught our eye was the Beauty On Your Own Terms #MyBeautyMySay campaign, (2016). Everyone has a special feature. Maybe you are too cute or too boy-ish, short, tall, thick or skinny and while this should be totally lovable, there are many women who are doubted about their (professional) skills due to these features! That’s an issue that troubled us, as we are soon getting into the job market as well and we could easily empathize. It’s not just about the appearance, but about your capabilities as well and that should not be acceptable! In this campaign nine (9) beautiful women have a very important point to make and we should all listen carefully…

· Grace, 41, a burlesque dancer from New York, was made fun of mercilessly about the size of her nose since she was a child. While she used to hide behind her long blonde hair and sense of humor, she learned to… “serve looks” by discovering the punk rock movement.

· Elizabeth, 28, a poetry writer, from New York who was told ever since childhood, that only straight hair was sign of elegance and sophistication. As a result she spent hours straightening her hair, especially when attending events or being photographed. Through poetry she found the words to speak out against the beauty standards in our society and today wears her hair natural and curly, believing you shouldn’t have to “fix what isn’t broken”.

· Rain, 26, model, from New York found by chance her way to an open casting for runway, only to be told to come back the next day with the men, as she was mistaken for male! Courageously, she was successful in the audition without revealing her gender identity. She has since taken the opportunity to challenge the industry’s perceptions of what it means to be a woman.

· Judith, 66, psychologist ,reveals that she loves herself and supports her unique style regardless of the comments, that she should dress like a lady in her age. Judith replies than she doesn’t dress her age but herself! She hasn’t changed the way she looks, her appearance or bent to social norms,she never did and never will.

Elaine, 32, administrator, speaks to how, after being made fun of in school for having a tooth gap and receiving frequent advice for ‘fixing’ her teeth, she managed not only to make a video about why she is uniquely beautiful but also to encourage other women to embrace their differences too.

· Marcia, 33, Law Firm Partner, was often treated as the beautiful woman with no brain. The belief at her work was that she was to pretty to be also smart and sometimes she had to work harder to put her professional achievements at the forefront. That motivated Marcia to prove them wrong , and she did! Today is a leading member of the legal community.

What do these women have in common? They’ve refused to be held back by comments about their looks!

The stories of the My Beauty, My Say film affirm the idea that believing in your own beauty turns it into your superpower, by giving you the confidence to fulfill your goals in life. Many women all over the world have been inspired by that campaign to feel more beautiful inside and out.

Dove is inviting women to view the My Beauty, My Say film(watch below) and then share their own stories of overcoming beauty limits with #mybeautymysay.

And as Coco Chanel said “Beauty begins the moment you decide to be yourself”!

Our team MeD²ia: Mariza Rizou Evaggelia Paraskevopoulou Dimitra Christodoulaki Dimitra Karali