Dove has launched a social media marketing campaign to raise its concerns about ‘appearance anxiety’ in young girls and the negative impact this will have on their self-esteem.
The brand's own research, which was conducted by multidisciplinary research, analytics, and data consultancy, Edelman DXI in November/December 2023 in 20 different countries, discovered that nearly one in two young girls (10-17 years-old) said they expected to worry more about their appearance as they age. It also revealed that one in three young girls expected to have cosmetic work or plastic surgery to alter their appearance as they age.
"When did 10-year-olds start worrying about wrinkles and getting older? It is time to speak up to highlight the absurdity and protect their self-esteem," said Global VP at Dove Firdaous El Honsali.
"At Dove, we believe beauty should be a source of happiness, not anxiety. For two decades, we have taken action to build confidence and self-esteem for millions of girls. Today, our girls are anti-ageing before they've even started to grow up and need us more than ever."
Protecting from ‘adult beauty anxiety’
The Unilever beauty and wellness brand is now on a mission to protect young girls' self-esteem from adult beauty anxiety with a new content marketing campaign on its TikTok channel.
It has worked with Dr Phillippa Diedrichs, a research psychologist at the Centre of Appearance Research at the University of West England, along with body image expert certified dermatologist Dr Marisa Garshick, to create ‘The Gen A Anti-Ageing Talk' – a free resource to help parents and caregivers talk to young people about beauty anxiety.
The content was created in collaboration with academic experts, dermatologists, creators, and body confidence advocates to raise awareness of the every-growing issue. Dove said it "shows #TheFaceofTen with what it should be covered with – glitter, stickers, and face paint – not retinol and other inappropriate anti-ageing skincare ingredients and products."
"If young girls feel pressure to use skin care products containing highly active anti-ageing ingredients, it could be damaging to their body confidence and self-esteem in the long term, not to mention their skin health, shared Dr Phillippa Diedrichs.
“Today, girls are exposed to adult skincare content online and pressures to look a certain way at a very young age, to the extent that they're adding products designed for adults to their wish lists and skincare regimens, without understanding the possible consequences for their physical and mental health,” she continued.
“All of this contributes to a toxic culture of unrealistic beauty standards and pressures."
