Dove Says: A Woman's Beauty Should Never Be Used Against Her

THEY SAY: A WOMAN’S BEAUTY IS ALWAYS UP FOR CRITICISM
DOVE SAYS: A WOMAN’S BEAUTY SHOULD NEVER BE USED AGAINST HER
New Dove campaign, #MyBeautyMySay, features the powerful stories of real women rising above societal limits to unleash the power of their unique beauty 

 PR Newswire – ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, NJ (June 28, 2016)
What do a photographer, an administrator, a burlesque dancer, a fashion blogger, a poet, a partner at a law firm, a clinical psychologist, a model, and a boxer have in common? They are all women who refuse to allow other people’s judgments of their beauty to hold them back from achieving their full potential. These real women and their empowering stories are featured in the new awe-inspiring film from Dove - “#MyBeautyMySay” - created to inspire all women to rise above any stereotypes or limits society places on their beauty or appearance.

Incessant commentary and judgment focused on how women look is deeply ingrained into daily life. Whether or not it is intentional, it can limit women and place pressure on them to conform to a narrow standard of beauty. Seven out of 10 women want to live in a world where women and girls are judged by what they do and say – and not on their looks alone. The Dove #MyBeautyMySay campaign tackles this problem head-on and hopes to inspire women everywhere to take a stand against unwarranted and unsolicited judgments made about their looks.

“Somewhere along the way, it has become the norm to judge women based on their appearance. Dove created #MyBeautyMySay because we believe a woman’s beauty should not be used to belittle her achievements – instead, her beauty should be celebrated on her terms,” said Jennifer Bremner, Director of Marketing, Dove. “We want women to challenge this behavior that has unfortunately become commonplace in our society. We are giving all women a platform to speak out and join us to change the conversation.”

Real Women Rise Above Beauty Used Against Them
8 in 10 women believe every woman has something about her that is beautiful, yet many continue to feel limited by society’s judgments of their looks. In fact, 1 in 2 women with low body confidence admit they don’t feel self-assured enough to be assertive in their own life. The women featured in the #MyBeautyMySay film tell a different story. While all of the women are unashamedly unique, they stand together in unapologetically challenging other people’s judgments about their looks.

• Heather Hardy, 34 – Since taking up kick-boxing as a hobby to get in shape, Heather has been told she is too “pretty to fight.” She is now a star in the ring, fighting professionally and working to raise the profile of oft-neglected female boxers.

• Jessica Torres, 25 – Even from a young age, Jessica was constantly told she should hide her body and couldn’t wear stylish clothing because of her size. She rejected this criticism when she started her fashion blog, Tiny Red Shoes, as a way of telling the world she isn’t embarrassed, but proud, of the way she looks. 

• Rain Dove, 26 – Rain faced unfair ridicule for years as others mocked her, claiming her looks were too masculine. Now she earns her living from the beautiful, androgynous appearance she has made her own, working as a gender-free model in New York.

“As a child I was called ‘ugly’ and ‘plain’ because of my appearance, but the way I look has allowed me to set myself apart and lead a flourishing career as a gender-free model,” said Rain Dove. “I am lucky that I have been given a chance to speak out about the limits that have been placed upon me. By working with Dove, I hope to inspire others to relinquish the standards and rules society attempts to place on women.”
These are just a few of the stories that make up the #MyBeautyMySay film, but all illustrate the idea that believing in your own beauty turns it into your superpower, giving you the confidence to achieve your full potential in life.

New Dove Research Shows Women Seek to Be Free of Unrealistic Beauty Limits
The landscape that informs this film was revealed in a new study from Dove - Dove: The Global Beauty Confidence Report. It paints a picture of a world where women want to be free to look any way that makes them feel confident, but are aware of the many limits put upon them by other people’s judgments about their appearance.

• 7 in 10 women believe they get more compliments about how they look than on their professional achievements at work.
• 8 in 10 U.S. women agree that the most beautiful women aren’t those born with the most – it’s the ones who make the most of what they have.

Dove selected all of the women featured in the #MyBeautyMySay film because they live the message that by embracing your own beauty, you can free yourself from the limits others place on you. To view the film, go to Youtube.com/doveunitedstates. Dove is inviting women to share their own stories of overcoming beauty limits with #MyBeautyMySay and you can learn more about the campaign at Dove.com.
Dove also believes in the importance of starting the conversation early in life around beauty confidence. To date, the Dove Self-Esteem Project has reached the lives of over 19 million girls with self-esteem building tools. The Dove Self-Esteem Project tools can be downloaded at selfesteem.dove.com.

About Dove
Dove^®, manufactured by Unilever, is the No. 1 personal wash brand nationwide. One in every three households uses a Dove^® product, which includes beauty bars, body washes, face care, anti-perspirant/deodorants, body mists, hair care, styling aids and Dove^® Men+Care^™, developed specially for men. Dove^® is available nationwide in food, drug and mass outlet stores.

About Unilever North America
Unilever is one of the world’s leading suppliers of Food, Home and Personal Care products with sales in more than 190 countries and reaching 2 billion consumers a day. In the United States and Canada, the portfolio includes brand icons such as: Axe, Becel, Ben & Jerry’s, Breyers, Clear Scalp & Hair Therapy, Degree, Dove personal care products, Fruttare, Hellmann’s, Klondike, Knorr, Lipton, Magnum, Nexxus, Noxzema, Pond’s, Popsicle, Q-tips, Simple, St. Ives, TRESemmé and Vaseline. All of the preceding brand names are trademarks or registered trademarks of the Unilever Group of Companies.
Unilever employs approximately 9,500 people across North America – generating more than $9.5 billion in sales in 2015.
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• Decoupling growth from environmental impact.
• Helping more than a billion people take action to improve their health and well-being.
• Enhancing the livelihoods of millions of people by 2020.

Unilever ranked number one in its sector on the 2015 Dow Jones Sustainability Index.
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