Dove(R) Provides Reality Check on Beauty, Boys and Body Image
GREENWICH, Conn., Nov. 13 /PRNewswire/ — The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty is challenging the stereotypical views of beauty with a new online series designed to give teens a “reality check” about factors impacting their self-esteem. Dove Reality Diaries will follow four real girls as they share their personal struggles with self-esteem issues including beauty, boys and body image. The program creates a unique environment to help young girls learn from and support their peers who are working through similar self-esteem issues. Girls today are bombarded with unrealistic, unattainable images of beauty. The series promises to be a revealing first-hand account of the day- to-day challenges teens face in an era where magazine covers are airbrushed and plastic surgery is mainstream.
Girls can visit http://www.doverealitydiaries.com/ to watch Irene, 17, from Johnstown, N.Y.; Jordyn, 17, from Harker Heights, Texas; Sydney 17, from Los Angeles, Calif.; and Chelsea, 17, from Burbank Calif. featured in the six-week online “reality show.” Blog entries and confessional video diaries will document the girls’ progress as they work with self-esteem expert and global ambassador for the Dove Self-Esteem Fund Jessica Weiner to get real about cultural and beauty stereotypes, plastic surgery and family pressures. Viewers will see a no-holds-barred, honest glimpse into the girls’ hearts and minds.
“Impossible standards of beauty are not confined to Hollywood, they pervade every aspect of girls’ lives no matter where they live, often with alarming consequences like eating disorders and self-inflicted injury,” said Weiner. “Dove Reality Diaries is a groundbreaking forum for girls to open up about self-image and follow the journeys of young women dealing with similar issues. We hope girls will join the dialogue by posting their own messages and using the site’s self-esteem-building tools.”
The site also will feature live chats with the four girls and two “talk back” workshops hosted by Weiner. In front of a live teen audience, Weiner will help the girls tackle scenarios that can challenge a young woman’s self- esteem and offer tools on how to better handle these situations.
Dove Reality Diaries is part of a long-term commitment by the Dove Self- Esteem Fund to reach 5 million girls globally by 2010 with self-esteem building programming. It supports programs that help girls realize the images they see in movies and magazines represent an unrealistic standard of beauty, not an everyday achievable look. This phase of the Campaign was developed in response to startling new research about the factors that influence girls’ body image. According to the Dove Self-Esteem Fund (1) :
— More than four in 10 young women said they only see their flaws when they look in the mirror, — 77 percent said they would trade bodies with a celebrity — 25 percent would consider plastic surgery — 29 percent said being criticized by guys influenced how they felt about their bodies
“Dove Reality Diaries was conceived as a critical component of our mission to reach girls with self-esteem programming,” said Kathy O’Brien, Dove marketing director. “The online series will allow girls to see the self-esteem issues their peers face and learn how to manage those issues so they don’t get in the way of a happy, healthy lifestyle.”
Self-esteem building tools are available on the site for girls watching at home and include; self-esteem quizzes, games, articles, lessons and message boards. There is also a forum to ask Weiner questions about everything from body image and boys to popularity, peer group pressure, family issues and much more.
Moms and mentors interested in more information on how to make a positive difference to the young people in their lives can visit http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.com/ for more self-esteem building tools, footage from the Dove Self-Esteem Fund workshops featuring celebrities inspiring girls to think about their beauty role models in a new way, self-esteem experts, and “Onslaught,” an attention-grabbing viral film that dramatizes the barrage of images and messages girls constantly face to illustrate the destructive impact images of unattainable perfection can have.
About the Dove Self-Esteem Fund/Seventeen Body Image Survey
StrategyOne, an applied-research consulting firm, conducted a nationally representative online survey among 1,014 girls and women ages 13-22 in the US to better understand the factors that impact their body image. The survey, which has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percent at the 95 percent confidence level, was conducted using the online field services of Harris Interactive. Nancy Etcoff, Ph.D. (Harvard University) and Ann Kearney-Cooke, Ph.D. (Cincinnati Psychotherapy Institute), Dove Self-Esteem Fund Advisors, provided expert guidance on the study.
About Campaign for Real Beauty
The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty is a global effort that is intended to serve as a starting point for societal change and act as a catalyst for widening the definition and discussion of beauty. The campaign was created in 2004 after the brand commissioned a global study that found that only two percent of women around the world describe themselves as beautiful. Employing various communication vehicles – advertising, a Web site, billboards, events and a Self-Esteem Fund – the campaign invites women to join in the discussion about beauty and share their views of it with women around the world. Women’s response to the campaign has been overwhelmingly positive; nearly 4 million visitors have joined the conversation at campaignforrealbeauty.com.
About Jessica Weiner
Jess Weiner is America’s “Queen of Self-Esteem.” For over 13 years, she has been on the front lines of women’s issues with visits to the boardrooms, classrooms and living rooms of women and teens around the world. The best- selling author, advice columnist and self-esteem expert has inspired millions of women and teens to become Actionists TM by taking action in their everyday lives. Her lifestyle brand with Jess (TM) is committed to transforming the issue of self-esteem for women and girls worldwide. Recently named the Global Ambassador for the Dove Self-Esteem Fund (DSEF), Jess will play a vital role in the 2007/2008 DSEF global campaigns in the U.K., France, Germany, Italy, U.S., and Canada. For more information visit http://www.withjess.com/
About Dove
The Dove mission is to make women feel more beautiful every day by challenging today’s stereotypical view of beauty and inspiring women to take great care of themselves. 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, hair care and styling aids. Dove is available nationwide in food, drug and mass outlet stores.
About Unilever
Unilever , one of the world’s largest consumer products companies, aims to add vitality to life by meeting everyday needs for nutrition, hygiene and personal care. Each day, around the world, consumers make 160 million decisions to purchase Unilever products. The company has a portfolio of brands that make people feel good, look good and get more out of life.
In the United States these brands include recognized names such as: Axe, “all,” Ben & Jerry’s, Bertolli, Breyers, Caress, Country Crock, Degree, Dove personal care products, Hellmann’s, Knorr, Lipton, Popsicle, Promise, Q-Tips, Skippy, Slim-Fast, Snuggle, Suave, Sunsilk and Vaseline. All of the preceding brand names are registered trademarks of the Unilever Group of Companies. Dedicated to serving consumers and the communities where we live, work and play, Unilever in the United States employs approximately 13,000 people in more than 60 office and manufacturing sites in 24 states and Puerto Rico – generating nearly $10 billion in sales in 2006. For more information, visit http://www.unileverusa.com/.
Contact: Randi Liodice/Edelman 212-704-4462 randi.liodice@edelman.com Stacie Bright/Unilever 203-625-1130 stacie.bright@unilever.com (1) The Dove Self-Esteem Fund/Seventeen Body Image Survey
Dove
CONTACT: Randi Liodice of Edelman, +1-212-704-4462,randi.liodice@edelman.com; or Stacie Bright of Unilever, +1-203-625-1130,stacie.bright@unilever.com, both for Dove
Web site: http://www.doverealitydiaries.com/http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.com/http://www.withjess.com/http://www.unileverusa.com/