Would you post an unedited selfie? Dove’s new campaign via Forsman & Bodenfors Shanghai reveals this selfie global phenomenon
Would you post a picture of yourself without editing or adding filters to it? If you ask young, Chinese women, the answer is often overwhelmingly ”no”. The pressure to present an ideal image online is tearing down the self-esteem of girls across China and is highlighted in a new campaign from Dove and Forsman & Bodenfors, Shanghai in which women decide to post unedited photos of themselves and talk about unrealistic beauty expectations.
In a series of campaigns over the years, beauty company Dove have highlighted how unrealistic beauty standards negatively affect young women’s self-esteem, accelerating the use of image-altering apps and even cosmetic surgery.
With new apps coming out every month, the image-altering capabilities that once were reserved for photoshop experts are now readily available to anyone on social media. The social pressure of always looking your best online has triggered more people – not just celebrities or influencers – to alter characteristics in our appearances that we believe are flaws.
But the social pressure is far from just a western phenomenon. Across China, more and more young women would never think of posting an entirely unedited picture of themselves., *Data shows 78 % of women will retouch or add filters to their selfies before posting.
In a new brand campaign, called ”我的美，我说了算” or “My Beauty, My Say”, Dove highlights this insight? In a documentary-style film following a number of young Chinese women who share their personal stories regarding their appearance. They reveal that “posting non-beauty filtered pictures is like stripping online”, talk about their beauty anxiety and which parts of their face and bodies they prefer to alter before sharing them online.
When confronted with childhood pictures of themselves, the film takes an emotional turn when the women realize that their younger selves didn’t need nor want any photo filters. When asked if they would like to be part of a photoshoot and post entirely unedited pictures of themselves, they’re initially reluctant but eventually agree.
The campaign is developed together with creative collective Forsman & Bodenfors Shanghai.
“For over 60 years, Dove has advocated for real beauty, representing beauty as it is in real life. With the advancement in mobile technologies and applications – especially in China and Asia, digital distortion is now happening on a much bigger scale with selfie beautification apps having profoundly changed how we look at ourselves and each other. We see so much creativity and expression of self-identity through the use of filters and editing apps, but these apps are used to digitally distort images to conform to narrow beauty standards, with women in particular feeling the pressure to edit and distort themselves to create something ‘ideal’ which cannot be achieved in real life. Dove wants to highlight this issue as part of our ‘No Digital Distortion’ Mark – letting everyone know that the women in our ads are just as you’d see them in real life.” said Alessandro Manfredi, Executive Vice President at Dove Brand.
“We’re happy to once again work with Dove on this global insight that is so relevant in China. In the making of the campaign, we met with nearly a hundred women who shared their emotional stories with us. We feel that it’s so important that we continue to highlight how skewed beauty expectations have become, and promote women’s natural beauty”, said Sherry Shi, Creative at Forsman & Bodenfors Shanghai.
The campaign consists of the documentary-stlye film as well as non- edited pictures of the women participating in the campaign. It runs across China starting (date) and will launch globally in the coming months.
Credits
Client: Dove
Campaign:My Beauty, My Say
Agency: Forsman & Bodenfors Shanghai
Client Service: Bella Zhao
Strategy: Douglas Lin
Production: Jeffrey Chow
Creative Art: Ona Wu
Social: Robin Yuan
Creative Copy: Sherry Shi
Strategy: Sue Su
Client Service: Tim Ling
Creative Art: Yangwei Wu
Production Company: Central Studios
Production
Director: Jess Zou
Photographer: Mark Gong
Executive Producer: Rodney Evans
Producer: Joy Chiang
Post-production house: MPC
Music: Big Sync
Sound Mixing: Ker Sound
*(*Data source: joint Wenjuan.com)
