Reverse Selfie

    I chose to write about Dove's 'Reverse Selfie' campaign, where they chose to tackle young girls around the world, altering their faces with apps to meet current unrealistic beauty standards. Dove made this campaign due to the pandemic causing everyone to resort to their phones for entertainment, more specifically, young girls comparing themselves to other girls online. Because of the uproar of social media usage in 2020, young girls all over the world are altering their faces to be more like the "other" girls they see online. 

    Dove has worked with Ogilvy, a marketing agency, since the 1950s. They’ve created many marketing campaigns in the past, including the one I’m writing about,”Reverse Selfie.” The film that Dove and Ogilvy created shows a 13 year old girl about to post a highly altered photo of herself online. It then looks normal at first but then I realized that the video was playing in reverse. The film was shown in reverse to show the process of what girls do to look their best on social media. The end result, revealing the girl with no make-up on, her hair wasn’t done and her nails not painted. Dove is aiming to change the selfie culture by using its influence to fight for real beauty standards.

    Since the launch of the campaign in April 2021, the campaign video reached "750,000+ views on YouTube and 870,000+ views on Instagram," making it a huge success. Dove has reached many users with its' campaign, including celebrities like Lizzo, which she then posted about it on her own social media, gaining more attention from the public. The "Reverse Selfie" campaign had such a positive impact in social media, that it generated over 1000 posts with users using their hashtag #NoDigitalDistortion.

    The definition of beauty, a cultural conversation that Dove has led over the years. They have been known for their provocative advertising using both social responsibility and brand marketing. Making sure that their message is authentic, they chose not to use models. Instead, they used cast girls that first-handedly experienced the issue that the campaign illustrates, to better communicate the message to the public.

    Dove's message is all about being confident in your own skin and I believe that is a very strong message. If I were the brand manager, I would totally do what they're doing. This is an issue that goes across all generations and all people should feel comfortable in their own skin.

    This campaign was marketed toward parents of young girls in hopes that they talk to them about this issue. To promote this, Dove has a hashtag(#TheSelfieTalk) to encourage this message. They hope to make change in how young girls perceive themselves online.

Reverse Selfie