Dove Launches Campaign For Real Beauty in Australia

Dove Launches Campaign For Real Beauty in Australia With the aim of debunking beauty stereotypes

Following a global study of over 3,200 women across 10 countries that found only 2% of women would describe themselves as beautiful, Dove conducted the same survey here to find only 1% of Australian women describe themselves as beautiful.

Responding to these findings amongst others, Dove announced yesterday, a major initiative designed to provoke discussion and encourage debate about the nature of beauty. The 'Campaign for Real Beauty' is an all encompassing program involving a unique advertising campaign featuring six real women representing six beauty stereotypes, as well as the establishment of the Dove Self Esteem Fund.

Five of the six women are local Australians, plucked off the street to represent their 'stereotype' in the campaign. As part of the Campaign for Real Beauty, Australians will be asked to vote online or via SMS on the six 'models' and tell us whether they they they are fat or fabulous, wrinkled or wonderful, grey or gorgeous. Below is an overview of our 'models':

Leslie, 48 from Sydney questions why cant more women feel glad to be grey?

Veronica, 39 from Bondi Beach asks, can true beauty only squeeze into size 8?

Claire, 26 from Surry Hills asks, does beauty mean looking like everyone else?

Simone, 44 from Bronte, asks can women be hotter at 40 rather than 20?

Frangeska, 25 from Western Australia asks, does sexiness depend on how full your cups are?

Irene, 97 from the UK asks whether being old and wrinkled can also be beautiful?

In addition to launching the advertising campaign, Dove will be launching the Dove Self Esteem Fund. The fund is intended to act as an agent of change, educating and inspiring young people to embrace a broader definition of beauty. The Dove Self-Esteem Fund will contribute time, money and expertise to support educational awareness projects in the area of self-confidence and body image, executed in close cooperation with Australias leading Eating Disorder prevention and support organisations.

Amplifying the Debate

In Australia, to help encourage the debate and to get people reconsidering beauty stereotypes, live electronic supersites will be placed in central Sydney and Melbourne locations and feature a rolling tally of peoples online and SMS votes of the Tick Box Women.

In addition, Dove will 'take over' Sydneys Central Station during launch phase, with the six Tick Box Women featuring on huge billboards along with some startling statistics from the Australian survey.

Dove Self Esteem Fund and Butterfly Foundation

As part of the 'Campaign for Real Beauty', Dove also announced today the inauguration of the Dove Self-Esteem Fund in Australia. The Dove Self Esteem Fund aims to educate and inspire girls working with eating disorder charities via education and prevention programs. "Too many women have low self-esteem from hang-ups about their looks and, consequently, fail to reach their full potential in life," said Sydney University Lecturer and Body Image Researcher, Dr Jenny ODea.

Dove group brand manager Candice George adds, "I believe that Dove´s mission to widen the meaning of beauty by inspiring more women to feel beautiful everyday is perfectly in line with the prevention work that Eating Disorder Associations are doing all over the world. This is why we want to support this important cause."

Candice George from Dove concluded, "we feel extremely passionate and confident about 'Campaign for Real Beauty', and as a global company, feel we are taking positive steps in helping to eradicate womens low self esteem issues."

For more information and to join the debate, visit www.campaignforrealbeauty.com.au