Dove Celebrates 10th Anniversary of Real Beauty Campaign with New ‘Selfie’ Video

If you’re like me, you might be wondering where time has gone after you read this headline and realized it’s been a full 10 years since Dove unveiled its Real Beauty campaign.

It feels like it was just yesterday when the personal care brand sought out to widen the definition of beauty by including “real women” clad in white undergarments in their ad campaign (though it later came out that the images were retouched, calling into question how “real” the campaign was).

Remember these women? This was 10 years ago.

Nonetheless, the concept was powerful, and women have taken notice. Ten years have actually passed since that first ad, and since that time, the brand has uncovered some interesting findings about how women define beauty.

According to the new 2014 Dove Beauty Redefined Survey, 62% of women in the U.S. feel they are responsible for influencing their own definition of beauty, which is nearly triple from the 23% 10 years ago.

So what’s playing a big role in that mindset shift? Many believe it’s due to social media, where women can create their own “media,” and take on the role of defining the standard of beauty for themselves and each other.

55% of women believe social media is playing a larger role in influencing the beauty conversation than traditional media, according to Dove.

To illustrate this, Dove partnered with Sundance Institute and Academy Award-winning filmmaker Cynthia Wade to create a documentary short film called “Selfie.” In the film, students in a middle school in Western Massachusetts pair up with their mothers on a photography art project, where they take selfies highlighting the features they are most self-conscious about.

WATCH “SELFIE”

As a new mother myself, this film really hits home, because it demonstrates the extraordinary influence moms have on their daughters’ self-perception of beauty. I know every time I make a comment on my own looks, my daughter is absorbing it all and will eventually draw conclusions on her own appearance based on my actions.

So I am vowing to take a lesson right out of Dove’s video and be kinder to myself so I can help redefine beauty in my own home.

I think one of the girls in the film said it best.

“In the workshop, I was surprised when I heard the girls talk about their insecurities. When they said they were insecure about things, those were the things that made them different. But the things that made them different made them unique, and that made them beautiful.”