Dove Real Beauty Campaign

Dove launched the Real Beauty campaign in 2004 and it has run in various forms for over 20 years, making it one of the longest-running brand campaigns in the personal care industry. Original print ads featured women of different body types, ages, and skin tones photographed in plain white underwear against white backgrounds. The simplicity of the photography made the diversity of the subjects visible in a way that styled editorial shoots wouldn't. Dove is owned by Unilever, which also owns Axe and Fair & Lovely. That corporate contradiction between Dove's body positivity messaging and the other brands' approaches has been a consistent criticism since the campaign started. The campaign works as a design case because the visual identity, plain backgrounds, minimal retouching, real-looking women, created a template that hundreds of brands have since copied. I admire the longevity of the message even while acknowledging that it's still advertising for a soap company. Designing sincerely in service of a commercial goal is a tension every design student will face and never fully resolve.