Dove challenges beauty influencers with #DetoxYourFeed

Unilever is clearly unabashed by the stick it’s received in some quarters for putting purpose above commerce and it’s back with one of its most ambitious efforts to date, the Dove “self-esteem project.”

The new campaign from Ogilvy – #DetoxYourFeed – purports to show the hazards young girls face online from barmy influencers by using deepfake technology to put their words in the mouths of their mothers, according to Unilever’s research still the biggest influence on young girls (phew.)

Dove global V-P Leandro Barreto says: “We created this #DetoxYourFeed campaign to not only raise awareness around the insidious nature of toxic beauty advice, but to also help parents navigate tough conversations and empower teens to unfollow content that makes them feel bad about themselves.”

The campaign includes “tools” to help, not specified in the ad but apparently academic resources.

Dove, another beauty product of course, has clearly done a good job positioning itself on the side of the angels (at a fair old marketing cost obviously.) And it seems churlish to question Unilever’s good intentions.

You do wonder, though, what would happen if more big-spending corporations entered such lists. They might not all have such good intentions.

Then, again, in today’s online world you can dominate anything if you have the money – look at Elon Musk at Twitter.

MAA creative scale: 6.5.