Dove goes into battle against beauty “digital distortion”

Unilever’s Dove is going into battle against the so-called Bold Glamour filter which, it says, presents a concerning ideal of ‘beauty.’ Dove is a long term advocate of “real beauty,” of course. The Bold Glamour filter has been downloaded nearly 400 million times, on Tik Tok and elsewhere.

Dove’s answer is #TurnYourBack to the #BoldGlamour filter and it’s roped in members of what it calls its “creative community,” organised by Ogilvy, to lead the fightback. Creative by David.

Ogilvy global CCO Liz Taylor says: “The irony is not lost on me that I learned about this filter while standing in a room of global creatives talking about the ways we can use emerging technologies to create a positive impact. When technology penetrates culture in harmful ways, we have a moral obligation to stand up and take action. The Bold Glamour filter reinforces the toxic beauty standards that Dove has been working to abolish.”

Firdaous El Honsali, global VP of external communications at Dove says: “While social media filters can be a source of creativity and self-expression, Bold Glamour goes beyond ‘play.’ Tools once only available to professionals can now be accessed by young girls at the touch of a button and without regulation.

“At Dove, we are committed to #NoDigitalDistortion in any of our marketing and advertising so that we can support a more positive environment on social media that is representative of real, authentic beauty.”

Whether or not brands should get involved in such spats is debatable. Unilever has already received a number of brickbats for its commitment to “purpose” getting out of control.

Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, after all.