Dove's deepfake move warns of toxic influencers in new self-esteem campaign

Campaign from Ogilvy reveals to moms what their daughters are consuming

Published On
Apr 27, 2022

Editor's Pick

Dove's latest work focusing on the self-esteem of young girls sets out to expose the effect of "toxic" influencers.

A powerful new campaign from Ogilvy takes pairs of mothers and teenage daughters and aims to open the moms' eyes to the kind of content their daughters are consuming online. In the documentary-style film, directed by Henry-Alex Rubin of Smuggler, the moms and daughters sit down, apparently to watch some clips of influencers. The girls start by claiming that social media has had a positive impact on them, but then the film starts rolling.

Suddenly the moms see footage of themselves speaking, but the words coming out of their mouths are those of influencers giving "toxic" beauty advice—such as using Botox, chemical peels, extreme dieting, lip fillers and most shockingly, suggesting filing your teeth with a nail file.

The words of influencers were put into the mouths of the moms using deepfake technology, using footage of the moms from the casting sessions.

"Every single word that was scripted came from actual social content" said Daniel Fisher, global executive creative director for Unilever and special projects at Ogilvy, in an interview with Ad Age. "These girls actually lie in bed at night listening to this stuff and it is shocking. The idea is to show the moms, you wouldn't talk to your daughter like this, but other people do."

"Dove is not declaring war on influencers or social media," he added. "We use influencers who are responsible ones, but we want to show that there are influencers out there like these."

The film, which was created by Ogilvy's global Unilever team with contributions from the U.S, U.K. and Sweden, will kick off in the U.S., and Canada. Dove research shows two in three girls in the U.S. spend more than an hour on social media daily; one in two say idealized beauty content on social media causes low self-esteem; 80% would like their parents to help them manage idealized beauty posts and seven in 10 feel better after unfollowing idealized beauty content on social media. 

"The kind of toxic beauty advice that girls today are getting exposed to on social media is heart-breaking and I only hope that this work kickstarts the conversations that we all need to be having," added Fisher.

The film is part of wider campaign called "#DetoxYourFeed" that will include partnering with celebrities such as Gabrielle Union and Zaya Wade to remind everyone that the power to curate your feed and overall experience with social media is in your hands. Dove is also providing additional resources to change the way parents and teens think and talk about beauty, including a parent-child workshop.

“We’ve identified a clear problem that is eroding the self-esteem of our girls and needs immediate attention and action," said Global Vice President of Dove Leandro Barreto in a statement. "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. While it may be a bit overwhelming at times, we hope it will contribute to important conversations that lead to a more positive experience for teens on social media.”

 

Credits

Date
Apr 27, 2022
Client :
Dove
Agency :
Ogilvy-London
Global Dove Executive Vice President :
Alessandro Manfredi
Global Brand Vice President Dove Masterbrand :
Leandro Barreto
Global Brand Director Dove Masterbrand :
Edoardo Briola
Global Brand Manager Dove Masterbrand :
Leslie Golts
Global Assistant Brand Manager Dove Masterbrand :
Amalie Thompson
Global Brand Director Digital Dove Masterbrand :
Zoe Eungblut
Senior Global Digital Manager Dove Masterbrand :
Juliette Crouzet-Mertens
Global Executive Creative Director Unilever & Special Projects :
Daniel Fisher
Global Creative Director :
Francesco Grandi
Copywriter :
Phil Gull
Art Director :
Helen Giles
Design Lead Integrated :
Sian Hughes
Global Client Lead :
Jo Bacon
Global Managing Partner :
Sam Pierce
Global Business Director :
Georgie Howard
Global Account Director :
Carmen Vicente Soto
Digital Account Manager :
Olivia White
Project Manager :
Katie Morrell
Project Manager :
Zahra Mair
Head of Integrated Production Unilever :
James Brook-Partridge
Lead Senior Film Producer :
Stephanie Warner
Senior Film Producer :
Sally Miller
Assistant Producer :
George Ward
Assistant Producer :
Eva McAlpine
Senior Art Producer :
Chloe Jahanshahi
Chief Strategy Officer :
Ben Kay
Strategy Partner :
Ila De Melloa Kamath
Strategist :
Yolanda Davis
Production :
SMUGGLER
Managing Director :
Fergus Brown
Director :
Henry-Alex Rubin
Producer :
Ray Leakey
Talent Liaison :
Katie Uhlmann
Line Producer Soft Citizen :
Andrew Sullivan
Director of Photographer :
Gabriela Osio Vanden
Casting :
Milo Casting
Casting Director :
Stephen Milo C.D.C.
Casting Research Manager :
Taijah Hinds-Rowe
Editing :
Tenthree
Edit Producer :
Julian Marshall
Editor :
Ellie Johnson
2nd Editor :
Iain Whitewright
Assistant Editor :
Elyse Raphael
Post Production :
Absolute
Executive Producer :
Sally Heath
Senior Producer :
Kirsty Ratcliffe
Assistant Producer :
Maddie Godsill
Production Assistant :
Shaun Wilding
Senior Colorist :
Matt Turner
Colorist :
Juliette Wileman
Creative Director :
Jonas McQuiggin
Online :
Joseph Wolfenden-Williams
2D Artist :
Jasmine Cooper
2D Artist :
Antonio Jimenez
2D Artist :
James Russell
2D Artist :
Av Bains
2D Artist :
Simon Holden
2D Artist :
Ben Robards
2D Artist :
Chris Tobin
Deepfake Technology :
Synthesia
Deepfake Technology :
Hogarth
Primary Production Senior Producer :
Titus Scurt
Audio :
750mph
Sound Engineer :
Michalis Anthis
Producer :
Aishah Amodu
Composer :
Hanan Townshend
Photographer :
Caitlin Cronenberg
Producer :
Natalie Frenkel
Retoucher :
Sipke Visser

Need a credit fix? Contact the Creativity Editors

Industry
Project Type