Do you remember the Real Women campaign by Dove a few years back? As women – we saw “real” women in the pages of magazines, we pictured ourselves as one of them, we related to them and therefore to the brand. In response, some of us went out and started buying more Dove products. Although, it was successful in building brand loyalty, creative director, Kenneth Kaadtmann, of Mindshare ad agency, states that,  “For Dove, it has never been about Dove; it’s about making an actual difference to society. Great brands hold great power, and therefore great responsibilities.”

Unfortunately, it never really made a long lasting impact to change a rather unrealistic industry. According to Dove’s Global Beauty and Confidence Report from 2016, 7 out of 10 women can’t identify with the images they see in ads. The advertising industry tells us that according to research, they are simply giving women the images they want to see. Alternatively, if the industry truly started showing women images they could relate to there would be a paradigm shift and the numbers would start to reflect that.

Interestingly enough, when you search for “beautiful women” on Shutterstock, a popular image search engine used for media campaigns, these are still the first images we see:

However, there is hope. Image_Hack is Dove’s fantastic, new initiative that has potential to truly change the market with long term and lasting effects. It challenges the ad agencies and companies to use more realistic images in their campaigns. Browse some of the images that have already been submitted here and learn more this innovative concept.

As a mom of two girls, a previous art director in advertising, and now a photographer, I am excited to get involved with this project and be a part of that change. Will you join me and the Image_Hack initiative? #equalwomen

here’s to change,

CREDITS FOR THIS FORWARD THINKING CAMPAIGN GO TO:

Client: Dove
Agency: Mindshare, Denmark
Creative Director: Kenneth Kaadtmann
Client Director: Michael Hansen
Strategy: Mette Bierbum Bacher
Copywriter: Kenneth Kaadtmann
Copywriter: Anne Ingevold
Art Director: Sune Overby Sørensen
Digital Designer: Andreas Berglund
Media Buyer: Henrik Welling