The video campaign, created by Oglivy and directed by Beniito Montorio, begins with a flawless retouched image of a woman. It then plays in reverse before ending with a natural young girl sat staring at herself in the mirror.

Dove responds to the social issue that young people are now exposed and vulnerable to impossible beauty standards online. The 60-second video ends with simple statements ‘The pressure of social media is hurting our girls’ self-esteem’ and ‘more screen time during the pandemic has made things worse.’

Alessandro Manfredi, vice president at Dove, says, “Now that social media has grown to be part of our everyday lives, digital distortion is happening more than ever and tools once only available to the professionals can now be accessed by young girls at the touch of a button without regulation.” 

The research supporting the campaign also found that 67% of girls try to change or hide at least one body part/feature before posting a photo of themselves on social media. It therefore focuses on creating action rather than awareness, urging parents and adults to talk openly about the pressures and unreality of social media. Dove has also made a ‘Self-Esteem Project Confidence Kit’ freely available for download on its website.

Reverse Selfie has been released as a sequel to the successful 2006 campaign, Evolution, which highlighted impossible beauty ideals in the media industry. As a producer of beauty products, this campaign perfectly aligns with Dove’s brand identity and it recognises ‘we believe in beauty but we can’t change it alone.’

The video was shared widely on social media, TV, print and digital with supporting graphics of young women of different backgrounds. The hashtag #NoDigitalDistortion has been used by Dove to encourage viewers to join the conversation online.

The research was based on results from a US survey of over 550 girls using social media between the ages of 10 and 17.