Personal care brand Dove is calling on its global community to #TurnYourBack on the #BoldGlamour filter that is sweeping social media channels.
Says content creator and body confidence advocate, Alex Light: "The Bold Glamour filter has now been used over 15 million times, and its popularity certainly doesn't seem to be waning. What might seem like a harmless filter has the potential to cause damage to our mental health and affect our self-esteem. Filters like this create a brand new and unrealistic comparison that blurs the lines of reality and sets a new standard for how we think we should look.
“It's vital that we push back against these increasingly toxic beauty standards and show young girls that it's OK to be their authentic, beautiful selves. I've worked with Dove for a long time, and I am so proud to work with a brand which not only pledges no digital distortion in their imagery, but continually works to dismantle beauty standards and champion self-esteem in women and girls. I am fully behind their new campaign."
According to a Dove press release, 38% of girls say they can't live up to the beauty standards that influencers project on social media, and 80% say they have already applied a filter, or used a retouching app, to change the way they look in their photos by age 13. As a result, 48% of girls who distort their photos regularly have lower body esteem compared to 28% of girls who don't.
"Academic studies find that the use of filters and selfie editing are associated with low body confidence, mood and self-esteem," explains Dr Phillippa Diedrichs, research psychologist at the Centre of Appearance Research at the University of West England and body image expert. "Research from Dove found that 24% of girls with lower body esteem feel they don't look good enough without photo editing. Moreover, filters have become part of everyday life for 52% of girls, and 77% try to change or hide at least one part of their body before posting a photo of themselves. This suggests that the cumulative effect of filters and digital distortion over time is creating appearance pressures and low self-worth among girls and young women."
Says Firdaous El Honsali, global vice president, External Communications at Dove: "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. When young people distort their images, they distort their minds too. We are calling on our community to join us to turn their backs to the toxic Bold Glamour filter and stand up for real beauty. Because real beauty is bold!"
Dove wants to transform our too often toxic, digitally distorted feeds into a movement to keep beauty real. Take action by posting a video turning your back to the Bold Glamour filter using #TurnYourBack #BoldGlamour #NoDigitalDistortion. (Source: Dove)