The Dove Self-Esteem Project

With social media being accessible to anyone and anything, there are a lot of brands and celebrities who reach out using these methods of communication. Not every company takes ethics into account when posting to social media or creating advertisements, but there are some who do a better job. For example, Dove, a beauty product company, has focused their newest ad campaign on the Dove Self-Esteem Project, to help bring awareness to the danger of social media on self-esteem and body image. 

 

Image Source: Dove Self-Esteem Project

 

 

When everything you see on social media is the best possible pictures having been edited and tailored to fit what they think would get the most likes, it can really wear down a growing self image. Through their self-esteem project, Dove encourages users to unfollow social media accounts that cause them to feel bad about themselves, stating that "7/10 girls felt better after unfollowing toxic beauty advice on social media." They have provided parents and other people in leadership and mentoring roles with resources to start the conversation about self-esteem, bullying, and social media; and they aim to reach 1/4 billion people build a positive body image by 2030. So far, they have managed to reach over 80 million people with this program.

Like many companies, Dove has not always been as aware of the potential issues with their advertisements. A few years ago in 2017, an ad campaign showed a black woman changing and it transformed into a white woman. The ad was created to celebrate diversity and it switched between different races but this transition caused tension as some viewers saw it as the black woman was being washed away and replaced. The company did not mean to cause issues, but they were quick to apologize and remove the ad. It is clear that they did not pay attention to principle 8 of the IAE: Advertisers and their agencies, and online and offline media, should discuss privately potential ethical concerns, and members of the team creating ads should be given permission to express internally their ethical concerns. 

It is the companies responsibility to see how their ads and posts will affect the public. They should not mislead or offend the public, whether purposefully or not. Dove has started vetting their ads better and reviewing their process to make sure they do not have the same type of fumble as they did in 2017. Dove has followed a key ethical guideline: to take accountability for their mistakes and to do better in the future.