Ad of the Day: Dove makes a billboard out of syringes to pierce toxic beauty trends

Even though their faces are still developing, an alarming number of 14-to-17-year-olds are resorting to extreme measures to alter their appearances. The rapid rise of botox and fillers among teens has prompted Dove to create a bold out-of-home (OOH) activation made up entirely of needles.

The billboard, which stands in a Toronto mall, is constructed using tens of thousands of medical-grade syringes – the same kind used in these procedures. The copy reads: “Over 50,000 cosmetic injectables were performed on our teens last year.”

“Every time a young girl scrolls her feed, she’s bombarded with toxic beauty content. No wonder the average age of cosmetic injections keeps getting younger," said Francesco Grandi, chief creative officer at Ogilvy Toronto.

"These girls are feeling pressured to alter the way they look, when they are still changing and developing. When we discovered the 50,000 stat, we were shocked. We thought the best way to bring attention to the issue was to visualize it”.

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Rafa Donato, chief creative officer at David Miami added: "This billboard represents the thousands of teenage girls who received a cosmetic injectable treatment over the last year – likely to fit into unrealistic beauty standards after being exposed to toxic beauty content on social media.

"Hopefully, this piece will ignite a conversation and lead to real action to minimize the types of harmful messages young people are exposed to daily that tells them they need to look a certain way to be beautiful."

Credits

Agency: Ogilvy Toronto / David Miami

Campaign: The Injectable Billboard

Client: Unilever Canada

Brand: Dove by Unilever Canada

Unilever

Global chief marketing officer, Dove: Alessandro Manfredi

Global vice president Dove masterbrand and skincare: Leandro Barreto

Global brand director, Dove masterbrand: Kathryn Fernandez

Dove global vice president of external communications and sustainability: Firdaous El Honsali

Head of Dove brand purpose, North America: Melissa Grevstad

Head of personal care, Canada: Rishabh Gandhi

Head of beauty and wellbeing, Canada: Leslie Golts

Dove brand purpose lead, Canada: Laura Douglas

Digital marketing and commerce lead, Canada: Cathleen Rafeiro

Head of PR and influencer, Dove North America: Dana Paolucci

Ogilvy Toronto

Chief creative officer: Francesco Grandi

Managing director: Anchie Contractor

Group account director: Karishma Goomer

Account supervisor: Princia Dsouza

Account executive: James Elmhirst

Managing director, Strategy: Mike Wiles

Strategy director: Michael McDonald Beraskow

Senior strategist: Kate Safarian

Head of production: Cas Binnington

Senior producer: Jaclyn Garflinkle

Studio support: Engel Garcia

Editor / motion graphic artist: Thais Maranho

Chief communications officer: David Ford

David Miami

Global chief creative officer and partner: Pancho Cassis

Global chief creative officer: Sylvia Panico

Managing director: Ricardo Honegger

Chief creative officer: Rafael Donato

Associate creative director: Sarah Dembkowski, Georgia Taylor

Copywritter: Sarah Dembkowski

Art director: Georgia Taylor

Operations manager: Larissa Cocchiaro

Head of innovation and technology: Toni Ferreira

Head of account: Carolina Vieira

Project management: Pedro Fragata, Max Montaldo, Regina Sanquintin

Global chief strategy officer: Paula Vampre

Senior strategist: Vanessa Amaral

Global PR director: Sandra Azedo

Media

Earned media: Edelman

Executive vice president, national brand lead: Jennifer Meehan

Head of Canada influencer: Sara Rezaee

Account director, brand: Danielle Bozinoff

Account manager, brand: Louise Hugot

Account Executive, Brand: Caelan McMichael

Paid Media: PHD

Director planning: Marissa Robinson

Senior manager social: Nishi Patel

Senior manager planning: Janhavi Jadhav

Assistant planning: Anna Kovaleva

Production company: Parade

Producer: Guillaume Dubois

Director: Anthony Ayotte

DP: Gabriela Osio Vanden

Photographer: Maxyme G Delisle

Photography producer: Eliane Sauvé

Interested in creative campaigns? Check out our Ad of the Day and the Best Ads of the Week sections.