The Drum Awards for Marketing - Extended Deadline

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By Amy Houston, Senior Reporter

May 11, 2023 | 2 min read

This ad is the sequel to the beauty brand’s Real Virtual Beauty series that launched last year.

Partnering with Epic Games’s Unreal Engine education team and Women in Games, Dove wants to eliminate beauty stereotypes and build the next generation of young players’ self-esteem and body confidence.

In the ad, viewers see how one young woman strips herself of an over-sexualized costume and becomes more comfortable with herself as she sheds the bodysuit and mask.

Leandro Barreto, global vice-president at Dove, said: “Dove believes that beauty should be a source of confidence, not anxiety, in every aspect of life, both real and virtual.

“Although the games industry has made significant strides to become more inclusive, progress needs to be accelerated to challenge the narrow definitions of beauty still visible in the virtual world. Together without partners, we hope to make a real impact on the millions of women and girls who spend their free time playing games.”

The campaign, by Lola MullenLowe, is inspired by a new research study from Dove that showed 60% of girls and 62% of women feel misrepresented in games, with over one-third of young girls’ self-esteem being negatively impacted by lack of diversity in avatar characters. Unsurprisingly, 74% of women also wish for more inclusivity in female video game characters.

Tomas Ostiglia, executive creative director at Lola MullenLowe, added: “This represented an opportunity for Dove to talk about inclusion and representation in gaming, using animation for the first time ever.”

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