Dove Redefines Beauty Ideals With Its New Short Film
Barely a week ago, I was watching Dove’s campaign on loving your hair and was so moved by it I wished they would do something more specific for India. Looks like my wish has come true. The brand’s new short film Let’s Break The Rules Of Beauty champions the cause of inclusivity in beauty for Indian women. The 50-second short brings together 80 women from all over India, across age groups, and social classes. Shot by film director, screenwriter and documentary filmmaker Pan Nalin, it makes us question why in a population of 631 million women we adhere to only one ideal of beauty.
Nearly 80 per cent Indian women agree that they are pressured to look a certain way by social, traditional, and external factors, which is strange considering how diverse India beauty is. The film urges women to embrace their uniqueness and realise that there are no set standards for beauty. It reminds us of their Choose Beautiful campaign from last year, which endorsed that every woman is beautiful if only she chooses to believe so.
“76 percent of Indian women believe that in today’s society, it is critical to meet certain beauty standards,” Victoria Sjardin, senior global brand director, Dove Masterbrand said in an interview to AdWeek. “Our hope is to genuinely start a conversation about expanding the beauty ideal and embracing the varieties of beauty that come from a country with 631 million women, 29 states and 22 languages.”
I love how Dove has been making ads that challenge age-old notions of beauty and manage to spark conversations about building self-esteem and embracing diversity in beauty, especially in a country that is obsessed with having fair skin, long hair and a trim figure. Now if only other beauty giants followed suit!
