Dove has taken action with Getty Images, Girlgaze and women around the world to create Project #ShowUs – the world’s largest stock photo library created by women and non-binary individuals to shatter beauty stereotypes by showing women as they are, not as others believe they should be.
This major new project will drive a more diverse and inclusive visual landscape through media and advertising.
This major new project will drive a more diverse and inclusive visual landscape through media and advertising.
Dove, together with its partners Getty Images and Girlgaze, announces Project #ShowUs; its largest and most ambitious initiative to date. With over 5,000 images, Project #ShowUs is the world’s largest stock photo library created by women and non-binary individuals to shatter beauty stereotypes and is available now for the media and advertising industries to view, license and use in their next project or campaign. The ambition? To come together and put an end to the narrow definition of beauty consistently portrayed around the world, setting a new standard for the authentic, diverse and inclusive representation of women across the world.
70% of women say they still don’t feel represented in the images they see every day. Many of us know the mantra “You can’t be what you can’t see,” yet despite this, and decades of work by Dove, Getty Images and Girlgaze to liberate women from limiting stereotypes, many images continue to impose unrealistic beauty standards that present a narrow view of who women are, what they should look like, and what they can achieve. Every day, women’s lives are affected by these limitations, exclusions and stereotypes. It affects their health, relationships and the opportunities they are given.
Project #ShowUs
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Why now?
70% of women still don't feel represented in media and advertising; the move to a broader definition of beauty has never been more pressing. In one of the largest global studies of its kind, Dove research study shows that 67% of women are calling for brands to step up and start taking responsibility for the stock imagery they use. On Getty Images, the search term “real people” has increased +192% over the past year, “diverse women” by +168%, and “strong women” by +187% providing more evidence of the demand for a more realistic portrayal of women and beauty. There is also huge need for stock imagery to include women in more progressive and empowering roles and scenarios with “women leaders” up by +202%.
Women wish media and advertisers did a better job of portraying women of physical diversity with two thirds (66%) currently feeling there is limited body shapes and sizes and 64% feeling characteristics such as scars, freckles and skin conditions are unrepresented.
The constant bombardment of beauty stereotypes is making 7 in 10 women feel pressurised to reach an unrealistic standard of beauty, contributing to an appearance anxiety epidemic. Women who feel worse about themselves as a result of seeing a narrow definition of beauty day in, day out is impacting their daily lives – from being assertive (30%) to wearing the clothes they want (49%) or expressing their true identity (37%).
“Dove understands the impact unrealistic images of beauty can have on a women’s body confidence and their subsequent ability to reach their full potential. For over 60 years, we have believed in liberating women from narrow beauty ideals and have showcased beauty diversity in our advertising. However, this is not enough, and we cannot make the systemic change we need alone.” says Sophie Galvani, Global Vice President, Dove. “Hence Project #ShowUs – we have spent over a year creating the world’s largest image bank of over 5000 beauty images breaking beauty stereotypes, and we are now inviting media and advertisers to license the images and join us to take real tangible action. The images have been created and self-tagged by women themselves and as well as asking media and advertisers to licence them for their upcoming projects, we are also offering women around the world the opportunity to become part of the change and add their images to the library.”
Professor Phillippa Diedrichs, body image expert at the Centre for Appearance Research at the University of the West of England, comments: “On a daily basis, women and girls face a relentless stream of media images displaying narrow, unrealistic, and outdated portrayals of beauty and what it means to be a woman. Several decades of scientific research shows that exposure to these images has a negative impact on women’s and girls’ body confidence and beliefs about what they are capable of. Further, when women and girls experience body dissatisfaction, they experience negative consequences across key areas of their lives, including their health and well-being, their relationships, and their aspirations in education and work settings. On the other hand, displaying diverse and realistic portrayals of women’s bodies, like the images in Project #ShowUs, leads to improved body confidence.”
Amanda de Cadenet, Founder and CEO of Girlgaze, comments: “Girlgaze was born out of a need to center the female perspective and secure paid jobs for women and non-binary creatives. Project #ShowUs is a game changing initiative, as we know when there’s more diversity behind the lens, there is more diversity in front of it. Generated through our jobs platform; the Girlgaze Network, by our global community of female-identifying and non-binary photographers, we are proud to have hired over 300 creatives to create images that truthfully depict female beauty—and in doing so, are also one step closer to closing the gender gap and centering inclusive beauty.”
Dr Rebecca Swift, Creative Insights Director at Getty Images, comments: “Getty Images is a passionate champion for the realistic representation of all through imagery, and through this partnership is proud to be leading the visual industry to change the way women’s beauty is represented in media and advertising. Whilst we’ve seen a positive shift in the popularity of photography that realistically represents women, there’s a lot more to be done. Project #ShowUs will break visual clichés on an unprecedented scale, and we invite all media and advertisers to join the movement.”
How to get involved
Media and advertisers – it’s up to all of us to expand how we are portrayed. View, license and use the photos in Project #ShowUs for your next project or campaign at GettyImages.com/ShowUs. This is just the beginning. Every image licensed will support female photographers of the future and grow the photo library further, so that all media & advertisers can reflect the authentic experiences of women around the world.
Women around the world – #ShowUs more women like you. Want to help expand the definition of beauty? Join us at Dove.com/ShowUs to share your images and you could become part of the Project #ShowUs photo library.
Project #ShowUs is part of Unilever’s commitment to UN Women’s Unstereotype Alliance – a cross-industry global initiative which uses the power of advertising and media to free the world from harmful stereotypes that hold back people and society.
NOTES TO EDITORS
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About Dove
Dove started its life in 1957 in the US, with launch of the Beauty Bar, with its patented blend of mild cleansers and ¼ moisturising cream. Dove’s heritage is based on moisturisation – proof not promises grew Dove from a Beauty Bar into one of the world’s most beloved beauty brands.
Women have always been our inspiration and since the beginning, we have been wholly committed to providing superior care to all women and to championing real beauty in our advertising. Dove believes that beauty is for everyone. That beauty should be a source of confidence and not anxiety. Dove’s mission is to inspire women everywhere to develop a positive relationship with the way they look and realize their personal potential for beauty.
For 60 years, Dove has been committed to broadening the narrow definition of beauty in the work they do. With the ‘Dove Real Beauty Pledge,’ Dove vows to:
1. Portray women with honesty, diversity and respect. We feature women of different ages, sizes, ethnicities, hair colour, type and style.
2. Portray women as they are in real life, with zero digital distortion and all images approved by the women they feature.
3. Help young people build body confidence and self-esteem through the Dove Self-Esteem Project, the biggest provider of self-esteem education in the world.
About Getty Images
Getty Images is one of the most trusted and esteemed sources of visual content in the world, with over 300 million assets including photos, videos, and music, available through its industry-leading sites www.gettyimages.com and www.istock.com. The Getty Images website serves creative, business and media customers in nearly every country in the world and is the first-place people turn to discover, purchase and share powerful visual content from the world’s best photographers and videographers. Getty Images works with over 250,000 contributors and hundreds of image partners to provide comprehensive coverage of more than 160,000 news, sport and entertainment events each year, impactful creative imagery to communicate any commercial concept and the world’s deepest digital archive of historic photography. Visit Getty Images at www.gettyimages.com to learn more about how the company is advancing the unique role of still and moving imagery in communication and business, enabling creative ideas to come to life. For company news and announcements, visit our Press Room, and for the stories and inspiration behind our content, visit gettyimages.creativeinsights.com. Find Getty Images on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, or download the Getty Images app where you can explore, save and share the world’s best imagery.
About Girlgaze
Girlgaze, initially created as an Instagram hashtag highlighting the female perspective, is an online jobs marketplace and creative agency that connects companies and brands with a global community of female-identifying and non-binary creatives to generate award winning content. With a community of over 200,000 creatives Girlgaze’s mission is simple – to close the gender gap one job at a time by providing womxn with paid jobs opportunities in the creative space.
Founded in 2016 by Amanda de Cadenet, an entrepreneur, journalist, author, photographer and activist, Girlgaze knows that representation matters and the company works diligently to ensure that diverse, often marginalized voices and perspectives are included in the creative pipeline. The Girlgaze Agency has worked with Levi's, Nike, Google, Warby Parker and other notable and global brands to produce original video and photography campaigns, sourcing creators from within their Global Girlgaze Network. Girlgaze’s impact continues to be felt having provided 530 paid jobs and over one million dollars to their community of female-identifying and non-binary creatives creatives and partnering with the likes of #MeToo and TIME’S UP in 2018.
Girlgaze is supported by female innovators and thought-leaders in the worlds of media, fashion and photography including Lynsey Addario, Gina Bianchini, Colleen DeCourcy, Inez van Lamsweerde, Moj Mahdara, Sam Taylor-Johnson and Dee Poku.
About The Unstereotype Alliance
The Unstereotype Alliance, led by UN Women, is a thought and action platform that uses advertising as a force for good to drive positive change. It seeks to eradicate harmful gender-based stereotypes. The alliance is focused on empowering women in all their diversity (race, class, age, ability, ethnicity, religion, sexuality, language, education, etc.) and addressing harmful masculinities to help create a gender equal world. Unilever is Vice Chair and a founding member of the Unstereotype Alliance.
For more information about the Unstereotype Alliance, please visit http://www.unstereotypealliance.org
Survey methodology
‘Dove Impact of Beauty Stereotypes Quant Study 2019’. Research conducted on behalf of Dove by Edelman Intelligence, a specialist applied research company, between December 2018 – February 2019 with 9,027 women aged 18-64 in 11 countries: UK, USA, Canada, France, South Africa, Brazil, Argentina, China, Japan, India, Russia.
These countries were selected in order to adequately represent the diversity of women in terms of culture, beliefs, social pressure and economic development as well as a fair representation of the diversity of culture and tradition around beauty. The sample was broadly representative of women in each country in terms of age, region and social grade.
