Did you know that on Twitter, women are 50 percent more likely to say something negative about themselves than positive? Four out of five negative tweets posted on the site about beauty and body image are women criticizing themselves physically. Three quarters of women believe that social media comments that critique women’s beauty are destructive to their self-esteem. Only 9 percent of women admit to posting negative comments on social media, though there were five million negative body image tweets, according to Twitter.
So Dove and Twitter are teaming up to do something about this problem. As part of an effort to help change the way we talk about beauty on social media, the #SpeakBeautiful campaign will turn around this trend.
On Oscar night, during the Academy Awards pre-show red carpet, Dove will release an inspirational ad asking women to consider the power of a single social media post. The commercial talks about the impact of negative tweets, but highlights that it only takes one positive tweet to start a trend. Then, during the Oscar broadcast, Dove will use a Twitter tool to identify a negative word about beauty, appearance, and body image that has been posted by Twitter users – and @Dove will connect one-on-one with women and girls in real time using a custom response personally created by experts and partners like psychologist Dr. Jen Hartstein, Dove Global Self-Esteem Ambassador Jess Weiner and Social Media Scholar and researcher Danah Boyd. These women have helped to develop customized responses that address a wide range of beauty, self-esteem and social media topics that women and girls discuss online with the intention of encouraging women to realize the role our online words play in impacting our confidence and self-esteem.
This is a perfect example of a brand taking on a social mission that also builds a unique relationship with its consumer. Our recently published Edelman Trust Barometer says that 81 percent of respondents believe that business can make a profit and also improve society. Unilever, our client, is leading the way.
Richard Edelman is president and CEO.