Dove | Toxic Influence

Dove leveraged deepfake technology to shine a light on the insidious influences encountered by teen girls. Mindshare crafted a tailored strategy leaning on long-form video formats, social and custom integrations with trusted partners. The campaign has emboldened both moms and girls to hold space for positive discussions around social media.

Challenge

Teenagers are increasingly turning to social media influencers for beauty trends. While teens claim they are aware of toxic beauty content, they may underestimate the impact of daily exposure to these unrealistic standards can have on their self-esteem. Furthermore, parents are unaware of the toxic environment that their daughters are consuming every day. Our task was to bring awareness of the toxicity online and drive parents to download Dove’s resources.

Idea

Parents pay attention to who their kids hang out with in real life, but don’t always consider the influencers they are spending time with online. The lack of understanding about the barrage of influences hinders a real conversation between parents and teens on this crucial issue. Dove’s Global campaign reveals the toxic influences teens are exposed to every day through a groundbreaking social experiment. Using deepfake technology, Dove developed videos of mothers repeating toxic rhetoric from influencers using their own voice. The real mother and her daughter then viewed the deepfake video; resulting in personal reflection and inspired action to #DetoxYourFeed.

Insight

Building Credibility with Parents: While Teens look to young beauty influencers on social media, we formulated a targeted approach for moms using the sources she trusts for parenting advice and content. Leaning on Positive Influencers: The second pillar for our strategy was confronting the environment head on and leveraging influencers in social media who are in alignment with Dove’s ethos and promote positive messages about self-esteem. Strong Investment in Video: Given the creative concept, we ensured there was heavy investment in Video platforms which could capture the emotional storytelling through sight and sound.

Delivery

Mindshare created a launch strategy that drove mass awareness of Toxic Influence and engagement through deeper custom integrations with trusted partners. We tapped Today Show’s Jenna and Hoda hour for an unfiltered conversation with a mental health expert, celebrity mom, and real GenZ girl. To further build credibility with moms and bring attention to the issue, Dove partnered with the New York Times for mini editorial stories highlighting shocking stats around influencers and self-esteem. We further amplified the message through Print, Cinema, and Social Media influencer posts to keep the #DetoxYourFeed movement top of mind and driving parents to Dove’s hub for downloadable resources.

Results

While this campaign is still in market and final results are pending, it is on track to be one of the largest Dove campaigns in the brand’s history! To date, #DetoxYourFeed is tracking to be one of our most engaging campaigns, reaching 2x as many Moms (vs. 2021 Reverse Selfie) fueled by the Toxic Influence film. In Paid Media, #DetoxYourFeed is on track to deliver 745MM+ paid media impressions!