Dove Camera Shy Exposes A Universal Truth

ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J., July 3, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Women are missing out on some of life's most memorable moments because they are not happy with the way they look.  Anxiety about their appearance prevents them from capturing precious memories, including photos of a beach vacation, their own wedding pictures, or even photos of the birth of their child.  Sadly, 77% of women are camera shy, citing that they often feel self-conscious or uncomfortable having their photo taken because they do not feel they are beautiful according to new Dove global research.[1]  Dove is committed to creating a world where beauty is a source of confidence, not anxiety and in response created a short film, Camera Shy, to raise the question why women hide from the camera as an adult, but loved the camera as a little girl.  Women should feel confident to smile for their next photo so they do not lose out on capturing their precious memories. Dove encourages women to celebrate their own beauty with tips to help them "say goodbye to being camera shy." 

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"We know that women are very self-critical when it comes to their looks and that this can have an impact on self-esteem, confidence and happiness," said Jennifer Bremner, Director, Unilever Skincare. "This study shows that women, who are their own worst beauty critic, have anxiety that stops them from feeling confident in front of the camera and causes them to miss out on capturing important moments in their lives. We want that to change."

Women struggle to see the beauty in themselves. Dove wants to inspire women to reconsider their beauty and recognize that they are more beautiful than they think.  Encouraging women and the next generation to develop a positive relationship with beauty can help raise their self-esteem and thereby enable them to realize their full potential. 

Girls mirror their mother's behaviors about beauty, confidence and self-esteem. It is important that mothers recognize the beauty in themselves and set positive examples for their daughters. Dove wants to remind women to recapture the feeling they had when they were young and fearless in front of the camera, embrace their own beauty without reservation and pass those lessons on to a girl in her life. The brand has set a global goal of reaching 15 million young lives with self-esteem programming by 2015 and has reached 11 million so far.  Together we can create a world where beauty is a source of confidence, not anxiety for women and girls of all ages. 

Dove Global Research: Key Findings[2]

Beauty anxiety is the main reason why women are camera shy.

• More than half of women (57%) admitted that worrying how they will look is likely to have a negative impact on how they feel in front of the camera
• On average, women become more self-conscious in front of the camera at the age of just 24
• 55% of women are more camera shy now compared to 10 years ago

Women are missing out on capturing memories.

• 63% of women have destroyed photos of themselves
  • Digital photos are even more likely to be destroyed than printed copies (55% vs 25%)
• Nearly 1 out of 3 have stopped photos being taken or later destroyed photos of a beach holiday, a significant party with friends/family and even their own graduations

Digital photos are increasing women's sense of camera shyness.

• Being tagged in a photo on a social network causes more than half of women to feel more anxious about the way they look
• Almost half (46%) have de-tagged, deleted or removed a photo of themselves
• 41% have done something to a photo of themselves to enhance their looks before posting it online

Dove Wants All Women to Celebrate Their Own Beauty |
Dove research confirms that women are their own worst beauty critics and will actively avoid situations when their appearance is brought into the spotlight, such as having their photo taken. When confronted with a photo of themselves over half of women (55%) only saw the negative, considering themselves "unattractive," "ugly," or "too fat."[3]

To help women say goodbye to a camera shy mindset, Dove Global Self-Esteem Ambassador Jess Weiner offers these tips:

• Ban beauty-bashing comments such as "I look so fat" or "I'm having bad hair day." Negative talk makes everyone feel anxious about their looks. The more positive affirmations you make about her own beauty, the more her self-confidence will soar.
• Nobody is perfect. Remember that those "perfect" images of celebrities have been styled and retouched by a team of professionals from start to finish. There is no such thing as perfect beauty.
• Women should not get caught up about how they look in a photo, but rather think about when they are 70 and remember how great it will be to have captured that time in life.
• Finally, Focus on Making Memories. Instead of stressing about looks in a photo, women should think about how they will FEEL when looking back 5, 10 and 50 years from now remembering the joy they had at the beach with family or the celebration shared with friends. When women focus on the type of memory being made, they will find that their face and body will relax, resulting in more natural, genuine smile and true enjoyment.  

Related Link:
Watch Camera Shy on YouTube

About Dove^®
Dove^®, manufactured by Unilever, is the No. 1 personal wash brand nationwide. One in every three households uses a Dove^® product, which includes beauty bars, body washes, face care, anti-perspirant/deodorants, body mists, hair care and styling aids. Dove^® Men+Care™ is the newest range of products from Dove^®, developed specially for men. Dove^® is available nationwide in food, drug and mass outlet stores.

About Unilever North America
Unilever is one of the world's leading suppliers of fast moving consumer goods with strong operations in more than 100 countries and sales in 180. With products that are used over two billion times a day around the world, we work to create a better future every day and help people feel good, look good and get more out of life with brands and services that are good for them and good for others. In the United States and Canada the portfolio includes brand icons such as: Axe, Becel, Ben & Jerry's, Bertolli, Breyers, Caress, Consort For Men, Country Crock, Degree, Dove® personal care products, fds, Good Humor, Hellmann's, I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!, Just for Me!, Klondike, Knorr, Lever 2000, Lipton, Motions, Nexxus, Noxzema, Pond's, Popsicle, Promise, Q-Tips, Ragu, Simple, Skippy, Slim-Fast, Soft & Beautiful, St. Ives, Suave, tcb, TIGI, TRESemme, Vaseline, and Wish-Bone. All of the preceding brand names are registered trademarks of the Unilever Group of Companies. Dedicated to serving consumers and the communities where we live, work and play, Unilever employs more than 13,000 people across North America – generating over $9 billion in sales in 2011. For more information, visit www.unileverusa.com or www.unilever.ca.

Contact:
Marissa Florindi/Edelman
212-704-4477
[email protected]

Stacie Bright/Unilever
[email protected]

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[1] Source: Camera Shy - Dove^® Global Research, 2013
[2] Camera Shy – Dove Global Research 2013
[3] Camera Shy – Dove Global Research 2013

SOURCE Unilever