New Social Experiment Illustrates the Ongoing
Conflict Women Have with Recognizing their Beauty
Inside every woman is the power to feel beautiful, confident and radiant,
according to a first-of-its-kind social experiment
conducted by Dove.
Carried out in response to research revealing that an alarming 80% of women
feel anxious about the way they look1, the study highlights how the right state of mind can unlock a powerful
feeling of beauty that lives inside all women. The results are documented in
the short film Dove: Patches
on YouTube.com/DoveArabia
The experiment was
guided by psychologist and New York Times
best-selling author, Dr. Ann Kearney-Cooke (Ph.D., Counseling Psychology) who
has spent thirty years conducting scientific research around women’s body image
and self-esteem.
During the experiment Dr. Kearney-Cooke invited the
participants to wear a custom-made “beauty patch” for two weeks, which
- would help them feel more beautiful. The women were then invited to
keep a personal account of their life-changing experience throughout the two week
period. All the women agreed that wearing the “beauty patch” helped to improve
their self-esteem and to change their personal lives in ways that they had not
imagined.
At the end of the
experiment, however, it is revealed that the “beauty patch” contained nothing and
that the power of believing in their own
beauty influenced feeling beautiful.
"When a woman feels beautiful, she radiates happiness
and confidence, which inspires her life in a significant way,”
said Dr. Kearney-Cooke. “These women,
like so many others, struggle to recognize their own beauty and it severely affects
their daily lives. This ground-breaking experiment
was designed to illustrate that beauty is a state of mind and that the power to
feel beautiful comes from within.”
Beauty is a State of Mind
Throughout the Dove: Patches film, it becomes clear how
low self-esteem affects many elements of the women’s lives. As the women become more confident about the
way they look, personal relationships flourish and they develop a more
optimistic outlook on their daily routine.
One of the women who participated shared that she felt ashamed of her arms
and had always avoided shopping. A few
days into the experiment, she started to feel more beautiful and invited her
daughter to go shopping for the first time.
The two of them spent an unforgettable day together and they tried on
dresses that she had never dreamed of wearing.
Dove hopes that all of the women’s inspirational stories featured in the
Dove: Patches film will serve as powerful
examples and encourage all women to develop a stronger relationship with their own beauty.
“We hear from thousands of women every day about
how their complicated relationship with beauty affects their overall confidence
and happiness,” said Madhusudhan Rao, VP, Marketing, Unilever, North Africa and
Middle East. “By illustrating through the Dove: Patches film that a positive state of mind and openness can help
them feel more beautiful, we hope to inspire all women and help change the way
they see themselves.”
Dove
invites all women to create a world where beauty is a source of confidence, not
anxiety. When women look and feel their
best, they feel happier, and Dove believes it is important for women to see the
beauty in themselves so that they can inspire the next generation. The brand
has set a goal of reaching 15 million young lives with self-esteem programming
by the end of 2015 and has reached over 12 million to date.
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