To help shine a light on the issues around selfie culture and digital distortion, long-time advocate for real beauty, Dove, has today released the findings of a new national study of Australian girls aged 10-17 which found 3 in 4 have applied a filter to change the way they look in photos by the time they are 13.
This may seem harmless given the prevalence of playful filters on the likes of Instagram and Snapchat, however, the same study found more than three-quarters of Australian teen and pre-teen girls will delete a selfie if they felt they didn’t look perfect in it, 30% more than the global average. And 62% of 10–17-year-old’s surveyed wish the world would care more about who they were than what they looked like.
“For years, Dove has been a leading advocate for real beauty and its authentic representation in advertising and digital channels,” Unilever Australia and New Zealand CEO, Nicky Sparshott, said. “The rise of social media and the filters and editing apps that come with it has enabled creativity and self-expression. But we've also seen how these can be harmful when used to conform to narrow beauty standards.
After two years of increased screen time and heightened exposure to unrealistic beauty ideals and a world of likes/dislikes, there’s never been a more important time to make change. As a mother and a woman with my own strengths and insecurities, I am proud to be part of a campaign that highlights these issues and empowers others to help young people navigate social media in a positive way.”
To provide parents and teachers of teens with practical solutions to help boost body confidence and navigate social media in a healthier way, Dove, alongside its long-standing partner, the Centre for Appearance Research at the University of West England, has created the Dove Self-Esteem Project Confidence Kit.
Available to download for free via the Dove website, the Dove Self-Esteem Project Confidence Kit is a dedicated online tool which empowers parents and carers to understand the challenges that young people face online, learn about how to curate a positive, diverse social feed and start conversations like the #SelfieTalk which provides tips on how to make social media a healthy place.
The launch of the Confidence Kit is just the latest activity for Dove’s Self-Esteem Project, which aims to help 250 million kids worldwide with self-esteem education by 2030. By partnering with local organisations like the Butterfly Foundation (Australia) and School Kit (New Zealand) to help bring body confidence education into schools, the Dove Self-Esteem Project has already reached 1.2 million Australian kids and 32,000 New Zealand kids since 2006 and is on track to reach 2.5 million of these children by the end of 2022.
