Dove pledges to never use AI to distort women's images in advertising

In celebration of its 20 years of championing real beauty, Dove is renewing its vows to empower true beauty, with a commitment to never use AI to create or distort women’s images.  

This comes as Dove conducted a new study to understand the state of beauty around the world 20 years after it showed the world what beauty looks like when it’s real.  

According to its 2024 The Real State of Beauty: a global report, Dove found that almost nine in 10 women and girls say they have been exposed to harmful beauty content online. One of the biggest threats to the representation of real beauty is artificial intelligence.  

With 90% of the content online expected to be AI-generated by 2025, the rise of AI is a threat to women's wellbeing, with one in three women feeling pressure to alter their appearance because of what they see online, even when they know it's fake or AI-generated.  

While AI has the potential to foster creativity and access to beauty, with one in four women (24%) and almost two in five girls (41%) in the US agreeing that being able to create different versions of yourself using AI is empowering, there is still an urgent need for greater representation and transparency in content created by AI. 

Also known as “The Code”, the new campaign looks at the impact of AI on beauty, while celebrating the lasting legacy Dove has built. The two-minute film reflects on the impact of AI-generated images related to beauty and the brand promises it will never use AI to distort women's images. 

The campaign will be supported by an inspiring cast of empowering women across generations - singer and actor Reba McEntire, TV host, actress and entrepreneur Drew Barrymore, actor Beanie Feldstein, and actress and executive producer Marsai Martin, who will lend their voices and stories to raise awareness and celebrate real beauty. 

In line with the past two decades, Dove will continue taking action to dismantle toxic beauty standards until beauty is a source of happiness and confidence, not anxiety, for everyone.  

Additionally, Dove will continue to stand for "real," and champion transparency and diversity in beauty by becoming the first beauty brand to commit to never using AI in place of real people in its advertising. 

To help set new digital standards of representation, Dove has created the Real Beauty Prompt Guidelines - easy-to-use guidance on how to create images that are more representative of Real Beauty on the most popular generative AI programmes, for anyone who chooses to explore this new technology. 

"At Dove, we seek a future in which women get to decide and declare what real beauty looks like – not algorithms. As we navigate the opportunities and challenges that come with new and emerging technology, we remain committed to protecting, celebrate, and championing Real Beauty,” said Alessandro Manfredi, chief marketing officer, Dove. 

Pledging to never use AI in our communications is just one step. We will not stop until beauty is a source of happiness, not anxiety, for every woman and girl," Manfredi added. 

"Despite 20 years of work to broaden definitions of beauty, women feel less confident in their own beauty than they did a decade ago," said Phillippa Diedrichs, research psychologist at the centre of appearance research at the University of West England and body image expert. "Representation is more important than ever. As AI technology continues to evolve, it is becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish between what is real beauty and what is manufactured by AI."   

Join us this coming 26 June for Content360 Hong Kong, a one-day-two-streams extravaganza under the theme of "Content that captivates". Get together with our fellow marketers to learn about AI in content creation, integration of content with commerce and cross-border targeting, and find the recipe for success within the content marketing world!

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