Dove bids to banish negative Facebook ads

Dove has launched an app that will replace Facebook ads containing negative body images with its own ‘real beauty’ ads as part of its efforts to encourage a more positive body image.

Dove

As part of its ‘Dove Ad Makeover’ Facebook app, Dove will outbid other advertisers for ad space, which it will then populate with one of eight positive beauty messages selected by users. Dove says the initiative will “pump positivity into the social sphere’.

It also hopes to create a ‘Real Beauty Ripple Effect’. The app will count how many Facebook users have been reached with the positive messages so that people can see the effect they have had.

The brand claims that it is “handing the power of advertising over to women” with the initiative and aims to reach six million women in the UK through the social media campaign.

Dove, which is nominated for a Marketing Week Engage Award 2012, launched the initiative in Australia last month. It is part of the Dove Self Esteem Programme campaign launched earlier this year.

Alison Fisher, brand manager for Dove Skin at Unilever UK, says: “At Dove we are passionate about our social mission and want to continue our support to help young girls and women develop a positive relationship with their bodies.

“We are giving women a new way to be heard through this first-of-its-kind Facebook app. We chose to launch the campaign on Facebook because of its power and reach in social media, which we believe will enable these positive beauty messages to be seen by as many women as possible. This first-of-its-kind app gives women the unique chance to impact advertising across the country.”

The Marketing Week Engage Awards 2012, hosted by comedian John Bishop take place at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London, tomorrow (22 May).

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