#SSWellnessWatch: Throwback to ‘Evolution by Dove’, the maiden Real Beauty campaign

Presenting insights to Evolution by Dove, that served as an initial seed that shaped the concept of ‘Real Beauty’, a narrative which served as a heirloom to the brand.

Evolution, the 75-second campaign released in 2006, created by Ogilvy & Mather (Toronto) for Dove was also first of the series of campaigns focussed on online platforms and spoke about Real Beauty.

First put across online then broadcasted as television and cinema spots, the advert was created from the budget leftover from the ‘Daughters’ campaign. But it turned out to be one of the most financially efficient campaigns, that was also critically acclaimed and gained significance in popular culture.

It won a Grand Prix in the Cyber and Film category at the Cannes Lions, and also won an Epica D’Or. It gained substantial amounts of organic coverage from print publications, mainstream television channels, and was also a topic of discussion on several Talk Shows.

The campaign was directed by Yael Staav and Tim Piper, features Stephanie Betts, a Cartoonist, and a Producer. The initial concept stemmed when Piper, the Co-Director of the campaign was inspired to write this piece after observing the amount of time his (then)girlfriend put in for applying make-up.

The video shows the transformation of the model from the time she steps in for the photoshoot until a photo is transformed into a billboard for a fictitious foundation brand called Fasel.

Also Read: Dove campaigns that encourage women to choose beautiful

The film begins a time-lapse once Betts nods she is ready and two bright lights switch on and makeup and hair artist Diana Carreiro starts her work on Betts, changing her appearance by hiding her acne, doing her hair, and altering her it to an even tone and enhanced features.

After a couple of clicks, one of them is selected, and then heavily edited by lengthening her neck, shaping her shoulders, enlarging her eyes, and turning her into a picture-perfect model.

The image is then put up as a billboard, and shows two girls walk by staring at her. The objective of the campaign was to show how women are tricked into believing they would achieve the epitome of beauty by brands with advertising tactics that promote something non-achievable, and which does not concur with the idea of real beauty.

The actual production took place over the course of a day, and around two and a half hours of footage of the make-up portion was compressed.

Stephanie Betts mentioned, “It’s a powerful message that sends young girls to not believe everything they see. When I was a kid, I wanted to be a size 1, because the models were popular. Now it’s sickly images of beauty. We need to change that and this campaign will help.”

The campaign was a promotion of Dove Real beauty Workshop for girls, and Dove Self-Esteem Fund, and was a part of the Real Beauty Series.

The campaign was also involved with copyright violations. In 2017, the original version of Evolution and duplicates were removed from YouTube, after Alphabasic Records was cited as the claimant. Benn Jordan, the writer, and owner of the music used in the campaign mentioned Dove had allegedly failed to renew or pay for the music license.

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