Dove Canada has pivoted its “Real Beauty” platform, showing the faces of courage of healthcare workers on the frontlines in the battle against COVID-19.
“We created this campaign to recognize heroic women and men on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic, and show the world that courage is beautiful,” says Divya Singh, marketing manager, Dove masterbrand and skin cleansing.
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The campaign, led by Ogilvy Canada, builds on Dove’s long-running “Real Beauty” platform and the idea of making beauty “a source of confidence, not anxiety” by defying unrealistic beauty and body standards enforced by the media and entertainment. In the spot – which was shared online over the weekend – doctors and nurses look directly at the camera, stoically, with visible lines and marks on their faces from wearing face masks and other forms of personal protective equipment. At the end of the spot, the caption “Courage is beautiful” appears.
“The front-line workers pictured in the ads demonstrate the toll that their work is having on them, but we see their work and their courage as an act of beauty,” Singh says. “From a Unilever standpoint, as the world’s biggest soap company, we have a responsibility to help protect lives and livelihoods around the world.”
Dove Canada is donating $1 million worth of personal care products to Canadian healthcare workers, such as soap, body wash and shampoo. That builds on a donation from the broader Unilever Canada organization last week, providing an additional $3 million food, soap, personal care and hygiene products to organizations in the GTA, Simcoe County and Montreal. Globally, Unilever will also contribute $153-million to assist in fighting the pandemic, via donations of soap, sanitizer, bleach and food products.
“In times like these, it’s important to show the world that care can have a big impact,” she says. “We want to give back and bring a little joy to our front-line workers in a time where some may be asked to shower at their facilities before returning home, or are currently staying in temporary housing/hotels across the country in an effort to stop the spread of COVID-19.”
