How Dove is Combatting the Selfie-Insecurity Cycle (1 Girl at a Time)

Do you know about the apps that retouch your face, allowing you to remove blemishes with the click of a button? Teenagers sure do. Research shows that 85% of girls use retouching apps, like FaceTune, by the time they’re 13 years old.

People use these apps in hopes that it will help them feel better about their appearance, but ultimately the apps make them feel infinitely worse about it. One article cites research showing "that using Facetune actually instills and increases people’s desire to go under the knife. And as surgeons are finding, it can set them up for crushing disappointment.”⁣ (I’ve written more about this sweeping trend, its addictive nature, and damaging effects here.)

Good grief. Do we really need to add this pressure and discouragement to the long list of adolescent woes today’s young people must face?

This is the reason that I adore Dove’s current Selfie-Self Esteem campaign. It’s just the BEST. And so virtually needed as a check to today’s photo-driven, perfection-obsessed culture… facilitated by social media. It uses the hashtag #nodigitaldistortion, which is well-followed, and its messaging about selfies has reached 60 million people… and is slowly gaining ground.

Dove’s campaign is timely (if not over-due), and I’m grateful for their leadership in this arena! We all need to see how much it hurts girls - and all of us - when we normalize face-enhancing apps.

Dove’s research concluded that “if images on social media were more representative of the way girls look in everyday life, they would feel more confident.” Which is 100% true.

Check out this poignant one-minute video that helped launch this campaign, as well as Dove’s “Self-Esteem Project Confidence Kit” and other free resources. So good!

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