Dove built a reputation by challenging the perceptions of beauty for women. Now Dove Men+Care has sparked a similar conversation about how dads are being portrayed in television, film and advertising. Too often, dads were being depicted as overly masculine, career-oriented, emotionally inept buffoons. Our research study showed a disconnect between how men define “real strength” and how it’s represented in society — only 7% of men surveyed said that they can relate to depictions of masculinity in media. The modern dad prioritizes his family over career, truly embraces his role in caring for his children and isn't afraid to show his emotions. So we created a short film showing a series of real dads answering the call of fatherhood, day-in and day-out, with real strength and care. A shortened version ran during the Super Bowl, arguably the epitome of stereotypical male strength and masculinity, and prior to our launch, we executed a strategic media blitz that teased our messaging and staked Dove Men+Care’s position as the leader in marketing to modern men. We revealed our film two weeks prior to the Super Bowl to ensure the masculinity conversation was a leading theme in the Super Bowl narrative.

In the United States, mainstream media has been struggling to keep up with society’s changing view of fatherhood. Male athletes who want to miss games to care for a newborn child face backlash. Changing tables are more often in women’s restrooms, not men’s. And advertising often depicts fathers as clueless when it comes to taking care of their kids. The only examples of strength that sports fans see today are physical, not emotional, and display actions of brute force and violence.

Despite our global research indicating that men today overwhelmingly prioritize fatherhood and caregiving, their contributions in this role are overlooked by society and media. Sadly, the way dads see their role as fathers is dramatically different from how they are portrayed in film, TV and society at-large.

Knowing that men today were not being acknowledged for their care, our campaign addressed this issue head-on, placing a spotlight on the disconnect between the way men are portrayed in media and how they see themselves as caregivers.

The film immediately hit an emotional nerve, earning hundreds of dedicated stories including The Today Show, The View, Huffington Post, TIME, etc. The New Yorker praised its sincerity calling it “corrective to outmoded ideas of the father, and Mic announced, “The Super Bowl’s biggest winner? Healthy Masculinity.” Huge social media chatter from dads everywhere applauded the brand for recognizing their #RealDadMoments. A mention from Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, brought more women into the conversation. She called the film “… a Father’s Day ad I love – shows how important fathers are to the development of their children and the happiness of their families. Congratulations … for showing us fathers who are leaning in!” The film earned 36MM+ online views worldwide, making the #3 spot on Ad Age’s Viral Video Chart and #5 on AdWeek’s 10 Most Watched Ads on YouTube (June). A shortened version ran during the Super Bowl—#Dove trended nationally with 322+ million social impressions igniting positive responses and the ad was named as the #2 most broadcast 2015 Super Bowl ad in the world (Teletrax). The Super Bowl campaign generated 3.5+ billion media impressions, solidifying Dove Men+Care as the fastest growing men’s grooming brand in the U.S.

The pervasiveness of female gender stereotypes in advertising and popular culture has been a topic of discussion for years, but the impact of male gender stereotypes often goes unnoticed. Men are frequently depicted in advertising as overly masculine, bumbling buffoons or fathers who are emotionally clueless and lazy—more concerned with watching football than changing diapers. This past year was full of discussion on modern masculinity from “work-life balance” to “what it means to be a man,” prompting Dove Men+Care to question: What defines male strength and masculinity today? We explored the answer by utilizing top sociologist Dr. Kimmel to facilitate ‘think pieces’ across media and in panels at the 92Y: Why Fathers Matter conference and at the Nat’l Mentoring Summit. Our research also revealed eye-opening findings: 86% of men believed the concept of masculinity had changed since their father’s generation, and 90% of men felt that showing your caring side no longer came at the expense of your masculinity, it defined it.

We chose the Super Bowl as the time to change the conversation. We were in a unique position to challenge the stereotypes of what it means to be a man and what it means to be strong.

Dove Men+Care faced a challenge breaking through in a category filled with masculine clichés. Most grooming products are sold on the promise of smelling good and attracting women and use models, broad archetypes and absurd humor. Our objective was to use Father’s Day and the Super Bowl, two very different events where men and masculinity are the focus, as moments to reject all of the hyperbole. We strived to honestly reflect the changing role of modern men as caregivers and address a portrayal problem that exists all over our culture. We met the stereotypes head-on – using PR to challenge the media and key insights from our global masculinity research to lay the foundation for our campaign. Men are often depicted as overly masculine, emotionally clueless, bumbling buffoons in media, advertising and popular culture. Yet our research showed modern dads prioritize their families over their careers and understand and embrace their role as caregivers to their children. Once we understood the disconnect between media and society’s inaccurate portrayals of masculinity and how men had evolved past that, we knew we had a powerful narrative to highlight and juxtapose against one of sports’ most stereotypically masculine stages. To drive this new conversation, we enlisted distinguished sociologist and Director of the Center for the Study of Men and Masculinities, Dr. Michael Kimmel to act as the main voice of our research and campaign. We didn’t shy away from questions surrounding football and masculinity; we leaned in and directly approached media as partners in this important and provocative conversation. Building upon Dove’s legacy of realistically portraying women by challenging gender stereotypes, Dove Men+Care also places the highest value in accurately representing its consumers, so we created a film showing real fathers exhibiting real strength through the care they show their children.