In 2019, Dove partnered with Getty Images, Girlgaze, women & non-binary individuals everywhere to create Project #ShowUs, a collection of 10,000+ images that offer a more inclusive vision of beauty for all media & advertisers to use. Now, Dove has taken further action in South Africa and is making history with ‘It’s on Us’.

70% of women do not feel represented in media and advertising, and every day, women’s lives are affected by these limitations, exclusions, and stereotypes. We know from research that if women don’t feel represented, it can hold them back from reaching their full potential. The effects are vast, negatively impacting health, career and relationships. As an actionist brand that continuously challenges narrow beauty ideals, it is Dove’s duty to help others to represent all beauty in their advertising.

We decided to hack the advertising industry—from the inside. Dove has infiltrated international casting calls for other brands’ campaigns with real beauty models and a message to encourage inclusion in their latest campaign; It’s on Us. Dove pledges that if a brand chooses one of their models, they will pay to cover the appearance fee’s cost.

For over 60 years, Dove has been taking action to represent real beauty; working to shatter stereotypes. We know from research that if women don’t feel represented, it can hold them back from reaching their full potential. For the past fifteen years, Dove has been consistent with its ‘Real Beauty’ concept. And as it grew bigger and bigger, we were able to make a true change in how the brand represented real women across its communication. Unfortunately, too many other brands did not make the same effort. In order to tackle this problem once and for all, we needed to intervene precisely where these decisions were made: the casting sessions.

We worked with different independent casting agencies to take on this challenge and advance this ground-breaking mission. First, by shooting our own casting session with real beauty models from Project #ShowUs. And then, we used those videos to infiltrate actual international casting calls. Each of the tapes had a simple message to encourage inclusion: “If you choose me, and show me as I really am, Dove will cover the cost of my appearance fee”. It’s on Us. Why? Because real beauty deserves to be seen and celebrated in the media, advertising and all areas of life.

This execution encouraged a conversation exactly where and when it needed to occur: in the production meetings.

The initiative saw the actors landing roles in international campaigns for Nedbank, Krispy Kreme, Magnum, Cif and more. With only a casting session, Dove reached 15.5 million people, over 40 different countries. More than fifty articles shared our news, reporting an earned media of 1.4 million euros.

Furthermore, we spread our messages exponentially by calling on other brands to help us increase the presence of real beauty in their advertising.