Thai girls have experienced the forced haircut rule in school for over 50 years. A study found that these mandated haircuts have created negative impacts on the self-confidence of 7 out of 10 high school girls as it teaches them that they don't have control of their own bodies, and oftentimes it makes them feel ashamed of the way they look.

With Dove brand mission to liberate all women from any hair oppression, we created #LetHerGrow campaign with a hero film from the real voice of Thai girls and women from different generations but sharing the same horrible experiences of getting a forced haircut during their school years. The campaign aimed to raise questions on this ancient school rule in the hope of putting an end to it. Let’s hand back the freedom on their hair and bodies to our young girls, let them live and #LetHerGrow.

Dove’s brand purpose is to make it universally accessible to every women the positive experience of beauty by taking concrete actions towards building self-esteem for all women and girls. But in Thailand, an ancient rule dictates that every school girl has to cut her hair to the length of no longer than her ears causing young girls lack in self-esteem. As it is key for Dove to make beauty a source of confident, not anxiety, we created a campaign with an ambition to liberate Thai girls from hair oppression by institutionalised norms like the forced haircuts in schools. The campaign objectives are

- To create an impactful awareness on this deep-rooted issue in Thai society which has deprived freedom and contributed to the Thai girl self-esteem issues.

- To convey Dove’s brand purpose on the importance of young women self-esteem in a way that would resonate with Thai consumers.

Thai society has been oppressing women hairstyles under the so-called ‘appropriate’ hair norms for so long, whether it'd be institutionalised norms in Thai schools or appropriate hairstyles for one’s profession. This is a result from a ministerial regulations on the ‘appropriate’ hair style for Thai students which was issued back in 1972 and it is still being used to ‘discipline' Thai students up until 2022. This regulation dictates that all girls who go to public schools can not have their hair any longer than their ears. While, for private schools, each school can make their own rules on the ‘appropriate’ hairstyle, which in most case, they usually allow their students to have longer hair but the students can NOT style, color, nor perm them at all.

In 2020, many Thai students has rallied a number of protest against this outdated rule, which stirred a lot of online conversations, causing the authorities to suppressed these youth-led democracy protests. Not much has been covered on the main stream media and NO mass brand has ever touch upon this. Despite the heat of the situation, Dove decided to stay true to the brand value and take a stand through the campaign #LetHerGrow.

The campaign led by a hero online film which tells stories of Thai girls and women of different ages who share their experiences and thoughts towards the mandated haircuts in Thai schools. The film features a triggering visual that match with local insights, especially when it starts with the scene that most Thais have experienced themselves, the forced haircuts in schools. This allows the film to capture consumers’ attention and stimulate them to watch until the end of the ad. Throughout the film, it is shown that despite being on a different walks of life, the subjects share a common stand points that this questionable outdated rules in Thai schools should have been stopped as it has been destroying Thai students’ morales and impeding their abilities to express their true identities for far too long.

When we first got briefed, "local relevancy" is the key focus for this campaign as it seemed to be what Dove’s past brand campaigns in Thailand were lacked of. So we were determined to create a campaign that would hit straight to the Thai insights while conveying Dove’s brand message clearly.

With the ongoing social issues among the target audience (Thai female, 12 - 25 YO, nationwide) at the time, it was clear that this is where the brand can genuinely take part in and that it would fit with both the brand value and local insight. Once the core idea was finalised, online was chosen to be the hero piece of the campaign as it would allow the story to be told and to be heard in an easiest form.

The campaign led by a hero online film which was uploaded on Dove Thailand YouTube and Facebook channels targeting broad females audience aiming to reach at least 10 millions views. There were also OOH media placement at major locations in Bangkok together with newspaper coverage which were able to create many online conversation afterward.

The timing for the campaign launch was also placed strategically around the opening of the physical school. (We didn't launch any earlier as there were lockdowns and classes were done online so the haircut rules weren't really been enforced during the earlier period)

Then, we also had 15s and 6s thought-provoking cut-down assets for YouTube, Facebook and Instagram to drive engagement and interaction with the targeted audiences.

#LetHerGrow became one of the most successful branding campaigns Dove Thailand have ever done. The campaign earned a staggering number of engagements, views as well as improved brand’s favourability. But most importantly, #LetHerGrow has achieved the ultimate goal which is to create an impactful social movement, raising awareness on the negative effect of the forced haircuts in schools and encouraging Thais to speak out more on this issue. And this movement did not stop there, as Dove is also working closely with government authority, non-profit organisations and a network of schools in Thailand in order to end the haircut mandates in schools permanently.

Numbers to highlight:

- 18.8m views on YT and 8.1m on FB

- 370k engagement (65% earned)

- 149m online impression within 2 months

- 10.5% life on brand favourability