Dove® Wants To Make Girls Unstoppable And Shine A Light On Girls Who Never Stop Doing What They Love

Dove® Self-Esteem Project launches major new campaign to reach millions more girls with self-esteem programming, with support from Lisa Ling

News provided by

Unilever North America

May 03, 2013, 07:00 ET

ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J., May 3, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Anxiety about looks begins at an early age¹ and is proven to hold girls back from reaching their full potential. A troubling 6 out of 10 girls stop doing the things they love because they feel bad about their looks. They disconnect from life and even avoid normal daily activities such as raising their hand in class or going to the doctor.²

Dove® is committed to creating a world where beauty is a source of confidence, not anxiety and is launching a new initiative, "Let's Make Girls Unstoppable," as part of its commitment to reach 15 million girls by 2015 with self-esteem programming. Dove wants to shine a light on the girls who never stop doing what they love and provide tools to moms and mentors to help them inspire the next generation.

"Let's Make Girls Unstoppable" will launch today at the fifth annual Mom 2.0 Summit to leading mom influencers with a special keynote conversation with acclaimed Journalist and Writer Lisa Ling and Dove Global Self-Esteem Ambassador, Jess Weiner, who share the brand's commitment to build self-esteem in girls everywhere. Together with Dove, they will encourage moms and mentors to share photos, videos and stories of girls in their lives enjoying favorite activities to inspire girls across the country to keep going, to be confident and always be unstoppable.

These photos, videos and stories can be shared on:

Dove.com/girlsunstoppable
Twitter.com/Dove, using #GirlsUnstoppable
Facebook.com/Dove.

Dove believes that everyone can make a difference in a young girl's life, but it is important that women first see the beauty in themselves so that they can inspire the next generation. In the recent Real Beauty Sketches film, http://realbeautysketches.dove.us, Dove explores how women are their own worst beauty critic. Girls look up to their mothers as role models and when she talks to her daughter about beauty, confidence and self-esteem, she needs to believe in the messages she is sharing.

"Girls feel tremendous pressure to be beautiful, and as mothers, aunts, teachers or coaches we all have the opportunity to make a difference in a girl's self-esteem," said Lisa Ling. "I am honored to partner with Dove to help build positive self-esteem in the next generation of girls. I will always be grateful to the women in my life who inspired me to reach my full potential and I hope to do the same for my daughter."

"Dove knows that beauty anxiety and beauty pressure is felt by girls as young as eight years old," said Rob Candelino, Vice President, Unilever Skincare. "We are giving women the tools and resources they need to start a conversation with the girl in their life, one of the most important women will ever have."

Inspiring the Next Generation
The Dove Self-Esteem Project, formerly known as the Dove Movement for Self-Esteem, educates young people to feel confident about their appearance and build their self-esteem. Dove has reached over 11 million girls so far with self-esteem programming and, to continue helping women impact the next generation, they are unveiling new, free self-esteem education tools and activities specifically designed for moms, mentors and teachers. They are now available at Dove.com/girlsunstoppable and explore six important conversation themes:

Family Relationships & Role Models
The Media & Celebrity Culture
Self-Care & Respect
Teasing & Bullying
Competing & Comparing Looks
Body Talk

Dove wants to make girls unstoppable and by gathering examples of unstoppable girls coast to coast, Dove hopes to spark conversations across the country and help inspire girls to build the confidence to keep doing what they love. At Dove.com/girlsunstoppable women can view videos, pictures and stories shared by women about their girls, as well as share your own inspiring message about a girl in your life.

Dove Self-Esteem Weekend
Dove will continue its efforts to make girls unstoppable, hosting its fourth annual Dove Self-Esteem Weekend (October 4-6) to celebrate unstoppable girls across the country with a series of self-esteem workshops, hosted by Dove and the brand's national partner organizations (Girl Scouts of the US, The Boys & Girls Club of America and Girls, Inc.). Dove Global Self-Esteem Ambassador, Jess Weiner, will kick off the weekend with a special event in New York City.

About Dove^®
Dove^®, manufactured by Unilever, is the No. 1 personal wash brand nationwide. One in every three households uses a Dove^®product, which includes beauty bars, body washes, face care, anti-perspirant/deodorants, body mists, hair care and styling aids. Dove^® Men+Care™ is the newest range of products from Dove^®, developed specially for men. Dove^® is available nationwide in food, drug and mass outlet stores.

About Unilever North America
Unilever is one of the world's leading suppliers of fast moving consumer goods with strong operations in more than 100 countries and sales in 180. With products that are used over two billion times a day around the world, we work to create a better future every day and help people feel good, look good and get more out of life with brands and services that are good for them and good for others. In the United States and Canada the portfolio includes brand icons such as: Axe, Becel, Ben & Jerry's, Bertolli, Breyers, Caress, Consort For Men, Country Crock, Degree, Dove® personal care products, fds, Good Humor, Hellmann's, I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!, Just for Me!, Klondike, Knorr, Lever 2000, Lipton, Motions, Nexxus, Noxzema, Pond's, Popsicle, Promise, Q-Tips, Ragu, Simple, Skippy, Slim-Fast, Soft & Beautiful, St. Ives, Suave, tcb, TIGI, TRESemme, Vaseline, and Wish-Bone. All of the preceding brand names are registered trademarks of the Unilever Group of Companies. Dedicated to serving consumers and the communities where we live, work and play, Unilever employs more than 13,000 people across North America – generating over $9 billion in sales in 2011. For more information, visit www.unileverusa.com or www.unilever.ca.

About Mom 2.0
The Mom 2.0 Summit is a premier professional conference for influential mom bloggers and female entrepreneurs who create online content. Every year, leaders in media and industry converge at the Summit to compare notes, discuss ideas, and forecast what's next for women online and in the marketplace. Mom 2.0 was conceived in the fall of 2008 to facilitate a much-needed, focused conversation between moms and marketers in the growing online marketing and social media space. Even then, as Mom 2.0 launched its first event with 175 attendees in Houston, the conference was consistently trending on Twitter. And today, the conversation continues to grow. This year, we will focus on increased and intentional content development, programming and growth. In May 2013, Mom 2.0 will bring together 500 influential bloggers and women entrepreneurs in food, parenting, entertainment, politics, technology, social change, business, travel, design, and home. Our attendees are able to gather together to share best practices and sponsors are able to promote their intentions and missions in an intimate setting that is perfect for making connections. Meet smart people. Hear success stories. Discover what's working. Mom 2.0 Summit is a boutique conference designed to deliver rich content and inspiring conversation.

Contact:
Sharelyn Devonish/Edelman
646-305-6106
[email protected]

Stacie Bright/Unilever
[email protected]

¹ Dove® Global Research: The Real Truth About Beauty
² Dove® Global Research: Rebuilding the Foundation of Beauty Beliefs

SOURCE Unilever North America