Unilever-owned Dove is launching "Real Virtual Beauty" – a series of actions supported by partners across the gaming industry designed to shatter beauty stereotypes and equip the next generation of players and creators with the tools they need to build self-esteem and body confidence.
The personal care brand is kicking off the campaign with Real Beauty in Games Training, a course developed in partnership with Centre for Appearance Research and industry experts to help creators to reflect the diversity we see in everyday life and to avoid contributing to bias and stereotypes in design. This campaign was launched with the idea of educating creators and developers about the beauty and diversity in gaming in mind.
Besides promoting self-expression, positivity and representation of women in video games, the brand has also teamed up with female-led games studio Toya to launch SuperU Story, a free experience on Roblox designed to help young girls build body confidence.
According to a statement by Dove, 60% of young women and 62% of adult women feel they are underrepresented in video games in terms of virtual avatars and their appearance. Additionally, one-third of women have low self-esteem because of this very reason. In actual fact, some 1.3 billion women and girls make up half of the global games community, with 60 percent playing video games before the age of 13. In support of women empowerment and brand alignment, Dove's Real Virtual Beauty campaign in the metaverse aims to make video games introduce creator tools or virtual avatars that can be customised to represent every woman.
However, this is not the first time Dove has stood in support for the female gaming community. Recently, the personal care brand has also partnered with Epic Games to create a series of avatars that reflect the spectrum of players.
Leandro Barreto, Dove Global Vice President, explains, "At Dove we believe that beauty should be a source of confidence, not anxiety, in every aspect of life – both real and virtual.