As beauty brands step up to do more than pledge funds to show support for the Black community, Dove continues its efforts to fight against racial inequality and recently released a short film titled America the Beautiful.
The brand has been at the forefront of this fight through the normalization of Black hair, pushing to ban hair policies rooted in discrimination against Black people. It co-founded the CROWN Coalition in 2019 with the goal of getting the CROWN Act (Creating A Respectful & Open World with No Racism) passed in every state across the country.
This new film is a visually stunning depiction of what that fight looks like on the ground today, following the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and countless other Black people at the hands of the police. The powerful images in the film are equally inspiring and upsetting. It’s a reminder of how far we have to go in this fight, and also a reminder that there are so many people willing to keep going in spite of the difficulty.
“We must focus on systemic change and issues deeply rooted in oppression. But acts of violence based on race are not just for black and brown communities to address and companies must seize the moment and commit to change,” says Esi Eggleston Bracey, EVP & COO of Unilever North America Brands. “Dove is committed to take action and help enact change because America will not be beautiful until it is beautiful for everyone including Black Americans.”
“The images in our America the Beautiful film feature real people of all ages who are impacted by racism, captured during Black Lives Matter protests across the U.S.,” she continues. “These are powerful images of Black people who need to be seen and heard, and we stand with them as we fight to help end systemic racism in our country and build a more equitable future for the next generation.”
Along with the film’s release, Dove also announced that it’s launching the CROWN Fund, pledging $5 million of ongoing support over the next five years to create programs that support the Black community. Through this fund, it will evolve the Dove Self-Esteem Project curriculum to explicitly address race-based issues and teach equity to younger generations.
The Dove Self-Esteem Project was created to help young people overcome body image issues and build positive body confidence and self-esteem. Under this initiative the brand teamed up with Lena Waithe earlier this year to launch Girls Room, a social media mini-series that focused on the lives of five young Black girls and their personal struggles.
Dove is also responsible for #ProjectShowUs, a collection of more than 10,000 images that “offer a more inclusive vision of beauty for all media and advertisers to use.” Images are available on Getty and offer an array of body types and skin tones with no distortion.
The brand is also committing a minimum of 25 percent of its U.S. influencer budget to Black content creators and says that it will be increasing Black voices on its platforms. And it will expand the CROWN coalition to evaluate additional bills that address systemic racism and discrimination disproportionately affecting Black people.
Dove has proven once again that it is a brand committed to using its reach, capital, and influence to truly do the work as an ally to the Black community.