Empowering Campaigns: PRWeek US Awards 2024 Recap

Winner: Dove (Unilever) and Ogilvy PR - Turn Your Back

Social media has been distorting people’s faces with filters for nearly a decade. However, the advent of generative AI is giving it a terrifying push, as evidenced by the way the Bold Glamour filter technology tore through TikTok. It airbrushed users to a single beauty standard, altering people’s faces so much that some thought it should be banned for its potential mental health effects. And thanks to AI, Bold Glamour maintained the effect even when a hand was placed in front of a user’s face, making it impossible to tell if someone was using the filter.

Dove, already heavily invested in its No Digital Distortion movement and the Dove Self-Esteem Project, wanted to fight back against Bold Glamour. Based on its ongoing research on the psychological damage caused by filters, it knew that 80% of girls had experimented with them by age 13, and that girls who distort their photos are more likely to have low body-esteem (48%) compared to those who don’t distort pictures (28%).

Judges loved how Dove raced to turn the social conversation on its head. Within 72 hours, it launched a campaign to combat the problem, partnering with 68 influential, authentic creators on TikTok, asking them to #TurnYourBack. They also tapped the brand’s ability to leverage data to reach moms with educational insights while solidifying Dove’s credibility with women. Actress Gabrielle Union even joined in from the red carpet.

With earned media outreach, paid online and out-of-home media, posts quickly got 54 million video views and 567,000 engagements.

Honorable mention: Crest, Oral-B (Procter & Gamble) and MSL - Closing America’s Smile Gap

Dental disparities in the U.S. are no secret, but this poignant campaign made even the most jaded social media user stop scrolling. Videos show young children doing their best to clean their teeth using nothing but their fingers, illustrating why 50% of low-income children between 6 and 11 are affected by tooth decay. Out-of-home and influencer efforts also helped ignite conversation. And thanks to the effort’s donation component, children in need got 500,000 dental-care products.