Building Confidence & Self-Esteem in Young Girls / PSA Video

Young girls talk about body image and self esteem. Dove's message: Things won't change until we change them. The Dove Self-Esteem Fund. Whether it's models that wear a size 2 or movie stars with exceptional curves, beauty pressures are everywhere. And when young girls find it hard to keep up, low self-esteem can take over and lead to introversion, a withdrawal from normal life, and a waste of potential. For example, a recent survey in the United Kingdom indicated that 6 out of 10 girls thought they'd "be happier if they were thinner." Low self-esteem leads to introversion, a withdrawal from normal life and a waste of potential. For too long, beauty has been defined by narrow, stifling stereotypes. Women have told us it's time to change all that. Dove agrees. We believe real beauty comes in many shapes, sizes and ages. That is why Dove is launching the Campaign for Real Beauty. Dove's global Campaign for Real Beauty aims to change the status quo and offer in its place a broader, healthier, more democratic view of beauty. A view of beauty that all women can own and enjoy everyday. Over 50% of women say their body disgusts them (Dove Internal Study, 2002). The body fat of models and actresses portrayed in the media is at least 10% less than that of healthy women (British Medical Association, 2000) 6 out of 10 girls think they'd "be happier if they were thinner" (UK Teen Body Image Survey, January 2004) While only 19% of teenage girls are "overweight," 67% think they "need to lose weight" (UK Teen Body Image Survey, January 2004). Stereotypically "perfect" beauty imagery affects some girl's (and some women's) perceptions of themselves. Dr. Susie Orbach (psychotherapist, London School of Economics) has discovered that spending just three minutes looking at fashion magazines lowers the self-esteem of 80% of women. We can help girls to put "perfect" images of beauty into perspective. Let's face it, most of us are never going to look like the models we see in the media. But when we look at images in magazines and on the big screen, it's all too easy to forget the number of tricks that have been used to create them. But a small army of retouchers, camera operators, lighting technicians and props managers have created these artificial images. Let's show girls the reality behind the imagery! Producer: CQ. Creative Commons license: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike.