Dove steps in on negative comments during The Oscars

When better to push its Real Beauty agenda than during the glitzy star filled award show, The Oscars?As part of its new social media campaign #SpeakBeautiful, Twitter and Dove will encourage women to turn ugly tweets into beautiful ones using new technology that uses Twitter data to identify negative social media conversations about beauty and body image.Here is how it works. When a negative tweet is posted, the technology will be used by Dove to send non-automated responses to real women. The response includes constructive and accessible advice to encourage more positive online language and habits.Unlike Coke's recent blunder online which led to it quoting Hitler, the Dove's advice will come directly from social media and self-esteem experts to empower women to speak with more confidence, optimism, and kindness about beauty online.Here’s a sneak peek into the campaign.http://youtu.be/_cncxoJPwBwMeanwhile, Dove is also posting live tweets during the Oscars keeping in line with its campaign:https://twitter.com/Dove/status/569678865301446656https://twitter.com/Dove/status/569689239262089217The campaign has also lready garnered significant buzz online. Consumers and brands such as JC Penny are jumping on board to help Dove push its agenda. https://twitter.com/jcpenney/status/569656569761103872https://twitter.com/ChristinaCIM/status/569662428763590656https://twitter.com/WarrenMarenco/status/568490722657239041https://twitter.com/GalMeetsGlam/status/568440928303579136In a press statement, Dove said that the social media platform is where women are bombarded with messages that are hurtful and destructive to their self-esteem and confidence.As part of the campaign, Dove commissioned a new research with social media scholar and principal researcher at Microsoft Research, Danah Boyd, to better understand how detrimental social commentary online can be to women’s self-confidence.The new Dove research reveals that eight out of 10 women encounter negative comments on social media that critique women’s looks. While over five million negative body image tweets were posted in 2014, only 9% of women admit to posting negative comments on social media. Meanwhile, a whopping 82% of women feel the beauty standards set by social media are unrealistic, which reveals the truth about how beauty is reflected to women on social media.“Women do not realise that the messages they post are contributing to negative mindsets and behavior about beauty online. Dove wants women and girls everywhere to understand that their online words matter, and it only takes one tweet to ignite a positive trend,” said the company.Jennifer Bremner, director of marketing, Dove added that Dove has long been committed to instilling self-esteem in the next generation.“We know that women today are 50% more likely to say something negative about themselves, than positive, on social media. Ideas and opinions about body image are now fluidly shared every second through social feeds, and sometimes we do not fully realize the resounding impact of the words in even one post. The power to #SpeakBeautiful is in the hands of us all—we can positively change the way future generations express themselves online,” said Bremner."Dove has been a leader in supporting women's self-esteem and body confidence, and Twitter is the natural place for that conversation to unfold, especially on the night of a major awards show," said Adam Bain, president of revenue at Twitter. "We look forward to seeing how women and communities on Twitter connect and #SpeakBeautiful, both on Hollywood’s biggest night and well beyond."Dove's other Real Beauty campaigns include its Real Beauty Sketches and follow up "Patches" experiment.Share with us what you think of the campaign below.