Dove Launched Real Virtual Beauty to Dismantle Gaming Stereotypes
Katherine Pendrill — October 2, 2022 — Social Good
The gaming industry has a reputation for its stereotypical portrayal of women, but now Dove is on a mission to change that with its new Real Virtual Beauty campaign.
According to Dove, "A whopping 60 percent of girls and 62 percent of women do not feel represented by video game characters," often due to a lack of diversity and unrealistic beauty stereotypes. In response, Dove has launched the Real Virtual Beauty campaign, which aims to dismantle some of the gaming industry's harmful stereotypes. The campaign involves the launch of a training program, which was developed in partnership with Centre for Appearance Research to teach game creators to avoid design biases. The hope is that this training will inspire designs to better reflect the diversity of real beauty in the games they create. As Leandro Barreto, Dove’s 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."
Image Credit: Dove
According to Dove, "A whopping 60 percent of girls and 62 percent of women do not feel represented by video game characters," often due to a lack of diversity and unrealistic beauty stereotypes. In response, Dove has launched the Real Virtual Beauty campaign, which aims to dismantle some of the gaming industry's harmful stereotypes. The campaign involves the launch of a training program, which was developed in partnership with Centre for Appearance Research to teach game creators to avoid design biases. The hope is that this training will inspire designs to better reflect the diversity of real beauty in the games they create. As Leandro Barreto, Dove’s 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."
Image Credit: Dove
Trend Themes
1. Diversity in Gaming - The Real Virtual Beauty campaign by Dove highlights the need for better representation of different body types and skin tones in video game characters.
2. Training for Game Creators - Dove's partnership with the Centre for Appearance Research to develop a training program is a disruptive innovation opportunity to encourage game creators to create a more inclusive representation of beauty in their designs.
3. Real Beauty in Virtual Worlds - The Real Virtual Beauty campaign by Dove creates opportunities to embrace real beauty in virtual worlds by fighting against harmful stereotypes and unrealistic beauty norms.
Industry Implications
1. Gaming - The Real Virtual Beauty campaign by Dove presents an opportunity for the gaming industry to diversify their designs and cater to a wider audience.
2. Beauty - The gaming industry can expand its horizon to create beauty centric games by promoting diverse representation of beauty norms inspired by the Real Virtual Beauty campaign by Dove.
3. Training and Education - The partnership between Dove and the Centre of Appearance Research creates opportunities in the training and education industry to develop programs for the gaming industry to promote diversity and inclusivity in video game designs.
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