Inspiration meets innovation at Brandweek, the ultimate marketing experience. Join industry luminaries, rising talent and strategic experts in Phoenix, Arizona this September 23–26 to assess challenges, develop solutions and create new pathways for growth. Register early to save.
As many brands rush to honor and celebrate U.K. Black History Month, Dove has come up with a powerful campaign: “Reclaiming School Picture Day.” Research from the brand reveals that “almost half of Black or mixed race women with Afro hair have experienced race-based hair discrimination at school.”
More than half of these Black women, now as adults, are still dealing with the trauma from what they experienced in their classrooms and schoolyards. In particular, school picture day should be a happy moment for children. But for many of these women, this important childhood moment was impacted because of race-based hair discrimination.
As marketers, here are the lessons we can take from Dove’s brilliant campaign to reclaim school picture day.
Create your own research to find the insight
Dove has a history of commissioning research to truly understand what its consumers are experiencing and hone in on that one insight. Dove U.K., in partnership with Censuswide, polled 2,000 women to learn more about hair discrimination.
The research found that hair discrimination begins as early as five years old and that one-third of Black women missed out on school picture day because of it. Using this insight, Dove launched their campaign to shine a light on the anxiety they felt surrounding their hair and the awful treatment they experienced by teachers and classmates.
As marketers, we have to remember to always be on the search for insights into the lives of our consumers. And finding meaningful insights takes hard work and commitment. Dove reminds us that we have the power and responsibility to find these insights, do the research and share them with the world to help enact change.
Center the voices of your consumers
Based on the research, Dove created a film centering the voices of their consumers to directly share their experiences. The film shows eight women, including activists and authors Emma Dabiri and Stephanie Yeboah. They each share their raw and heartbreaking stories of race-based hair discrimination.
In the film, one woman shared, “The children used to say you’ve got snakes coming out of your hair, you have got worms in your hair.” Another woman shared, “When I was five years old, I was told to shave off all of my hair because, at that school, Afro hair was seen as unkempt, unruly and untidy.”
Finally, a number of women share how they would have described their hair as their younger selves in three words. The words included ugly, difficult and different. Each woman is staring into the camera, holding a picture of her younger self.
As marketers, let’s not underestimate the power of centering the voices of our consumers. Don’t get caught up in chasing flashy social media graphics, overly produced videos and cool images. Dove reminds us of the simple power of storytelling: Creating space in front of the camera, unfiltered, for a consumer to speak their truth.
Use your brand’s platform to help spark change
Dove is using this campaign as an opportunity to spark change. In the U.K., there have been several high-profile cases of race-based hair discrimination. Ruby Williams was repeatedly sent home from school. The school said her hair violated policy, which stated, “Afro style hair must be of reasonable size and length.”
The U.K. 2010 Equality Act includes race as a “protected characteristic.” But there is no mention of hair in the document. As a result, schools and workplaces interpret it differently, allowing for race-based hair discrimination to take place, particularly in schools where teachers may penalize students based on their hair.
“This is why I’ve been campaigning to amend the U.K. Equality Act—to explicitly protect Afro and textured hair, to put an end to race-based hair discrimination in schools,” said Dabiri in the film.
As marketers, many of us have access to powerful platforms to help spark change. The pressure is on for the laws in the U.K. to change.
Brands can make a difference, just like Dove has in the U.S. with The Crown Act, on a mission to ensure it is illegal to discriminate on the basis of hair. You can never underestimate the power brands can have when they speak up and stand up to shed light on injustices their consumers are facing.
