Women Are Hiding From the Camera and Their Own Beauty

Women are missing out on some of life's most memorable moments because they are not happy with the way they look.  Anxiety about their appearance prevents them from capturing precious memories, including photos of a beach vacation, their own wedding pictures, or even photos of the birth of their child.  Sadly, 77% of women are camera shy, citing that they often feel self-conscious or uncomfortable having their photo taken because they do not feel they are beautiful according to new Dove global research.¹  Dove is committed to creating a world where beauty is a source of confidence, not anxiety and in response created a short film, Camera Shy, to raise the question why women hide from the camera as an adult, but loved the camera as a little girl.  Women should feel confident to smile for their next photo so they do not lose out on capturing their precious memories. Dove encourages women to celebrate their own beauty with tips to help them "say goodbye to being camera shy."

"We know that women are very self-critical when it comes to their looks and that this can have an impact on self-esteem, confidence and happiness," says Sharon MacLeod, Dove V.P. of Marketing. "This study shows that women, who are their own worst beauty critic, have anxiety that stops them from feeling confident in front of the camera and causes them to miss out on capturing important moments in their lives. We want that to change."

Women struggle to see the beauty in themselves. Dove wants to inspire women to reconsider their beauty and recognize that they are more beautiful than they think.  Encouraging women and the next generation to develop a positive relationship with beauty can help raise their self-esteem and thereby enable them to realize their full potential.

Girls mirror their mother's behaviour about beauty, confidence and self-esteem. It is important that mothers recognize the beauty in themselves and set positive examples for their daughters. Dove wants to remind women to recapture the feeling they had when they were young and fearless in front of the camera, embrace their own beauty without reservation and pass those lessons on to a girl in her life.

The brand has set a global goal of reaching 15 million young lives with self-esteem programming by the end of 2015 and has reached 11 million so far. Together we can create a world where beauty is a source of confidence, not anxiety for women and girls of all ages.

Dove Global Research: Key Findings²

Beauty anxiety is the main reason why women are camera shy.

• More than half of women (57%) admitted that worrying how they will look is likely to have a negative impact on how they feel in front of the camera
• 65% of women say having their photo taken/uploaded makes them more anxious about their looks than if they were speaking in public (47%), going on a first date (44%) or going to a job interview (41%)
• 36% of women admit they started to become more camera shy between the ages of 11 - 20 years of age

Women are missing out on capturing memories.

• 63% of women have destroyed photos of themselves

                 •      Digital photos are even more likely to be destroyed than printed copies (55% vs 25%)

• 19% of women do not have photos of a once-in-a-lifetime vacation, 14% of their wedding day and 17% of the birth of a child

• Nearly 1 out of 3 have stopped photos being taken or later destroyed photos of a beach holiday, a significant party with friends/family and even their own graduations

Digital photos are increasing women's sense of camera shyness.

• Being tagged in a photo on a social network causes more than half of women to feel more anxious about the way they look
• Almost half (46%) have de-tagged, deleted or removed a photo of themselves
• 41% have done something to a photo of themselves to enhance their looks before posting it online

Dove Wants All Women to Celebrate Their Own Beauty 
Dove research confirms that women are their own worst beauty critics and will actively avoid situations when their appearance is brought into the spotlight, such as having their photo taken. When confronted with a photo of themselves over half of women (55%) only saw the negative, considering themselves "unattractive," "ugly," or "too fat."³

To help women say goodbye to a camera shy mindset, Dove Global Self-Esteem Ambassador Jess Weiner offers these tips:

• Ban beauty-bashing comments such as "I look so fat" or "I'm having bad hair day." Negative talk makes everyone feel anxious about their looks. The more positive affirmations you make about your own beauty, the more your self-confidence will soar.
• Nobody is perfect. Remember that those "perfect" images of celebrities have been styled and retouched by a team of professionals from start to finish. There is no such thing as perfect beauty.
• Women should not get caught up about how they look in a photo, but rather think about when they are 70 and remember how great it will be to have captured that time in life.
• Finally, Focus on Making Memories. Instead of stressing about looks in a photo, women should think about how they will FEEL when looking back 5, 10 and 50 years from now remembering the joy they had at the beach with family or the celebration shared with friends. When women focus on the type of memory being made, they will find that their face and body will relax, resulting in more natural, genuine smile and true enjoyment.