Open letter from Dove: let's show the world a more inclusive vision of beauty

To all media and advertisers,

Our industry has come a long way in representing women in more diverse and authentic ways. But women around the world are speaking up to remind us that we’re far from done.

Seventy-one percent women say they still don’t feel represented in the images they see every day. Many of us know the phrase “You can’t be what you can’t see,” yet many images continue to impose unrealistic beauty standards that present a narrow view of who we are, what we should look like, and what we can achieve. Every day, women’s lives are affected by these limitations, exclusions and stereotypes, in ways both big and small. It affects our health, relationships and opportunities in life.

Historically, our industries have largely been built on these stereotypes and non-inclusive depictions. And if we’re all part of the problem, then we all need to be part of the solution.

That’s why Dove has taken action with Getty Images and Girlgaze to create Project #ShowUs – the world’s largest stock photo collection created by women and non-binary individuals, to shatter beauty stereotypes by showing us as we are, not as others believe we should be.

The collection features more than 5,000 photographs of women and non-binary individuals from 39 countries and counting. No digital distortion, just an unapologetically inclusive vision of beauty.

Every image is created by Girlgaze, a diverse global community of female-identifying and non-binary photographers. For the first time, every individual photographed has personally defined their own search descriptions or tags for their images, defining exactly how they want to be seen, on their own terms.

It’s up to all of us to expand how we are portrayed. Please view, license and use the photos in Project #ShowUs for your next project or campaign through Getty Images, the world’s leading creators and distributors of imagery.

This is just the beginning. Every image downloaded will support female-identifying and non-binary photographers of the future and thus help grow the photo collection so that all media and advertisers can reflect the authentic experiences of individuals around the world.

Let’s show the world a more inclusive vision of beauty so we can show what’s possible.

To find out more about Project #ShowUs, visit the Dove South Africa website.

This article was paid for by Dove.