Narrow beauty standards make it difficult for women to freely celebrate their own beauty. In the U.S., society’s bias has resulted in unfair judgment and discrimination against Black women based on hair texture and styles. A Black woman is 1.5 times more likely to be sent home from the workplace because of her hair, and 80% more likely to change her natural hair to meet social norms.

Dove is committed to ending hair discrimation against Black women, creating a world where all women are free to wear their hair, their way. The brand has powered the CROWN Act, anti-hair discrimination legislation, into law in several states.

In 2020, our PR brief was to raise awareness about Dove’s role in the CROWN Act, and engage Black women, White allies, lawmakers and the key opinion leaders in a petition to advance the CROWN Act and change policy for good.

“FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION.”

Matthew A. Cherry is a young Black filmmaker who produced an Oscar-nominated short film called ‘Hair Love’, about a Black girl learning to love her natural hair. Whereas other Oscar nominees had big studio backing, Matthew funded his film through a Kickstarter campaign. Seeing an opportunity to further the conversation around hair discrimiation, Dove Hair supported the film to get it into production.

Then when Matthew received the Academy Award nomination for ‘Hair Love’ in 2020, we took our commitment to the next level by instigating a “For Your Consideration” campaign designed to make the film - and the pressing issue of hair discrimination - unmissable to Oscar judges and the wider public.

Knowing that the Oscars is the biggest night in entertainment and remains one of the most-watched broadcast events in the United States, we saw an opportunity to take our message to a grand stage, getting the CROWN Act into the spotlight for a tidal wave of awareness and engagement across our key targets: Black women, White allies, lawmakers and opinion leaders.

Our Pre-Oscars activity was designed to get Matthew the gold on Oscar’s night by pairing the message of the film with the actionable issue of the CROWN Act. The reality is that a good narrative matters just as much as the film itself in determining who ends up with the gold statue and it was crucial for Oscars judges too see organic buzz around the film.

Our Oscars Night activity was designed to secure Dove in the headlines, with red carpet tactics, pulled straight from the Hollywood playbook.

Despite only four weeks to create massive buzz, we drove momentum for the film’s nomination across a variety of high profile U.S. media: national morning shows, national newspapers, and entertainment trade outlets all with the goal of influencing the members of the Academy prior to voting. Additional activity included:

Pre-Oscars:

- Celebrity and Influencer mailers: An Instagram-worthy “Hair Love” lithograph, alongside Dove’s natural haircare line

- Free community screenings of “Hair Love” for young girls in NYC and LA

Oscars Night:

- Dove hosted celebrity dinners and sponsored the glam squad for Matthew Cherry’s special guest: a young Black man who was banned from walking the stage at his graduation because of his natural hair, now with the opportunity to walk the red carpet on the biggest stage in the world

- Agile social media content, following Matthew from the red carpet to the winner’s stage

And the Academy Award goes to...Hair Love! Our “For Your Consideration” campaign helped the film win the Oscar and cemented Dove’s role in ending hair discrimination, contributing to an unprecedented lift in brand salience and the highest Brand Trust scores ever amongst Black women for Dove. A few short weeks after Oscar night, the CROWN Act passed in Virginia, and 22 more states are considering the bill.

- Unique visits to Dove's website TheCrownAct.com increased 667% with +10,000 unique petition signatures

- Dove was featured in 350+ media stories about "Hair Love", earning 800MM+ total earned impressions, with headlines in the NY Times, Washington Post, Variety, Fast Company, and more.

- 350K+ social impressions with shares from celebrities like Shonda Rhimes, Gabrielle Union, and April Reign (#OscarsSoWhite founder)

- CROWN Act was mentioned on the Oscars stage – a media spot that is literally impossible to buy

- Dove Hair sales went up by +9% at the time of the campaign.