It was back in 2004 that Dove first launched its Real Beauty Campaign aimed at changing society’s accepted standards of beauty. Dove’s models have realistic proportions, showcasing how beautiful women of all shapes and sizes are. You might remember one ad in particular that accentuated the unrealistic and even unhealthy sizes of Victoria’s Secret models in comparison to Dove’s.
Now Dove has released their Real Beauty Sketches project, in which an FBI-trained sketch artist was asked to sketch women’s faces based solely on their own descriptions. Each woman met a stranger and chatted with them for a bit, without any information as to what the experiment would entail. The stranger was then instructed to describe the lady she or he had spoken with, and the artist created a completely new illustration based on that person’s answers to his questions.
The results reveal what many of us already know: we are often our own worst critics. It’s clear that many of the women were deeply affected when shown both portraits side-by-side. Dove concludes that “You are more beautiful than you think.” This social experiment continues to support Dove’s mission of building confidence and high self-esteem in women everywhere. You can watch the Real Beauty Sketches video and view the rest of the portraits below. See the full experience on Dove.com. Warning: You might want to keep some tissues on hand for this one.
Photos via Dove