According to Unilever beauty brand Dove, 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, and 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.
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. 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," said Jennifer Bremner, director, Unilever Skincare. "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.
Key findings from Dove's global research include:
- 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.
- On average, women become more self-conscious in front of the camera at the age of just 24.
- 55% of women are more camera shy now compared to 10 years ago.
- 63% of women have destroyed photos of themselves
- Digital photos are even more likely to be destroyed than printed copies (55% vs. 25%).
- 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.
- 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.