As one of the leaders in video-as-content—and a clear winner in pulling at heart strings within this medium—Dove Hair is set to launch its latest short film, Dove Hair Love Your Curls, targeting girls with curls and what women can do to help inspire future generations to love their curly hair. Apparently, according to Dove research, curl-hating starts young: only four out of 10 little girls with curly hair think their hair is beautiful. And, it turns out, curls can be a source of anxiety, frustration and dislike. Beauty Insider chatted with Rob Candelino, VP of Marketing, Haircare, Unilever, about the new video that’s going live today and about the brand’s LoveYourCurls campaign.

Beauty Insider: What was the catalyst for this campaign?

Rob Candelino: At Unilever, consumer insights drive our social purpose and our world-class product innovations. We spoke with real women and conducted research, which uncovered that one in three women in the US have wavy to curly hair, but only 10% of women with curly hair feel proud of it. Even more alarming, only four out of 10 little girls with curly hair think their hair is beautiful. Dove Hair felt a responsibility to act and help positively shift how women and girls feel about their curls.

For us, it’s so much more than just uncovering a social issue. It’s about shining a light on something that is profoundly impacting the lives of millions of women and girls around the country and then offering a solution for change. We are providing a functional solve with Dove Hair Quench Absolute, a new range of nourishing products that satisfy the distinct needs of curly hair. We want to inspire women to embrace and love their curls, and encourage future generations to do the same.

BI: What’s some of the data you’ve learned about girls with curls?

RC: We commissioned a global study and found that traditional standards of beauty – in this case the ideal of straight and sleek hair – are profoundly impacting young girls with curly hair. Some interesting findings include:

•  As little girls, they idolize those around them and wish they could change their curly hair to straight.
•  41% of little curly girls would change their natural hair forever if they could.
•  Little curly girls are nine times more likely than their peers to think that changing their hair would help them  make more friends.
•  As teens they feel the pressure to straighten their curls to fit in with their peers.
•  Nearly half of teen girls in the US with curly hair feel they need to straighten their hair every day.

Dove Hair has a responsibility here, and it is intrinsic to our brand DNA. We need to provide women and girls with the tools to express their individual beauty with confidence and set a positive example. In fact, our research has confirmed this and we know that girls with curly hair are seven times more likely to love their curls if those around them do – this proves we can help make an impact.

BI: On what platforms will we see the short video? How will it be distributed? Will a shorter version be made as a TV commercial?
RC: Dove is passionate about driving a positive message for women with curly hair across all social media platforms including Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Youtube (where the film will live in addition to Dove.com). We are committed to making social media a place of curl confidence, inspiration and sisterhood. We will be sharing #LoveYourCurls messaging with the broader hair community and through one-to-one discussions with individual curly haired women.

More women are actively talking about beauty (curly hair, in particular) on social, and the dialogue is filled with passion – both good and bad. There were over 100,000,000 impressions of negative curly hair conversation on Twitter over the last year. Women also go to Pinterest looking for help with their frustrations. There are 775 million hair pins on Twitter, and “curly hair styles” is one of the top searches on Pinterest.

BI: It looks like Dove is taking to heart the video-as-content trend. Please comment on why video is a preferred way to get a message across and the engagement goals you have for the video?
RC: Since 2006, we have made an impact by consistently embracing and experimenting with video to tell rich stories, like Evolution, Real Beauty Sketches and Selfie. Storytelling through video is an important part of the marketing mix today and just one of the powerful ways Dove cultivates a two-way conversation with women. Dove is a pioneer in video content, and our brand has been revealing sparking thought-provoking conversations about beauty and confidence gleaned from research for more than ten years. Video platforms like YouTube provide Dove with a medium to have a living, evolving connection with women everywhere and to foster relationships with women where they are spending time.

BI: It’s surprising that the video featured girls so young. We were thinking it would have featured 13 or 14 year old girls. I guess hating your curls starts at a young age?
RC: Dove knows beauty anxiety and beauty pressure begins at an early age and holds girls back. The research we commissioned indicates that girls as young as five or six are already beginning to have some mixed feelings about their curls, and past research has revealed that 72% percent of girls (ages 10-17) feel tremendous pressure to be beautiful. One of the beautiful young girls in our film, Carina, is six years old and told us repeatedly how she wishes she could change her curly hair to straight. The problem starts young, and continues into teen years and even adulthood. Dove Hair is dedicated to changing this and ensuring that curly haired women celebrate, love and take pride in their hair to help inspire young girls to do the same.

BI: So obviously the message is for adults to begin owning their curls. What specific actions is Dove looking to come from adults as a result of the video?

RC: It illustrates how important it is for curly haired women to show the love they have for their beautiful, natural curls so that they can pass that sentiment along to other curly girls in their lives.

Throughout the campaign Dove Hair will be encouraging women to share against the #LoveYourCurls hashtag and also visit Dove.com where they can share their unique curl stories. Dove Hair will collect these stories from real women and girls and share across our social platforms and in other channels to help drive the movement and inspire others to get involved. We want them to know about our advanced product solutions for curly hair as well. New Quench Absolute is our most nourishing range yet and will truly allow women to care for, manage and ultimately love their curls.

BI: Is Dove partnering with any curly haired bloggers or sites to help promote this video? Naturallycurly.com for example?

RC: Yes, we are partnering with curly haired influencers, bloggers and networks, including NaturallyCurly.com. We have embraced the leaders in the world of curly hair to help drive the conversation and generate awareness for the film and social mission. They are ambassadors that identify with the campaign and are role models and mentors in their own right. With so many dynamic curl communities emerging online, we wanted to be sure to leverage such relationships to amplify the campaign.

To view Dove’s short film inspiring girls to love their curls, please click here.