Over 2,500 women, aged 18-65, took part in targeted surveys, kept diaries and attended focus groups to understand how they think and feel about their bodies on a day-to-day basis, says Hearst.
The research uncovered several insights about the negative view that women have about their bodies including that only 6% of women love their bodies. Hearst UK worked collaboratively with Proctor and Gamble to launch “Project Body Love” creating content across social, digital and print, that tackles specific body confidence issues and silences negative self-talk.
The campaign brings together Hearst titles P&G brands Always Discreet, Pantene and Venus with an end goal of permanently changing the way women feel, and ultimately speak, about their bodies.
The campaign will focus on four main areas to help shift the dial and conversation around body positivity:
- Be reactive and relevant: The partnership will use research and instant insights to understand how women are feeling about body confidence issues and the key triggers. The insights will inform the content being created and tackle these issues specifically, by turning negatives into positives.
- Provide a call to action: Use the Project Body Love hashtag and self-pledge to change the way that women speak about their bodies
- Help combat negative self-talk: Help, encourage and promote positive conversations around body image
- Monitor the shift in perception: Track and analyse the conversations throughout the partnership and target and tailor content accordingly to boost women’s confidence in expressing self-love
Throughout Project Body Love, says Hearst, Women’s Health is committed to creating a positive body image for all women and will launch a series tools to help do this. This includes: “Mirror Mantras”, positive phrases which women can pull out as large print-outs in the October issue. In November there will be a 30 day podcast hosted by Jada Seza which will promote body positivity. Other Hearst titles such as Good Housekeeping, Red, Cosmopolitan, ELLE and Prima are also supporting the campaign.
Alun Williams, Managing Director Health & Fitness, Hearst UK said: “The findings from this research have shown there is a lot of work to be done to improve women’s body confidence. Project Body Love is our way of re-building confidence and ensuring we constantly use reaffirming positive language across our magazines and websites. P&G share our belief in championing all women, so this is a relevant partnership and a great cause for us both to pursue. We will be launching an e-booklet in October with the aim of helping adults talk to pre-school through to teenage girls about their bodies and how to address confidence issues. We truly believe prevention is better than cure. At Hearst, we’re proud to reach 1 in 3 UK women, so we’re harnessing that power and reach to engage with as many women as possible and empower them to feel better about their bodies.”
Katharine Newby Grant, Northern Europe Marketing Director, P&G added: “We hold a fundamental belief that brands and companies have a responsibility to make a difference. Through this, we’re committed to continue to drive even greater diversity across our brands’ advertising, and I’m passionate about us changing the face of beauty as we know it today. It’s a vision and mission that sits at the heart of many of our brands at P&G, so to partner with Hearst Media on this campaign made complete sense as we have both an opportunity and a responsibility for the perceptions our advertising and content creates. We also know – and the research by Project Body Love further reinforces – that there’s a fundamental need to continue to address these perceptions. Ultimately we believe in the power of brands to be a force for good in society and this partnership speaks to this on so many levels.”
Nadine Young, Managing Director, PG ONE added: “We are absolutely thrilled that P&G is the headline sponsor for this initiative. Project Body Love is a great cause; one that is important for brands to be seen to be championing. I am incredibly excited about the partnership from a personal, as well as a business perspective. Hearst has a successful track record of shining a spotlight on important societal issues and providing the necessary actions and support; while P&G is the perfect partner with a strong ethos of using ‘advertising for good’. It’s been a pleasure to work with Hearst and P&G as a united team on this project.”
The campaign goes live now until June 2020.
