Dove Challenges Ideals of Motherhood in Touching New Video
Dove has built a following over the past 60 years, largely thanks to an extensive lineup of skin, hair, and men’s grooming care, and now the brand is adding a range of baby care products to the family.
Baby Dove launches Wednesday and is the first new category to roll out in the U.S. since Dove Men+Care was unveiled in 2010. The collection includes a cleansing bar, lotion, shampoo, and wipes for normal and dry skin types. There’s even a Sensitive Moisture line that is free of fragrances and other tear-inducing ingredients.
To kick off the debut of Baby Dove, the brand is challenging traditional ideals of what a “perfect parent” looks like with their new #RealMoms campaign. In a heart-rending video, real moms discuss the pressures of parenting in today’s society.
According to a 2016 study conducted by Dove, where 6,000 mothers across China, India, Mexico, Brazil, and the U.S. markets weighed in, a whopping 72 percent of moms “question if what they’re doing is good enough.”
First-time mom Jazzie admits that she is “figuring it out” as she goes. “Oftentimes, my grandma, uncles, you know, great-grandmas, they want you to do it their way. But I have to be that woman that stands her ground,” she says in the video.
Clinical psychologist Julia Bosson believes that the overabundance of information that parents are offered today attribute to parental stress. “Between toilet training consultants and lactation consultation, these experts and those experts, all who are well-meaning, it just creates this pressure to be the perfect parent and do everything just right,” she tells Yahoo Beauty.
While the stereotypical image of a two-parent home is still largely portrayed in the media, tech manager Seung confidently raises her son alone and proclaims “she is happy.” Cassidy works as a cattle rancher and literally shows her son the ropes every day on the farm.
“Once upon a time, a woman gave up absolutely everything to only be a mom all the time,” says Bosson. However, moms like Seung and Cassidy, who are able to share their time between motherhood and other aspects of their identity, are slowly helping to reshape ideals of motherhood.
Even though Dove concluded from its research that “nine out of 10 mothers feel pressured to be a ‘perfect parent,'” we all can learn from Cassidy’s advice: “Do what fits your family and trust yourself.”
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