Yes, we know: It's marketing. But it's good marketing, so we're digging it, OK?
Dove hit it out of the park again with its new campaign "There Are No Perfect Moms, Only Real Ones." The #RealMoms campaign accompanies the launch of the company's new Baby Dove line featuring baby products like wipes, hair and body wash, bar soap, lotion and more. (We're kind of surprised Dove waited so long to get on the baby care wagon — watch out, Jessica Alba! — but hey, it was worth the wait.)
The new campaign's message: There's no one way to be a fantastic mom (or dad). This shouldn't be a message that's so deeply needed in 2017, but it is, so we won't kick it to the curb.
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A campaign video proves the point with real (not just real-ish) mothers rejecting the perfect parent stereotype and highlighting the things they love about their own way of parenting.
“There’s so many different ways to be a mom,” a badass rock climber/mother named Jackie says in the video. “I don’t think I could be the mom that I want to be without climbing in my life. It keeps me who I am and allows me to be a really good mom.”
"Do what fits your family," says another mom. "And trust yourself."
These are definitely messages we all still need to hear. In fact, Dove conducted an online survey this year of more than 1,000 new mothers. The research was pretty heartbreaking (but not surprising): 9 out of 10 mothers feel intense pressure to be perfect.
But Dove found — paradoxically — that 81 percent of mothers don't buy into the idea that they have to give up outside interests to pull off motherhood. And 84 percent think that the concept of perfection in motherhood is completely unrealistic.
The best stat of all? A whopping 94 percent of moms Dove surveyed think that they're far better mothers when they take the time to take care of themselves too — and keep doing what they love.
More: Dove's Self-Esteem project is just what young women need to hear