Social ad of the day. Dove - The Carbon Paper Ad.

via adweek.com

The Dove Self Esteem Project has been working for several years on promoting women's self esteem and demystifying the beauty myth. Recently, this mission was extended to children. According to the brand's research, 6 out of 10 girls stopped doing something they love because they felt uncomfortable with their appearance. 
We were asked to introduce the Dove Self Esteem Project in Portugal for the very first time and generate awareness among adults about the impact that their behavior may have on children's self esteem.


We created the carbon paper ad, a press ad in a specialized parenting magazine. The ad challenged readers to test their memory by writing down the worst thing they remember being called in their childhood. To facilitate, we also included a pen. What they didn't know was we had placed a piece of carbon paper underneath the page, and the word they wrote in the memory test would be imprinted on the shirt of a child on the next page with the accompanying text, "Words Mark Children Forever".


The teased readers (mainly parents) saw the result of their action imprinted on a child, just like the words we can "simply" say to children may stick to them, for life. We were able to introduce Dove's Self Esteem Porject goals in Portugal in a more interactive way through a print ad, that actually embodied the project main concern.