Dove, an American-based global personal care brand, is entering the metaverse with its “Real Virtual Beauty” campaign to promote self-expression, positivity, and representation of women in video games. The brand announced the Real Beauty in Games Training program to educate creators and developers about “beauty and diversity in gaming.”

According to the CEO of Metanomic Theo Priestley, many women have felt that they are underrepresented in video games. Usually, women are sexualized to attract male audiences because most games focus on bringing the male consumer to their platforms. 

There is an extreme stereotype that women can’t be gamers or that they lack the skills to become professional players. Many instances have shown that women gamers struggle to keep their popularity high and protect themselves from being sexualized. 

Sexualizing women in games is a global problem and it has led to severe social issues. Therefore, Dove decided to add metaverse in its Real Beauty campaign to highlight this problem in video games and 3D avatars that do not customize based on women’s preferences using the current creator tools.

What is Dove’s “Real Beauty” Campaign?

Real Beauty is a global campaign by Dove launched in 2004 to promote self-confidence in women and young kids. The campaign rejects typical beauty stereotypes and discrimination to show that every woman is beautiful in their own way.

According to a statement by Dove, 60% of young women and 62% of adult women feel they are underrepresented in video games in terms of virtual avatars and their appearance. Additionally, one-third of women have low self-esteem because of this very reason. 

Dove’s “Real Virtual Beauty” campaign in the metaverse aims to make video games introduce creator tools or virtual avatars that can be customized to represent every woman. 

“We’re building a global character art collection that appropriately represents female characters in gaming (that developers will be able to access free of charge). To support this, we’re also launching the Real Beauty in Games Training programme – an online course designed to educate developers, creators, and artists about beauty and diversity in gaming,” the Dove team said. 

Real UnEngine and Women in Games support the “Real Beauty” Campaign

To expand this campaign on various metaverse platforms and beyond the gaming industry, the educational team of Real UnEngine and Women in Games, a UK-based community-interest organization that protects the rights of women in the industry, has joined hands with Dove.

Both teams will help Dove in promoting the message of real beauty and diversity inside the metaverse virtual avatars and video games. 

According to Priestley, Dove isn’t just limiting its campaign to metaverse games, but it will further the message across many metaverse platforms across the world.