DOVE Marks International Women’s Day with #YouAreAGift Campaign

In line with International Women’s Day 2015, Dove took to the streets to surprise 10,000 Malaysian women with flowers and notes of appreciation with a message that women are a gift regardless of the hat they wear as mother, daughter, sister or friend. The #YouAreAGift campaign, saw Unilever Malaysia employees giving out roses and message cards to women who were pleasantly surprised at the gesture.

As a woman, I was happy to be invited to join this meaningful campaign and helped to distribute flowers on the special day. I could see happy smiles on the entire Women’s face by the special surprise from Dove.

“International Women’s Day brings to light the important contributions and innovations that women have achieved and in conjunction with that, Dove feels that International Women’s Day should also be seen as an opportunity to appreciate the women that are close to us for the nurturing, loving and supporting role they play in our lives. The women in our lives - our mother, sister, daughter, or girlfriend help shape the people we are today. Their beauty, strength, love and encouragement are gifts that see us through thick and thin. They are truly a gift that keeps giving. Dove always believes that real beauty is what shapes a woman,” said Ashlee Ng, Personal Care Director, Unilever (M) Holdings Sdn Bhd.

The Unilever Malaysia employees and friends spent the morning and afternoon at various high traffic areas such as KL Sentral, universities, colleges and office buildings. On receiving the flower and message card, these women were encouraged to snap a photo of the card, #YouAreAGift and tag every woman – mother, sister, friend, teacher…who has made their life special.

It's great to look at the tremendous beautiful photos uploaded on Instagram and facebook.

The #YouAreAGift campaign not only reaches out to these 10,000 women but through the digital platform in a unique Dove video with the hopes that these women in turn will share the message to the important and beautiful women in their lives as well.

“In conjunction with International Women’s Day, Dove also shot a special heart-warming video of women sharing stories of the special woman in their life – mother, sister or friend. Candid feelings were shared by these women without them realising that the special woman in their life was watching and listening to the entire interview in the next room secretly. The “reunion” shot was priceless when the special woman in their life, joined them half way during the interview. Dove’s message through this video is to spread the message that we as women should show the women in our lives how important they are to us and how much we appreciate their real and true beauty. Through the #YouAreAGift campaign, Dove would like to remind women to see the beauty in themselves and to appreciate other women and understand that their power lies in their real beauty,” continued Ashlee.

She added, “Women are a valuable gift, a never ending giver who never expects anything in return. As Asians, we rarely express how we truly feel towards our mother, sisters and friends. It is time to take stock of these women and tell them how grateful we are to have them in our life.”

The video can be viewed on YouTube, http://goo.gl/95ghRD. Women all over the world are encouraged to show their love and appreciation to women in their life by sharing the video and tagging them together with #YouAreAGift. Life is too short to wait another second!