If you had to choose between identifying yourself as "beautiful" or "average," which would you choose?
A number of women were asked to pick between the two for Dove's #ChooseBeautiful campaign, and the result reveals a powerful message on how women see themselves.
The company put up signs that said "beautiful" and "average" above the doorways of shopping centers in five cities—San Francisco, Shanghai, Delhi, London and Sao Paulo—and watched as cameras caught shoppers contemplating which door to enter.
Most women chose "average."
"I went through the average door," one woman told her friend afterward, which drew a shocked reaction from her gal-pal. "Yeah, I didn't even hesitate."
Another woman explains, "Beautiful to me…it's too far away out of reach. I chose average." And even though one Brazilian patron chose "average," she wasn't happy with her decision. "I regretted my choice, because it was different from what I live, from who I am."
"Am I choosing because of what's constantly bombarded at me?" one shopper wonders. "What I'm being told that I should? Or am I choosing because that's what I really believe?"
Meanwhile, a young girl says, "I wanted to go through the 'average' door but my mom pulled me over," and during an interview after the experiment, her mother states, "I just wish more young women realized it."
According to a study connected by Dove, most women (96 percent) said they wouldn't choose the word "beautiful" to describe themselves, but about 80 percent said there is something beautiful about them.
The video is a part of Dove's #ChooseBeautiful campaign that encourages women to reconsider the choice they make about their beauty and how that makes them feel.
"Women make thousands of choices each day—related to their careers, their families, and, let's not forget, themselves," the company said in a statement. "Feeling beautiful is one of those choices that women should feel empowered to make for themselves, every day."