New Year’s is often a time for reflection and change, but unfortunately, for many women, especially Millennials, it’s also a time when societal pressures and unattainable beauty ideals can come to the forefront.

To start 2025, Dove is inviting women to rip up the rules and sever ties with the “pursuit of perfect” when setting their resolutions.

In 2024, the brand released The Real State of Beauty Report. This global study found that Millennial women have the lowest body confidence compared to previous generations and as a result, are over indexing on health conditions linked to body image.

The research also found one in three women would give up a year of their life for the “perfect” body and 69% admit to not attending social engagements because of low body confidence. This is especially heightened around the new year, with one in two women’s New Year’s resolutions being made because they feel dissatisfied with their bodies, frequently focusing on new diets and weight loss, improving appearances and looking more youthful.

According to the brand, women have long been subjected to toxic beauty pressures, often growing up learning to hate their bodies. After 20 years of building the body confidence of young people, Dove has launched its first body confidence program for women, empowering them to start their own journey of body confidence.

Online Learning Experience

Starting from Jan. 1, 2025, The Dove Self-Esteem Project for Women will launch with an online learning experience on Dove.com.

The science-backed content will focus on commitments to un-do, un-learn, and reject harmful beauty ideals. The online program will explore the following core topics: Healing the relationship with one’s body in a time of complex body image pressures, like New Year’s; Defining body confidence and what that looks like in one’s life; the influences of body confidence and how societal pressures impact the relationship with one’s body; and defining beauty on one’s own terms.

“For 20 years Dove has equipped young people with resources to improve their self-esteem and body confidence, and now we’re expanding our focus to women, many who have grown up under the weight of unrealistic beauty standards reinforced by social media. As we enter a new year, we wholeheartedly encourage women to make resolutions that focus on their own happiness and joy, rather than these negative standards,” said Marcela Melero, chief growth officer of Dove Personal Care North America and Dove Masterbrand. “Through Dove’s first-ever body confidence series for women, our aim is to support women in rejecting unattainable ideals, embrace authenticity, and redefine beauty on their own terms.”

New Years’ ‘Un-resolutions’ Challenge Society’s Narrow Beauty Standards

Dove also invites women to break free from limiting beauty standards by setting a New Years’ “un-resolution” for 2025. Participants can write a resolution on a sticky note and tear it up or use a digital sticky note on TikTok to share their pledge with their community.

“Many women set New Year’s resolutions to change their bodies, but they’re often unfulfilling goals driven by society’s narrow beauty standards. They shift our attention from what truly matters,” says Professor Phillippa Diedrichs, a body image expert at the Centre of Appearance Research at the University of West England. “Dove has been a trailblazer in redefining real beauty and this new content series is a powerful invitation for millennial women to break this cycle and redefine their relationship with their bodies.”

The Dove Self-Esteem Project has reached over 114 million young people across 153 countries, offering education on body confidence and self-esteem. Dove says it’s dedicated to ensuring that women of all generations are equipped with the resources and tools they need to build lasting body confidence and self-esteem.

Read about how the brand is protecting children’s mental health when it comes to their self-image, here.