Dove - Love Your Hair (2016) :90 (USA)

Dove fights "hair shaming" with this ad, showing us women who share how they feel about their hair, and what people have told them about how they wear their hair. The woman blessed with huge natural curls has been told her hair is "too big" and she should do something about it. The woman who relaxes her hair, has been criticised for straightening it. The asian woman grew up thinking she couldn't be blond, because asians "just didn't do that" (sorry but... on what planet?) The woman with naturally grey hair has been told to "Put colour back in" and the woman with bright blue hair says people are quite surprised when she tells them that she's a financial analyst. All set to "express yourself" as we pan out on pixie-cuts, natural curls, long hair, ombre hair, bright dyed red hair, blond hair, etc and so on.

I get it, we're all individuals, and you can do whatever you want to your hair (I've literally done everything depicted in the ad, including dyed my hair a gorgeous natural looking grey). Thanks Dove, for your permission, I guess. In previous Dove ads we celebrated your natural hair, and to stop battling what you were born with to fit into some mould. Now Dove's literally celebrating all hair. Which to be fair, they're been doing for years, it's just that they used to tell us which product they were selling at the end of those other ads, and here it seems they forgot to.

Ad agency: Havas Helia