Together with Dove & Unilever, we created a ground-breaking AFP ‘Me & My Afro’ , a stunning, taboo-busting documentary which drove impact, encouraged action, and educated people about Black Hair.
Dove: ‘Hair Power: Me and My Afro’
The Big Idea
Last year Channel 4 pledged to be an anti-racist organisation, whereby we call out racism wherever we see it and we will use our position as a public service broadcaster to educate our audience on anti-racism, so when Dove & Unilever came to us with this brief, we knew we were the perfect partner.
The idea was to turn author and broadcaster Emma Dabiri’s ground-breaking book Don’t Touch My Hair into a stunning taboo-busting AFP documentary, which celebrated the beauty, individuality and personal experiences of Black Hair.
The show was driven by frank and challenging conversations with 100 people whose identities had been shaped by their black hair, they revealed the impact society has had on black hair, and the impact black hair has had on the world. From what makes black hair different, the beauty regimens that are a rite of passage and source of empowerment for many, which opened up a subject that for too long had been off-limits.
“Dove is proud to be a co-founder of the CROWN Coalition and champion of the CROWN Act, which has passed in seven states across the US over the past year, as well as supporting the Channel 4 documentary, Hair Power: Me and My Afro which shed light on the huge impact that hair discrimination can have on real people.” Firdaous El Honsali, Global Communications Director, Dove
Making it Happen
We worked closely with our commissioning team to ensure it seamlessly blended with our programming slate and gave it the primetime slot it deserved, everyone was well aligned and understood the importance of this idea and the education behind it. We launched as a part of Channel 4’s Black History Month series of programmes and broadcast on the 21st October, and further promoted on ALL 4 And Channel 4 social, alongside bespoke cut down edits for Dove’s own channels,
The Results
Described as a “remarkable documentary” The film was positively reviewed and critically acclaimed for the issues it raised by over 20 mainstream publications including The Telegraph, Guardian, Grazia & The Times – it was even shared by Victoria Beckham & Gwyneth Paltrow!
Hair Power reached 1.13m Individuals, with a 25.8% share amongst BAME audiences that was +320% on its 10pm slot.
• The programme had huge impact 73% of viewers (823K) talked about the issue of hair discrimination
• The programme encouraged action, 73% of viewers considered signing a petition to end hair discrimination (823K)
• Increased understanding of hair discrimination, 37% of White respondents hasn’t realised that Black men, women and children faced societal pressure in how they wear their hair.
• 76% of viewers agreed that Dove believes Black Hair should be celebrated, which was +11% higher than non-viewers, and 60% of viewers feeling more positive about Dove as a brand after seeing the show.
• Viewers were +53% more likely than non-viewers to consider using Dove in the future.
Hair Power: Me & My Afro went on to win the Campaign Media Award for Branded Content: TV & Cinema. It also won Cannes Lions Silver in the Entertainment category.
