Algorithms are pushing us towards a single face of beauty. Every time we scroll, it feels like we’re seeing the same face over and over again. The algorithm keeps serving us one narrow version of “beauty” – polished, perfected, and the same.
Dove revealed “The Beauty Machine” in Waterloo Station, London this week. An installation that, like social media feeds, appears to offer variety, but delivers the same, unreal face again and again.
Beauty in the real world is far more unique than what we often see online, and Dove believes that differences are what make us beautiful
Working with experts, Dove created these masks to visualise the “single face of beauty” that algorithms increasingly push us toward. This culture of sameness damages individuality and flattens beauty into one unrealistic ideal. As the pressure to conform grows, women find it harder to feel happy in their own individual beauty. This campaign is about protecting space for difference, not prescribing a “correct” way to look. We are not here to judge or tell anyone what they should or shouldn’t do. Dove believes women should define beauty on their own terms and is celebrating the differences between us that makes us beautiful
“Algorithms influence us far more than most people realise. They reward the images and aesthetics that generate the most engagement, meaning certain faces and beauty ideals are shown endlessly. Over time that repetition has narrowed the range of beauty we see online — creating the impression that there is a single ideal, even though real beauty is far more diverse across cultures and communities around the world,”
— says Dr Aleks Krotoski, award-winning international broadcaster and social psychologist.
Algorithms are trained on existing data and patterns, with research supporting the fact that certain facial proportions, skin tones and features are more consistently promoted online, while others are less visible or subtly altered
