84% of Teenage Girls in Singapore Want toChange the Way They Look

Research reveals angst over beauty is causing low self-esteemand withdrawal from society

Singapore, 17 January 2007 – A new survey commissioned by Dove finds that 84% of teenage girls in Singapore wish that they could change their physical appearance. 60% of them feel bad about themselves because of looks or weight, and as a result of their anxiety about their body weight and shape, girls are resorting to unhealthy practices at a very early age. 5% of the teenage girls surveyed confess to throwing up or refusing to eat in order to control their body weight, and one fourth of the girls report dieting before reaching the age of 17. Of these girls, the average age to begin dieting is 13.9, younger than that of girls in other Asian countries. Furthermore, 1 in 5 Singaporean girls would consider having plastic surgery in the future to alter their physical appearance.

The study spoke to approximately 1,000 girls aged between 15 and 17 across Asia, as well as 1,800 adult women. These results bring to light the alarming situation of young girls in Asia today. Teenage girls feel a severe lack of confidence, believing that they are not beautiful, and want to take action to change their physical appearance.

LOW SELF-ESTEEM CAUSE GIRLS TO WITHDRAW FROM SOCIETYAside from the headline facts about low self-esteem, the research highlights these feelings’ impact on the daily life and behavior of teenage girls.

Girls are avoiding both social and academic activity, and attributing that to the way they feel about their beauty. This includes missing school, avoiding social occasions, and retreating into their bedrooms as a result of low self-esteem. 81% of Singaporean girls admit to avoiding various activities due to feeling badly about their physical appearance. Looking at a similar global study previously commissioned by Dove, the research shows this to be considerably higher than the 72% of girls in other parts of the world who report avoidance under these circumstances.

Looking at the greater pan-Asian picture, when questioned about specific activities, 27% of Asian girls say they would avoid attending social events, which effectively disenables them from interacting with their peers. Further hindering their development, a large percentage of girls say that low self-esteem leads them to refrain from activities that are

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84% of Singaporean teenage girls want to change the way they look. 81% of Singaporean teenage girls are avoiding various activities and withdrawing from

society as a result of feeling badly about their looks. 14 is the make or break age for girls in developing self-esteem 14.8 years is the average age at which Singapore girls get into destructive behaviors

like compulsive eating and throwing up and refusing to eat. Girls are most influenced by those around them - female friends and mothers. 90% of Singaporean teenage girls feel it is important to actively engage young girls in

having a realistic and healthy body image. 74% of Singaporean teenage girls feel there is a need to start talking to girls earlier in

their lives about what real beauty is.

essential for their education, career potential, and health. 17% of girls confess to actually skipping school, a further 18% would skip a job interview, and 17% would avoid going to the doctor.

In Singapore, however, these figures are significantly lower, showing a more favorable situation for Singaporean girls. 13% of Singaporean girls would avoid attending social events, and 4% would skip school, miss a job interview, or avoid going to the doctor. These results show that Singapore is more in line with non-Asian countries in this issue of avoiding specific activities. For example, 12% of Italian girls report avoidance of social events. Most non-Asian countries also report much lower incidences of missing job interviews and avoidance of going to the doctor.

The research also demonstrates that Asian girls handle this struggle by becoming introverted and withdrawing from normal life. 24% of teenage girls say they choose to stay at home, and 25% watch TV, while positive responses such as exercising or talking with family and friends, which ranked very high among North American and European girls, ranked lower on the Asian list. Singaporean girls tend to take a more proactive approach – 21% of them would go for beauty treatments like manicuring nails or getting their hair done, and 18% of them would exercise.

14 – THE MAKE OR BREAK AGEAccording to the research, age 14 is the time when girls across Asia first become consciously concerned about their appearance. Self-esteem begins developing from an early age, and this period in a girl’s life is particularly crucial. At this age girls receive influence from a variety of sources, and the effect this has on their self-esteem will carry on into adulthood, shaping their lives. Thus these teenage years are an especially important time and this is when a difference can be made. For Singaporean teenage girls, 14.8 is the average age at which they may get into destructive behaviours like compulsive eating and throwing up and refusing to eat.

WHO HAS THE GREATEST INFLUENCES ON TEENAGE GIRLS? Girls themselves express that it is the other women in their lives, namely mothers and girlfriends, who have the most influential role to play in building self-esteem. 42% of Asian teenage girls name their female friends as the most powerful influence on their feelings about beauty and body image, followed by mothers, named by 36% of girls. In Singapore, the top three influencers for teenage girls are female friends (35%), media (23%) and mothers (18%).

90% of Singaporean teenage girls feel that it is important to actively engage young girls in having a realistic and healthy body image, and 74% agree that there is a great need to start talking to girls earlier in their lives about what real beauty is.

Adult women also reinforce this assertion with three quarters of women agreeing that they wish their mothers had talked with them more about beauty and beauty ideals at an early age so as to give them more positive feelings about themselves and their own beauty. Asian women of all ages indicate that it is the people immediately around them who have the greatest influence on their image of beauty and body ideals, and that they would like to have more open communication about this from an early age. The people closest to teenage girls have the power to make an impact on their self-esteem. With this understanding, it is clear that the ability to bring change and positive influence to develop the self-esteem of teenage girls is fully in our hands. Girls themselves are confessing the depth

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and severity of this problem, and asking for help in bringing the issue to light and taking action to address it.

WHAT IS OUR RESPONSIBILITY TO THESE GIRLS AND HOW CAN WE HELP?Dove recognizes the severity of the current situation and is committed to taking action to change this. Low self-esteem affects girls and young women in every country, regardless of age or ethnicity. This problem is real and relevant in every society, and is an issue of greatest importance.

Dove’s mission is to make women feel more beautiful every day, and we must recognize that this process begins during the early years when a girl’s self-esteem and awareness of herself and her beauty is first developing. This new research demonstrates the need to take action, and shows that society has the power and responsibility to bring about change.

LAUNCH OF DOVE SELF-ESTEEM FUNDCommitted to improving the self-esteem of girls and young women, Dove will launch the Dove Self-Esteem Fund. It will support both preventive and curative programmes that will educate and inspire girls on a wider definition of beauty and set them on a path that will allow them to lead healthy, happy and productive lives.

The Fund will be managed and administered by SingHealth Foundation, a non-profit organization that raises funds to support healthcare programmes that can make a difference in the way people live.

One of the programmes that the Dove Self-Esteem Fund supports is BodyTalk, a programme developed by Dove, in collaboration with EKA Training and SGH Eating Disorders Awareness Programme. BodyTalk is an educational workshop for schools that helps teenagers understand and deal with feelings about their physical appearance. The pioneer workshops for BodyTalk started in August last year, in Ping Yi Secondary School and Singapore Chinese Girls School. The other schools that had enjoyed the workshop include CHIJ Toa Payoh, St. Theresa’s Convent, Hong Kah Secondary School and Yusof Ishak Secondary School. This year, Dove will continue to bring BodyTalk to more schools.

In addition, the Dove Self-Esteem Fund will also support curative and educational programmes organized by Singapore General Hospital’s Eating Disorders Awareness Programme. One of the main collaborative efforts they will focus on this year is the setting up of a resource library on Eating Disorders, to provide books and research materials on the subject.

Dove will line up various activities with its retail partners to raise funds for the Dove Self-Esteem Fund. This will be done through specially created Dove promotional packs. Donations can also be made directly to the Fund via our campaign website at www.campaignforrealbeauty.com.sg.

Where publicity is concerned, Dove is partnering with a number of media partners, who believe strongly in the Dove Self-Esteem Fund cause, to raise awareness for this Fund. These partners are MediaCorp, TV12, TV Mobile, StarHub Cable, POV Media, SMRT, Clear Channel Media, Golden Village, Heeren, MSN Singapore and AsiaOne.

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Note to editors:“Beauty, Self-Esteem, and the Asian Teenager” was conducted by global research company Millward Brown. The study was carried out across Asia, with girls and women participating from Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, and Malaysia.

“Singaporean teenage girls” refer to survey respondents who were 15-17 years old.

“Singaporean girls” refer to the entire group of survey respondents from 15-64 years old.

For more information, please contact:Celine Tan Sharon TeoUnilever Singapore Pte Ltd Ogilvy Public Relations WorldwideDID: 6661 9783 DID: 6213 7863celine.tan@unilever.com sharon.teo@ogilvy.com

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