What will the world look like if we all look the same? Dove built a machine to help us see.

The Beauty Machine

Algorithms are shaping the future of beauty, pushing us all to look the same. Dove built The Beauty Machine to turn this invisible machine into a physical one, giving women a way to push back. Placed in Waterloo Station, The Beauty Machine invited women to discover that the price of conforming to the algorithm’s standard of beauty is sacrificing the individual beauty differences that make each of us unique.

2 in 5* girls feel pressured to alter their appearance based on images they see on social media.

*Dove Real Beauty Report

Emmy-winning documentarian Lauren Greenfield researched the algorithm’s face of beauty and let that data dictate its exact proportions. Then, Dove invited real women to examine the scientifically designed face up close and react.

Is this the future of beauty you want?

Each hyper realistic face was sculpted according to facial proportions and features promoted by algorithms based on interviews with plastic surgeons and journalists and academic research.

Influencers disagreed with the algorithm's definition of beauty
Jia Talentino, Journalist

The Beauty Machine turned a social experiment into a cultural intervention

Placed in Waterloo Station, The Beauty Machine became a social experiment as real women interacted with it, scanning their faces to dispense a new one that fit the beauty standard — for the price of sacrificing their individual beauty.

Then women were invited to dilute the algorithm’s sea of sameness. Dove called on women to join the most diverse open casting call ever, inviting them to share photos of their beauty and flood the algorithm with difference. Within 48 hours, their photos went live in Dove billboards.

Share your beautiful difference

Dove used the installation to launch The Open Call: an invitation to women everywhere to celebrate their individuality by sharing photos of their differences in beauty.

Everyone who participates gets the parts. Their submissions become a part of Dove’s next campaign.