Dove and Nike Team Up to Launch BODY CONFIDENT SPORT, a First-of-its-Kind Online Coaching Program to Help Build Body Confidence in Girls Globally

October 24, 2023

VENUS WILLIAMS in partnership with Dove and LAURIE HERNANDEZ in partnership with Nike will help raise awareness of the program in New York on October 24, 2023

ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J., Oct. 24, 2023 / — Girls who participate in physical activity – and stay with it through adolescence – are more likely to have higher body confidence and experience benefits throughout their lives. However, NEW research from Dove and Nike reveals 45% of teenage girls globally drop out of sports – at twice the rate of boys – with low body confidence as the biggest driver. 

For the first time ever, Dove – the world’s largest provider of self-esteem and body confidence education – has teamed up with Nike – the biggest champion of athletes and sports – to launch the Body Confident Sport online coaching program. Body Confident Sport is a first-of-its-kind, scientifically-proven set of coaching tools to build body confidence in 11–17-year-old girls.

Coaches can be powerful role models to create a positive environment for girls in sports, one that prioritizes self-esteem over performance. In fact, 83% of girls in the US say their coach was the reason they felt more confident and 61% of girls would be interested in hearing from coaches about body confidence education.

Co-developed by the two brands over the course of two years, in partnership with world-renowned experts, including the Centre for Appearance Research (CAR) and the Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport, Body Confident Sport addresses new findings on how the sports environment impacts girls’ body confidence and self-esteem.

Working in partnership with Dove, Venus Williams, tennis champion and entrepreneur comments, “In sports, girls often face a tremendous amount of pressure – not just around performance and abilities, but also because of unrealistic expectations around their appearances. I am excited to be working with Dove on this initiative to help nurture girls’ self-belief and confidence, foster a positive environment, and shift the conversation from appearance to capability. Our shared goal is to make sports a more inclusive, welcoming space for girls everywhere.”

“We know that sports offer girls enormous benefits,” says Gold Medal Olympic Gymnast Laurie Hernandez. “Coaches and athletes alike have a collective responsibility to create inclusive spaces and positive experiences that give all girls an opportunity to discover the power of sports. Sports fuels confidence, which in turn enables girls to enjoy a lifetime of moving and playing the sports they love. This is why I’m so proud to team up with Nike to support Body Confident Sport.”

When girls reach adolescence, they experience significant changes to their bodies. As girls move and play sports, this can leave them feeling exposed and vulnerable to judgement for what their bodies can and can’t do, but also how they look.

According to the new findings from Dove and Nike, the sports environment impacts girls’ body confidence and self-esteem: 

• In the US, 48% of girls dropping out were told they don’t have the right body for sports and 56% were objectified or judged on their physical appearance.¹
• 51% of girls dropping out were told that they are not good enough.
• Yet girls understand the benefits of sport, with 69% saying they would be more body confident if they had stayed in sport for longer.

The Body Confident Sport online coaching tool is proven to reduce self-objectification and increase body-esteem and will be delivered through a global network of organisations in schools and sports clubs.  The program builds on Nike’s and Dove’s longstanding commitments to support girls and aims to reach more than one million young people around the world.

“Since 2004, Dove has been working to arm the next generation with tools to build body confidence and self-esteem so that no young person is held back. As the world’s leading provider of self-esteem and body confidence education for girls, we have a responsibility to support girls wherever their self-esteem is at stake. Sports have the potential to make girls feel confident and strong, yet for so many, the judgement and criticism they face within the sports environment is damaging their confidence and limiting their self-belief. We are proud to team up with a likeminded brand like Nike to take action towards a more equitable future for girls – on and off the field,” says Alessandro Manfredi, Chief Marketing Officer, Dove.

“Nike believes all kids should have an opportunity to play, and we’re focused on expanding play and sports for girls who are moving the least,” says Vanessa Garcia-Brito, VP, Chief Social & Community Impact Officer, Nike, Inc. “Globally, girls face complex cultural and social barriers, and they also enter sports later and drop out of sports earlier. Our partnership with Dove, and unique focus on coaching through body confidence, aims to change that. Together, we’re taking action to break barriers by providing coaches with the tools to empower girls with a lifetime of confidence. By shifting the conversation from what their bodies look like to what their bodies can do – so more girls can stay in sports and experience the benefits – we believe we’re creating the next generation of female leaders and changemakers who will move the world forward.”

Visit bodyconfidentsport.com to learn more and access the Body Confident Sport program. 

Contact: 

For Nike: Sandra Carreon-John (Sandra.CarreonJohn@nike.com)
For Dove: Samantha Colton (Samantha.colton@edelman.com)

About the Research

Dove and Nike have commissioned this survey to expose the reality of girls’ experience in sports and the impact it has on their confidence, as well as the drivers behind girls dropping out and potential solutions.

We asked 4,917 children of different ages, ethnicities and socio-economic backgrounds in Brazil, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, and US to take part in a 15-minute online survey.

The study included 3,506 girls aged between 9-17 years old (approximatively 500 from each country) and 1,391 boys aged 9-17 years old (approximatively 200 from each country) who had the consent of a parent or legal guardian to take part.

About Body Confident Sport
Body Confident Sport provides coaches with the materials they need to tailor their coaching to inspire body confidence and keep girls from dropping out of sport. The program includes input from girls and coaches from 6 countries, including France, India, Japan, Mexico, the U.K., and the U.S, and the curriculum includes tools that were scientifically proven in clinical trials with more than 1,200 girls and are proven to improve girl’s self-esteem and body confidence.

About the Dove Self-Esteem Project
Dove is the largest self-esteem education provider in the world, offering no-cost, academically validated tools to parents, teachers, mentors, and kids for nearly two decades with the Dove Self-Esteem Project. To date, Dove has reached more than 100 million young people globally across 150 countries with DSEP, with a goal of reaching 250M young lives by 2030.

About Dove
Dove started its life in 1957 in the US, with the launch of the Beauty Bar, with its patented blend of mild cleansers and ¼ moisturizing cream. Dove’s heritage is based on moisturization, and it is proof not promises that enabled Dove to grow from a Beauty Bar into one of the world’s most beloved beauty brands. Women have always been our inspiration and since the beginning, we have been wholly committed to providing superior care to all women and to championing real beauty in our advertising. Dove believes that beauty is for everyone. That beauty should be a source of happiness and not anxiety. Dove’s mission is to inspire women everywhere to develop a positive relationship with the way they look and realize their personal potential for beauty.

For 60 years, Dove has been committed to broadening the narrow definition of beauty in the work they do. With the ‘Dove Real Beauty Pledge,’ Dove vows to:

• Portray women with honesty, diversity and respect. We feature women of different ages, sizes, ethnicities, hair color, type, and style.
• Portray women as they are in real life, with zero digital distortion and all images approved by the women they feature.
• Help young people build body confidence and self-esteem through the Dove Self-Esteem Project, the biggest provider of self-esteem education in the world.

About Nike
NIKE, Inc., headquartered in Beaverton, Oregon, is the world’s leading designer, marketer and distributor of authentic athletic footwear, apparel, equipment and accessories for a wide variety of sports and fitness activities. Converse, a wholly owned NIKE, Inc. subsidiary brand, designs, markets and distributes athletic lifestyle footwear, apparel and accessories. For more information, NIKE, Inc.’s earnings releases and other financial information are available on the Internet at https://investors.nike.com/. Individuals can also visit https://about.nike.com/ and follow NIKE on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube.