Dove Publishes Unfiltered Reddit Reviews in National Ad Campaign

Dove just did the one thing most beauty brands are terrified of.

The beauty brand handed its most awarded hair product of 2025, the Intensive Repair 10-in-1 Serum Mask, to Reddit and promised to publish whatever came back.

Created by DAVID London alongside AKQA Paris and WPP Media, the campaign invited Redditors to review the product publicly and without filters.

The subreddit post asking for reviews quickly drew hundreds of comments and upvotes.

Some were glowing. "Please don’t ever change this product!!!!!" wrote one user.

Others were blunt, declaring they hate the smell because "it’s like an old lady.”

“We wanted to build on Dove’s heritage of real women’s testimonials — but reinvent what a testimonial means today,” said Berengere Loubatier, senior global brand VP for Dove Hair & Skin Care.

“That meant grounding the campaign in real community voices, not scripted endorsements.”

The effort, titled "r/eal reviews," references the subreddit format and uses each Redditor’s customized Snoovatar across assets to protect anonymity while preserving authenticity.

“It’s rare to see a brand take Redditors’ words and use them verbatim, without edits or filters, as part of a national campaign,” said Courtney Pappas, industry manager of CPG at Reddit.

It’s a direct challenge to conventional beauty marketing and a calculated move in branding by letting the crowd speak, even when it stings.

Digital Discourse in Public Spaces

The online experiment didn’t stay solely online for long.

Dove took the Reddit reviews out of the thread and into the real world, rolling them out through guerrilla out-of-home placements across New York City and digital OOH.

The campaign also includes testimonial-style films where Redditors read their reviews word for word, bringing internet commentary into mainstream advertising.

On social media, creators and influencers were encouraged to share transparent, even critical, takes in sponsored content.

“The Reddit universe plays by its own rules, so being able to work directly with Redditors and drop the usual scripts and guardrails for a brand as iconic as Dove was incredibly exciting,” Genevieve Gransden, ECD at DAVID London, shared.

The strategic risk is obvious. Entering an unfiltered comment section can spiral out of hand quickly.

But Dove is hoping that its confidence in the performance of its product, combined with a long-standing commitment to real beauty, can withstand scrutiny.

The brand has had a history of being earnest, tackling tough conversations in its efforts time and time again.

Last year, its "Change the Compliment" campaign reshaped the conversation around how society compliments young girls. 

This latest move builds on this legacy and brings it into the more cynical digital era.

Lessons From Dove’s Reddit Experiment

Dove’s Reddit activation is offering us a new way to lean into transparency and gain audience trust: 

• Community feedback can double as creative when brands resist the urge to over-control it.
• Anonymous user voices can preserve authenticity while protecting privacy.
• Purpose-driven platforms like Dove’s Real Beauty evolve by adapting to new digital behaviors.

The real test now is sustainability. Can Dove continue inviting unfiltered feedback when the comments aren’t so forgiving?

Our Take: How Much Truth Can a Brand Handle?

Dove has earned my respect for jumping the gun and committing to a dangerous marketing move.

Most brands say they want honesty, but only if it comes wrapped in a five-star rating.

Not for Dove. The brand stepped into a room full of strangers and let them talk.

There’s something gritty about taking a comment like “I hate the smell” and pasting it on a wall in New York.

It tells me the brand trusts its product and understands that credibility today is earned in public.

If I’m advising clients, I’d suggest that they not chase authenticity as an aesthetic. Instead, put yourself in situations where you can actually lose, because only then is trust built.

In other news, AXE also addressed the decades-long perception consumers had of its brand with its latest campaign, "The History of Overdoing It," changing its nozzle to have subtler sprays.

Brands pursuing ambitious creative need partners who are all in on their ideas. Take a look at the top creative agencies in our directory.