Dove Crashed Fashion Week With a Call to ‘Free the Pits’

Leave it to Dove to turn a taboo subject into a teachable moment in its ongoing quest to redefine beauty standards. That the brand managed to do so during notoriously beauty-focused New York Fashion Week is even more apropos. 

This time around, the brand is bringing attention to a body part not typically the focus during the parade of high fashion garments: armpits. 

On a sweltering day in the Meatpacking District, New Yorkers of all ages and genders lined up at “The Pit Stop,” Dove Deodorant’s subway-themed activation, waiting to take Polaroids of themselves posing as stylish straphangers. Some of them left the photos on a corkboard after writing messages on them, encouraging others to embrace their imperfect pits and signing off with #FreeThePits—the brand’s hashtag for its latest global campaign.  

“The Pits of New York” campaign, created by agency Ogilvy London in collaboration with David New York, features images of women baring their pits while riding the subway. The accompanying lines included: “Care for your underarms. Not what others think of them” and “Does hair make you stare?”

The ads reveal that “6 in 10 of us admit to judging other women’s armpits,” according to a recent study conducted by the brand–and call for a change to that attitude.

“At Dove, it’s our mission to help women to feel confident in their bodies,” Pranav Chandan, U.S. head of deodorants at Unilever, told Adweek. “’#FreethePits’ was created to bring attention to the underarm insecurities that women face and empower underarm acceptance and celebration. We intentionally chose to activate during fashion’s biggest week in NYC, as it’s a time when people come from all over the world to help define the next evolution of fashion and beauty.” 

The brand staged a “station domination,” taking over the ad space and turnstiles in the high-traffic 42nd Street Times Square, 34th Street Herald’s Square and 14th Street 8^th Avenue subway stations.  

Visitors to the pop-up received a MetroCard good for two rides and a Dove “Pit Kit” filled with a mini deodorant and fact sheet, a battery-operated fan and a compact mirror. 

The brand also partnered with several influencers to promote pit empowerment, including model and content creator, Remi Bader, who stopped by the activation to take photos with fans and hand out kits.   

“This campaign is a continuation of Dove’s commitment to make a positive experience of beauty accessible to all and liberate women from underarm inhibitions, helping them be beautifully self-conscious and able to freely participate in life,” said Chandan.