Kylie Kelce joins Dove's #KeepHerConfident campaign

February 2, 2024

Ahead of the biggest night in American football on February 11, global beauty brand Dove has teamed up with Kylie Kelce to reframe body image perceptions in the effort to help keep girls in sports. The #KeepHerConfident campaign was created following research co-commissioned by Dove and Nike revealed that 45% of girls drop out of athletics by the age of 14 due to low body confidence.

Girls who participate in physical activity and stay with it through adolescence are more likely to have higher body confidence and experience positive health benefits.  However, as the recent study shared, low body confidence is the #1 reason why girls quit. Kelce, who has played sports since high school and currently coaches in the Lower Merion School District, is also the wife of NFL Philadelphia Eagles star Jason Kelce (brother to the Kansas City Chiefs’ Travis Kelce who is playing in next week’s game).

"As an athlete, field-hockey coach and mother to three young girls, I know firsthand how important it is to build the body confidence of girls in sports," commented Kelce. "Young female athletes should be able to freely express themselves through the sports they love without the pressure of worrying about what they may look like while they play. Sports have so many amazing benefits and I'm so excited to partner with Dove on such an important and special issue to me and my family."

With this partnership, Kelce is now an Ambassador for Dove's Body Confident Sport program, a pioneering scientifically backed set of free digital tools co-developed by Dove and Nike for coaches. The goal is to instill confidence in 11-17-year-old girls so they will continue to enjoy playing the games they love. Tennis legend Venus Williams and NFL Hall of Famer Steve Young are also #KeepHerConfident Ambassadors.

The program is an extension of the Dove Self-Esteem Project (DSEP), the world’s largest self-esteem education provider. For the past 20 years, DSEP has provided free academically validated tools to parents, teachers, mentors and children. The brand has a goal of reaching 250 million youth by 2030.

Firdaous El Honsali, Global Vice President of Dove Masterbrand states of the partnership: "Heading into football's biggest night, we are thrilled to be partnering with Kylie Kelce to make sports a place where all girls can thrive and feel like they belong. As a coach herself, Kylie understands how detrimental negative body talk can be for girls and how influential coaches can be in building self-esteem on and off the field. We're honored to have her on our roster as the perfect partner to help build momentum for this issue…"

Body image is a personal issue that many young people deal with during their formative years. Depending on what they are exposed to can leave an indelible mark on their physical and mental wellbeing. Dove states that it has been committed to broadening the narrow definition of beauty in its work for the past 65 years. Its mission is to inspire women everywhere to develop a positive relationship with the way they look and realize their personal potential for beauty.