Dove Men + Care: The Pledge for Paternity Leave
2020 One Show Bronze Pencil / Brand Voice
2020 One Show Merit / Community Building
The United States is the only developed nation without a federally mandated family leave policy. Only 1 in 5 American men have access to any paid paternity leave, which limit fathers bonding time with their children, the ability to close the gender gap, and the opportunity for men to care for their families.
Alongside, Dove Men+Care, we launched the “Pledge for Paternity” Leave to support every dads right to paid paternity leave because when dads take leave, it benefits families, workplaces and communities.
What We Did:
We launched the Pledge for Paternity Leave to support the movement around paid leave and encourage everyone to join us. The Pledge has also allowed us to generate social proof that will eventually help change more legislation and the cultural stigmas that prohibit men from taking paid leave.
To meet an urgent need in the U.S. right now, we also launched the Paternity Leave Fund, a $1 million commitment to fund real dads who aren’t able to take meaningful time off during this important life moment. The Paternity Leave Fund is available for new or expectant dads who do not currently have access to meaningful paid leave, providing them the chance to receive a $5,000 grant. We partnered with well-known paternity leave advocate and internet entrepreneur Alexis Ohanian to drive awareness of the Pledge.
Our most recent step to driving change was bringing the Pledge to government officials who can approve, and ultimately pass, paid paternity leave policy.
Results:
The campaign was featured in every major news outlet in the country including The Today Show, Good Morning America, The New York Times, CBS News, ABC News, MSNBC and more - resulting in over 2,500 earned placements and nearly 2.3 billion earned impressions to date. The Pledge for Paternity Leave has driven cultural awareness and conversation around the issue of paternity leave, proven through Google Trend reports which indicate that, in the last 12 months, Dove paternity leave grants and “dove men paternity leave” are leading search inquiries in the U.S. related to web searches for paternity leave.