Dove has launched a campaign in France to encourage women to have kinder thoughts about themselves.

The #OneBeautifulThought campaign features an advert in which Dove asked a group of regular women to keep a diary of all the thoughts they have about their bodies and appearance.

Their diaries, which contain thoughts such as ‘you’ve no charm. You’re just fat and ordinary,’ ‘your bust is too big and your legs too small’ and ‘your face looks like a bulldogs’, were then turned into scripts and given to two actresses.

In the advert, the group of women arrive at a cafe where they overhear the actresses voicing the critical statements to one another. The women all appear deeply shocked at how cruel and inappropriate the comments seem when directed at someone else.

At the end of the advert Dove ask, ‘When was the last beautiful thought you had about yourself?’

The campaign was launched after Dove research found that only 10 percent of French women admitted to having positive thoughts about their own beauty.

Laurent Boury, Vice President of Dove Markets, commented, “With this ambitious new campaign, we would want to encourage a debate on how women are their harshest critics and make them rethink the way they talk to themselves. We have developed this film specifically with the French women in mind and to showcase their inner thoughts”

Juana O’Gorman, Creative Director for Dove, added, “We didn’t actually know how they’d react. And that’s always the challenge with Dove: you move forward with the production of an idea of which you don’t know the outcome. That only makes the work richer and more rewarding.“

The film was first aired on March 8 on French TV channel TF1 and on digital platforms such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. Dove aims to encourage women to silence their inner critics and start sharing positive thoughts about their beauty with the hashtag #PenséeQuiRendBelle / #OneBeautifulThought.