It is 11:30 PM on a Sunday. Most people are arguing about a holding penalty or trying to figure out if that movie trailer was actually real. But then a three-year-old girl starts sprinting down a sidewalk. She's grinning. She's fast. She is, as the text on the screen says, "unstoppable."
Then the mood shifts.
The Dove Super Bowl commercial 2025 didn't rely on a talking baby or a celebrity selling electric trucks. It went for the jugular of every parent watching. By the time the screen flashed the statistic that 1 in 2 girls quit sports by age 14 because of body criticism, the living room probably got a little quieter.
Honestly, it’s a lot to process during a game defined by peak physical performance. While the NFL players on screen are being celebrated for exactly what their bodies can do, Dove pointed out that for millions of young girls, the conversation is almost always about how their bodies look.
The Unstoppable 3-Year-Old and the Boss’s Anthem
The 30-second spot, titled "These Legs," is a stark contrast to the neon-soaked, high-energy ads that usually dominate the fourth quarter. It’s quiet.
💡 You might also like: Why the Blue Jordan 13 Retro Still Dominates the Streets
We see this toddler just moving. She doesn’t care about lighting or angles. She’s just a kid with working legs. But the ad hits us with a fast-forward of the mind: "At 14, she’ll think they’re unbearable."
Music-wise, they pulled a power move. They used Bruce Springsteen’s "Born to Run," but not the version you’ve heard a thousand times at a dive bar. The brand tapped Grammy-winner H.E.R. to record a stripped-back, instrumental-heavy version. It’s 50 years since the original song came out, and hearing it reimagined through a feminine, soulful lens makes the whole "running" metaphor feel brand new.
Why girls are actually walking away
It isn't just about getting tired of practice. Dove’s research, conducted alongside Nike, found that nearly half of girls who drop out are doing so because they’re being mocked or criticized for their body type.
- The "Too Much" Trap: Girls are told they’re too muscular.
- The "Not Enough" Problem: They’re told they aren’t tall enough or thin enough.
- The Uniform Anxiety: Simply being seen in a kit or swimsuit becomes a source of dread rather than a point of pride.
The All-Star Support Squad
Dove didn't just dump a depressing stat and leave. They brought out the heavy hitters for their Body Confident Collective. We’re talking about Billie Jean King, Venus Williams, and Kylie Kelce.
📖 Related: Sleeping With Your Neighbor: Why It Is More Complicated Than You Think
Kylie Kelce, in particular, has become the "relatable mom" face of this campaign. As a field hockey coach and a mother of daughters, she’s been vocal about the fact that sports should be about resilience and joy, not whether you look "right" in the jersey.
Then you have someone like Tara Davis-Woodhall. She won gold in the long jump at the 2024 Paris Olympics. You’d think an Olympic champion would be immune to this stuff, right? Wrong. She’s been open about being bullied for having "too much muscle" when she was younger. If a gold medalist felt that pressure, imagine what the kid in your local middle school track meet is thinking.
What is the Body Confident Sport program?
This isn't just a hashtag. It’s a literal curriculum developed over three years with the Centre for Appearance Research and the Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport.
It’s basically a toolkit for coaches. Think about it: most youth coaches are well-meaning dads or volunteers who might not realize that a "harmless" comment about a girl’s growth spurt can be the reason she quits the team two weeks later. The program gives them actual scripts and strategies to shift the focus back to what the body does—how fast it runs, how high it jumps—rather than what it looks like in a photo.
👉 See also: At Home French Manicure: Why Yours Looks Cheap and How to Fix It
The New Orleans "ReIllustrated" Moment
During the Super Bowl weekend in New Orleans, Dove took things off the screen and into the real world. They teamed up with Sports Illustrated to create something called "Sports ReIllustrated."
Instead of the usual swimsuit-focused legacy, they published stories of young athletes like 10-year-old wrestler Honor Smoke. The idea is "see it to be it." If girls see diverse bodies being celebrated for strength, they might actually believe there’s a place for them on the field.
Moving beyond the 30-second spot
The Dove Super Bowl commercial 2025 is a reminder that the "Big Game" is one of the few times we all look at the same thing at the same time. Using that $7 million slot to talk about coaching tools and body dysmorphia is a choice. It’s a choice that says "real beauty" isn't just about soap—it’s about the freedom to move without an internal critic.
If you’re a parent, a coach, or just someone with a niece who loves soccer, there are things you can do right now that are more effective than just watching a commercial.
- Audit the "Body Talk": Notice how you talk about athletes on TV. Are you commenting on a gymnast's weight or her rotation speed? The kids are listening.
- Send the Link: If your kid is in sports, send the Body Confident Sport resources to their coach. It’s free. It’s evidence-based. It takes two minutes.
- Celebrate the "Gross" Parts: Reframe the sweat, the red faces, and the messy hair as signs of hard work and fun.
- Check the Stats: Read up on the #KeepHerConfident movement to understand the specific ages (usually 11-17) where the "quit rate" spikes.
The goal is pretty simple. We want the 14-year-old version of that girl in the ad to still feel exactly as unstoppable as she did when she was three.
Next Steps for Support:
You can access the full, scientifically-validated coaching tools at Dove’s website or through the Nike partnership portal. These include 3-session programs designed for PE teachers and club coaches to integrate directly into practice, focusing on "functional" body image rather than aesthetic. Look for the "Body Confident Athletes" training modules to get started.