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THE DOVE SELF-ESTEEM PROJECT LAUNCHES NEW BODY CONFIDENCE PROGRAM FOR KIDS AS YOUNG AS 4 YEARS OLD IN PARTNERSHIP WITH BLIPPI

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Furthering the brand’s commitment to self-esteem education, Dove launches a new body confidence program for kids as young as 4 years old to support a future where younger generations can experience a healthy and positive body relationship

TORONTO, Dec. 19, 2024 /CNW/ – This year marks Dove’s 20-year history of building body confidence and self-esteem in kids through the Dove Self-Esteem Project. Self-esteem and body confidence are important for a child’s development, helping kids do better at school, at home, and with friends. However, recent research by Dove has shown low body confidence is a growing issue with kids today.

Body image concerns start to manifest as early as 4-years-old, with 1 in 4 girls aged 4-6 years disliking something about their appearance[1] and 1 in 3 girls aged 6 years say they want to look thinner.[2]

In Dove’s latest research study, The Real State of Beauty: A Global Report, Dove surveyed kids aged 10–17 across 20 countries and found body confidence in kids is being impacted when it comes to their experiences at school, with more than 3 in 5 girls (63%) saying they have not felt confident at school because they don’t feel good about the way they look.

Now, the Dove Self-Esteem Project extends its program to a younger audience of 4+, in partnership with the popular live-action preschool brand, Blippi, because Dove believes that starting this education at a younger age will help to minimize self-esteem and body confidence issues, now and in the future. The Dove Self-Esteem Project in partnership with Blippi provides inclusive, upbeat content for kids to protect body confidence in kids as early as four years old and help empower caregivers to have conversations around this complex topic. 

The pressure to look a certain way from a young age can lead to long-term anxiety and unrealistic beauty expectations. Almost half of young girls expect to worry more about their appearance as they get older. Over the past two decades, the Dove Self-Esteem Project has reached over 114 million young people in 153 countries with self-esteem and body confidence education.

“Since 2004 Dove has been committed to building body confidence and self-esteem for the next generation of young people. Now, with children as young as four starting to become aware of their appearance and how they feel about their body, we knew we needed to urgently intervene and extend our program to a younger audience to support a healthy and positive outlook on body image and protect the younger generation from experiencing low body confidence. We want a future where young people feel empowered to confidently challenge beauty standards, advocate for themselves, and feel connected to and celebrate their bodies.” says Marcela Melero, Chief Growth Officer, Dove.

“Partnering with Dove was a dream come true and we are proud to help support Dove. As children become aware of their appearance at an increasingly young age, it’s vital that we continue to offer positive, empowering messages that build self-confidence and a healthy body image. Together with Dove, we’re excited to create a world where kids feel empowered, confident, and ready to embrace who they are.” says Dan’l Hewitt, Vice President, Brand Partnerships, Moonbug Entertainment.

To mark 20 years of the Dove Self-Esteem Project, Dove has united with expert partners to reach new audiences where body confidence is at threat, and raise awareness of the current state of young peoples’ self-esteem.

The Dove Self-Esteem Project and Blippi, in collaboration with body image experts at the Centre for Appearance Research, have developed engaging content proven to protect body appreciation in kids as young as 4 years old. Blippi launches first of its kind content focused on body confidence for young kids on Amazon and other streaming services, with additional episodes and exclusive music videos on Blippi’s YouTube channel, in English and French.In celebration of International Day of the Girl, Dove reached more than 12,000 students through in-person workshops and the first-ever Canada-wide virtual Dove Day event, designed to help students in grades 6-8 build the body confidence and self-esteem they need to reach their full potential.

To learn more, visit Dove.ca/selfesteem to download free, evidence-based resources and tools.

It’s never too early to start teaching kids about body confidence and self-esteem to help them grow into body confident adults. Dove is committed to ensuring the next generation grows up enjoying a positive relationship with the way they look to reach their full potential.

About the new research: 2024 The Real State of Beauty: a global report

Online survey conducted by Edelman DXI (Data x Intelligence), a global, multidisciplinary research, analytics, and data consultancy, in November / December 2023. This 25-minute survey was completed in 20 countries: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, KSA, Mexico, the Netherlands, the Philippines, South Africa, Sweden, Türkiye, the USA, and the UK.

Researchers spoke with more than 33,000 respondents: 19,306 respondents aged between 18 to 64 years old (14,673 women, 3,776 men*) and 14,292 respondents aged 10 to 17 years old (9,475 girls, 4,753 boys*). 

15 experts ranging from academic experts to consultants on body image and activists in the field were consulted on the research questions and outputs, and we ensured the survey was representative of various subgroups e.g. people with larger bodies, disabilities, mental health conditions, LGBTQ+ people and people of colour.

All interviews were conducted in local languages and dialects, with only appropriate questions asked in each market and the methodology was consistent with the level of national online penetration required to avoid sampling bias.

*Note: Other gender identities and non-binary respondents were surveyed but are not reported due to the limited sample sizes.

About the Dove Self-Esteem Project

As the world’s leading provider of self-esteem education for girls, Dove continues to support girls wherever their self-esteem is at stake and ensure the next generation grows up enjoying a positive relationship with how they look. Since 2004, Dove has reached over 100 million young people globally, in over 150 countries through the Dove Self-Esteem Project, with a goal of reaching 250M young lives by 2030.

About Dove

Dove started its life in 1957 in the US, with the launch of the Beauty Bar, with its patented blend of mild cleansers and ¼ moisturizing cream. Dove’s heritage is based on moisturization, and it is proof not promises that enabled Dove to grow from a Beauty Bar into one of the world’s most beloved beauty brands. 

Women have always been our inspiration and since the beginning, we have been wholly committed to providing superior care to all women and to championing real beauty in our advertising. Dove believes that beauty is for everyone. That beauty should be a source of confidence and not anxiety. Dove’s mission is to inspire women everywhere to develop a positive relationship with the way they look and realize their personal potential for beauty. 

For more than 65 years, Dove has been committed to broadening the narrow definition of beauty in the work they do. With the ‘Dove Real Beauty Pledge,’ Dove vows to:

Portray women with honesty, diversity and respect. We feature women of different ages, sizes, ethnicities, hair colour, type, and style.Portray women as they are in real life, with zero digital distortion and all images approved by the women they feature.Help young people build body confidence and self-esteem through the Dove Self-Esteem Project, the biggest provider of self-esteem education in the world.

About Blippi:

Blippi, the world’s most popular live-action preschool brand, turns the world into a playground for preschoolers everywhere. The brand encourages a lifelong love of learning which helps to instill confidence and curiosity at a young age. Blippi has become a worldwide sensation with more than one billion monthly views across platforms including Netflix, HBO Max, Cartoonito, Sky, Amazon and YouTube and millions of fans around the world. The franchise has expanded rapidly since it was acquired by Moonbug Entertainment in 2020. Blippi is available in more than 20 languages, including ASL, and is distributed by more than 30 global broadcast and streaming partners. Blippi’s buddies Meekah and Juca have spun off into their own shows and Blippi lives off the screen with sold-out live events, popular music tracks, and in-demand toys available at all major retailers.

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[1] Hayes, S., & Tantleff‐Dunn, S. (2010). Am I too fat to be a princess? Examining the effects of popular children’s media on young girls’ body image. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 28(2), 413-426.

[2] León, M. P., González-Martí, I., & Contreras-Jordán, O. R. (2021). What do children think of their perceived and ideal bodies? Understandings of body image at early ages: A mixed study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(9), 4871.

SOURCE Dove

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U.S. Quartz Workers: Strong Safeguard Remedies Needed to Save 100,000 American Manufacturing Jobs

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WASHINGTON, July 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — The Quartz Manufacturers Alliance for America (QMAA) released a powerful video featuring quartz manufacturing workers from across the country calling for free and fair trade policies to save 100,000 American jobs. QMAA, a coalition of leading U.S.-based quartz slab manufacturers, are calling for strong safeguard remedies after the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) found a huge flood of foreign imports had caused tremendous injury to the domestic quartz industry.

QMAA members are urging the Trump Administration to build on the ITC’s strong recommendation and address this major flood of quartz imports with a Tariff of 50% and a Reshoring Import Cap of 141 million square feet on imported quartz surface products. This will ensure a reshoring of the good-paying U.S. quartz manufacturing jobs stolen by companies who cheat U.S. trade law, distort competition and are decimating U.S. quartz manufacturing. Together, these trade remedies will provide the relief necessary to save the 100,000 jobs supported by the U.S. quartz industry.

The video features workers from LX Hausys, Guidoni USA and Cambria Company and is available here:
Save 100,000 American Quartz Jobs

Quotes from QMAA Quartz Manufacturing Workers
“This facility used to be a Husqvarna plant. Husqvarna closed down due to cheap foreign imports. There were over 1,000 people working here and all of a sudden…I’m worried I may see the same thing take place again.”
-Raymond Mack, Production Operator, Guidoni USA, Helena-McRae, GA

“Foreign countries, mainly China, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, have been circumventing and cheating the American market. We believe in the industry. We believe in the American working power. We just want to level the playing field, make it fair for everyone and everyone will benefit.”
– Daniel Vas de Melo SA, Business Development Manager, Guidoni USA, McRae-Helena, GA

“In order for us to continue to compete, we need a strong Tariff and Import Cap on imported quartz surfaces. That will ensure we can play on an even playing field. That’s all we’re asking for. I would hate to see cheap, imported quartz have a negative impact on families such as mine and the other families that we employ here.”
– Mike Morici, Vice President – LX Hausys, Adairsville, GA

“The surge of foreign imports has shocked the U.S. economy, and the market for surfaces. It’s taken prices down to unsustainably low levels for any domestic supplier. The result of that is we’re not producing as much as we should, we can’t hire as many people as we would like to, and we can’t grow our business in the way that we and our peers in the U.S. want to grow.”
– Andrew Eich, President and Chief Operating Officer, Cambria

“As these foreign imports flood the market, we lose the ability to create and sustain jobs that ensure good paying conditions for manufacturing workers. There will be over 100,000 jobs that have the strong potential to go away.”
– Jack Sundry, SVP Core and Lexus – Cambria, Southern Minnesota

Background
In September 2025, QMAA filed a Global Safeguard petition with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) under Section 201 of the U.S. Trade Act of 1974. The ITC’s thorough investigation found serious injury to the domestic industry caused by a massive import surge designed to undercut American businesses. Quartz imports have surged by 78.3% within the past five years, leading to a nearly 20% decline in domestic production, factory closures and major job reductions.

A final safeguard decision from the United States Trade Representative is expected by Aug. 1, 2026.

About the Quartz Manufacturing Alliance for America:
QMAA is a coalition of U.S.-based, American quartz slab manufacturing factories, united with other industry leaders to support and strengthen the American quartz industry. QMAA is committed to ensuring a free and fair, competitive marketplace born of free enterprise that provides the opportunity to compete on a level playing field for American quartz slab manufacturing factories and their valued workers. We also believe this effort will have a positive impact throughout the entire quartz surfacing industry, including to the strong benefit of American stone fabrication shops and upstream suppliers of quartz minerals and resin. Learn more at: https://www.qmaa.org/

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/us-quartz-workers-strong-safeguard-remedies-needed-to-save-100-000-american-manufacturing-jobs-302833444.html

SOURCE Quartz Manufacturing Alliance of America

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Databricks and Microsoft expand partnership to help enterprises bring business context to enterprise AI

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Databricks and Microsoft extend strategic partnership through the 2030s to scale enterprise AIDatabricks deepens its bet on Azure, growing its use of Azure Databricks to run its own core business operations and analytics, while both companies advance native integration across the Microsoft stack, including Databricks Genie and Microsoft 365Databricks increases its use of Microsoft Azure Cobalt to improve performance and efficiency

REDMOND, Wash. and SAN FRANCISCO, July 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Microsoft Corp. and Databricks on Wednesday announced an expansion of their decade-long strategic partnership, extending into the 2030s. Databricks will deepen its use of Azure Databricks to run core business operations and build its unified lakehouse, while leveraging Azure Cobalt, Microsoft’s next-generation Arm-based infrastructure, to improve performance and efficiency. Microsoft will also continue integrating Databricks Data and AI platform across its products, bringing capabilities like Genie, Databricks’ AI co-worker, directly into customer workflows. Together, the companies are helping enterprises build AI grounded in their own business context with the cost efficiency, control and choice needed to scale successfully.

Enterprises want AI that understands their customers, products, operations, metrics and business processes, all while running securely where work happens. Yet, most still struggle to connect AI to trusted business knowledge, govern models and agents consistently, and control costs. Microsoft and Databricks are helping customers close that gap: 

“For nearly a decade, Databricks and Microsoft have helped enterprises innovate with data and AI,” said Ali Ghodsi, Co‑Founder and CEO of Databricks. “Today, our partnership is stronger than ever. With Databricks Genie and Unity AI Gateway deeply integrated across Microsoft’s products, we’re helping enterprises unify their data and ground AI in business knowledge. This lets customers get the full benefits of agents and models while controlling costs and ensuring governance.”

“The next generation of AI will be defined by how effectively organizations turn their unique knowledge into intelligence,” said Judson Althoff, CEO, Microsoft Commercial Business. “Microsoft and Databricks are helping customers connect data, AI and business context to accelerate decision-making and drive measurable impact. With Databricks deepening its investment in Azure Databricks and Azure Cobalt-powered infrastructure, customers will benefit from greater performance, efficiency and scale for their most demanding workloads. Databricks’ decision to run its own core business operations on Azure Databricks also gives customers confidence in a platform proven at enterprise scale.”

Databricks runs core business operations on Azure Databricks 

As part of this latest deal, Databricks deepens its commitment to Azure, running its own core business operations and analytics on Azure Databricks, using the very platform it delivers to customers at scale.

Advancing performance with Azure Cobalt

Databricks will also expand its use of Azure Cobalt, Microsoft’s next-generation Arm-based infrastructure, to improve performance and efficiency for agentic and data-intensive workloads. Databricks currently uses Cobalt 100 and plans to adopt Cobalt 200, which delivers up to 50% better performance and includes memory encryption enabled by default.

Deep integrations for Databricks Genie and Unity AI Gateway with Microsoft product stack

By combining the Databricks Data + AI Platform with Azure’s global scale, customers can accelerate AI transformation while maintaining control and reliability. As a native Azure service, Azure Databricks makes its AI capabilities available directly within customers’ existing Microsoft environment, grounding and operating agents on enterprise data with Genie and Genie Ontology, and governing models, agents and cost through Unity AI Gateway. Deeply integrated across the Microsoft ecosystem spanning Microsoft Entra, Azure Data Lake Storage, Azure security, Microsoft OneLake, Power BI, Microsoft Purview, Microsoft Foundry, Power Platform, Microsoft 365, Teams and Copilot, these capabilities bring governed, real-time data and AI into business workflows, giving organizations the context, control, choice and cost efficiency needed to drive impact.

Continued investment is evident from our recent announcements with Databricks at Data + AI Summit in June.

Customer impact with Azure Databricks

The deepened collaboration strengthens support for joint customers running data, analytics and AI workloads on Azure Databricks, delivering improved performance, security, AI governance and enterprise readiness. Thousands of customers, including Banco Bradesco, the Cincinnati Reds, Electrolux, SMBC and Unilever, already use Azure Databricks to run critical workloads and scale AI with confidence.

Read more on the proven business value of the Databricks and Microsoft partnership on the Microsoft Azure blog.

About Databricks

Databricks is the Data and AI company. More than 20,000 organizations worldwide — including AT&T, Bayer, BMW Group, HSBC, T-Mobile, Unilever, and 70% of the Fortune 500 — rely on Databricks Data + AI Platform to build and scale data and AI apps, analytics and agents. Headquartered in San Francisco with 30+ offices around the globe, Databricks offers a unified platform that includes Genie, Lakebase, Agent Bricks, Lakeflow, Lakehouse, and Unity Catalog. To learn more, follow Databricks on LinkedIn, X, YouTube, and Instagram.

About Microsoft

Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT” @microsoft) creates platforms and tools powered by AI to deliver innovative solutions that meet the evolving needs of our customers. The technology company is committed to making AI available broadly and doing so responsibly, with a mission to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.

 

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/databricks-and-microsoft-expand-partnership-to-help-enterprises-bring-business-context-to-enterprise-ai-302832954.html

SOURCE Microsoft Corp.

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Harness and Kong Expand Strategic Partnership to Deliver Comprehensive API and AI Security

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Joint solution extends proven API gateway security to the AI era — with automated AI discovery and runtime AI protection

SAN FRANCISCO, July 23, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Harness, the AI Software Delivery Platform™ company, and Kong Inc., a leading developer of API and AI connectivity technologies, today announced an expansion of their strategic partnership to address the growing security challenges posed by AI-driven architectures, autonomous agents, and Model Context Protocol (MCP) deployments.

According to The State of AI-Native Application Security 2025 report, as enterprises race to deploy AI at scale, 62% have no visibility into where LLMs are in use across their environment, and 74% say AI sprawl will outpace API sprawl when it comes to risk — making embedded, infrastructure-level security more critical than ever. And companies are now deploying agents into their operations at an exponentially increasing rate, making it a necessity to protect the agents themselves and the systems interacting with those agents.

The two companies are extending their joint solution from Kong API Gateway to also include Kong AI Gateway, bringing Harness’s AI security intelligence directly into the AI infrastructure layer and enabling enterprises to discover, monitor, and protect every agent, AI asset, LLM-powered service, and MCP-connected workflow that traverses it.

A Proven Foundation: Harness and Kong API Gateway

Harness and Kong have been jointly trusted by enterprises to deliver best-in-class API security for years. The existing Harness and Kong API Gateway integration provides:

Comprehensive API traffic visibility and behavioral analysis across all Kong-managed servicesReal-time detection and blocking of API threats, including OWASP API Security Top 10 risks, credential stuffing attacks, and business logic abuseContinuous sensitive data tracking to identify PII exposure and regulatory riskZero-friction deployment alongside existing Kong configurations

This new offering of the AI Gateway solution applies the same level of security depth to AI infrastructure, ensuring that security teams are not left behind as their organizations adopt AI and agentic operations.

“Our partnership with Harness has given joint customers production-grade API security that works with the way they build, not against it,” said Ken Kim, Senior Vice President, Business Development at Kong Inc. “Extending to include Kong AI Gateway is a natural next step. The same enterprises are now moving AI into production through our gateway and need the same depth of visibility and control they’ve come to rely on for their APIs for all AI traffic types including LLM, MCP, and A2A. That’s exactly what this delivers and is crucial for organizations scaling in the agentic era.”

The New Frontier: Kong AI Gateway and Harness AI Security

As enterprises accelerate AI adoption, the attack surface has fundamentally shifted. AI agents, LLM-powered microservices, and MCP-enabled integrations introduce new vectors that traditional security tools were not designed to address. Unlike traditional software, AI agents are non-deterministic — the same agent can behave differently on consecutive runs, making it impossible to secure them the way you’d secure a static API. The new Harness and Kong AI Gateway integration directly tackles these challenges across two critical domains: AI discovery and AI protection.

AI Discovery
Harness automatically inventories every AI asset, API, MCP server, tool, prompt, and resource routed through Kong AI Gateway — providing security teams with a continuously updated catalog of their AI attack surface. No manual documentation. No blind spots.

AI Protection
Harness applies behavioral analysis and anomaly detection to AI traffic in real time, identifying prompt injection attacks, data exfiltration through AI responses, jailbreaking, malicious code in prompts, and other AI-specific threats. Enterprises gain the same depth of observability and protection for their agents and AI workloads that they already rely on for traditional APIs, with full prompt and response details available for incident investigation and inline policy enforcement through Kong AI Gateway.

“Shadow AI has become the defining security blind spot for enterprises today. Traditional tools were built for static code and predictable systems, not for adaptive AI models, agent-to-agent communication, and MCP-connected workflows that evolve continuously,” said Rahul Sood, GM of Application Security at Harness. “This integration of Harness AI Security with Kong puts security intelligence directly into the connectivity layer where AI traffic flows. Joint customers now have the visibility and control they need to move fast without losing sight of what’s happening across their AI infrastructure.”

Availability

The Harness and Kong API Gateway integration is generally available today for all joint customers. The Kong AI Gateway integration, including AI Discovery and AI Protection, is also generally available now. Joint customers can contact their account team or request a demo.

About Harness
Harness is the AI Software Delivery Platform™ company, enabling engineering teams to build, test, and deliver software faster and more securely. Powered by Harness AI and the Software Delivery Knowledge Graph, the platform brings intelligent automation to every stage of the software delivery lifecycle after code — removing toil and freeing developers from manual, repetitive work. Companies like United Airlines, Morningstar, and Choice Hotels use Harness to accelerate releases by up to 75%, cut cloud costs by 60%, and achieve 10x efficiency across DevOps. Based in San Francisco, Harness is backed by Goldman Sachs, Menlo Ventures, IVP, Unusual Ventures, and Citi Ventures.

About Kong

Kong Inc., a leading developer of API and AI connectivity technologies, is building the connectivity layer of AI. Trusted by the Fortune 500® and AI-native startups alike, Kong’s unified API and AI platform enables organizations to secure, manage, accelerate, govern, and monetize the flow of intelligence across APIs and AI traffic — on any model, any cloud. For more information, visit www.konghq.com.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/harness-and-kong-expand-strategic-partnership-to-deliver-comprehensive-api-and-ai-security-302833414.html

SOURCE Harness

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