Dove Real Beauty Campaign
31 REAL BEAUTY: RESPONSIBLE IMAGES?
The Dove campaign lambasts traditional women’s traditional women’s toiletries marketing for promoting unreal images of beauty. As if women’s “reality” depended on their body shape or size….” On this long list that I have composed inside of my head I have many unanswered questions. What if I told you that beauty is in the eye of the beholder? Would you really believe me or would you just agree because it “sounds good.” Moments later will I catch you in the most recent issue of GQ Magazine or Vogue, torturing yourself because your abs are not that chiseled and your butt is not that toned? Do you even know why you want to be so much like someone or something that is so unrealistic? Is it because societal pressures have caused you to conform? More importantly, have you formed your own definition of real beauty? I happen to believe that beauty differentiates with perception. What’s beautiful to you might not be beautiful to me; however that does not make it any less beautiful. One company that has been able to break away from the thick mold of society is Dove. Dove has always prided their selves on having a great quality everyday product for the everyday woman, but they decided to take this concept a step further. In 2004 Dove launched its Dove Campaign for Real Beauty. Going in they knew this campaign could be risky but the message of the campaign seemed more important to the company. I supported this campaign one hundred percent because I love Dove products and I appreciated the effort behind the message of this campaign. The purpose of the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty was to show that beauty comes in all different forms. In addition, this campaign was designed to challenge the narrow-mindedness of our society and to show that beauty consisted of different dimensions. For their billboard and print ads for their firming products, Dove used six ordinary women who varied in size in race. These women
The Dove campaign lambasts traditional women’s traditional women’s toiletries marketing for promoting unreal images of beauty. As if women’s “reality” depended on their body shape or size….” On this long list that I have composed inside of my head I have many unanswered questions. What if I told you that beauty is in the eye of the beholder? Would you really believe me or would you just agree because it “sounds good.” Moments later will I catch you in the most recent issue of GQ Magazine or Vogue, torturing yourself because your abs are not that chiseled and your butt is not that toned? Do you even know why you want to be so much like someone or something that is so unrealistic? Is it because societal pressures have caused you to conform? More importantly, have you formed your own definition of real beauty? I happen to believe that beauty differentiates with perception. What’s beautiful to you might not be beautiful to me; however that does not make it any less beautiful. One company that has been able to break away from the thick mold of society is Dove. Dove has always prided their selves on having a great quality everyday product for the everyday woman, but they decided to take this concept a step further. In 2004 Dove launched its Dove Campaign for Real Beauty. Going in they knew this campaign could be risky but the message of the campaign seemed more important to the company. I supported this campaign one hundred percent because I love Dove products and I appreciated the effort behind the message of this campaign. The purpose of the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty was to show that beauty comes in all different forms. In addition, this campaign was designed to challenge the narrow-mindedness of our society and to show that beauty consisted of different dimensions. For their billboard and print ads for their firming products, Dove used six ordinary women who varied in size in race. These women
Bibliography: 1) Pozner, Jennifer L. "WIMN | Dove 's "Real Beauty" Backlash." WIMN | Dove 's "Real Beauty" Backlash. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2012. <http://www.wimnonline.org/articles/dovebacklash.html>. 2) Christians, Clifford G., Mark Fackler, Peggy J. Kreshel, and Robert H. Woods, Jr.Media Ethics: Cases and Moral Reasoning. 9th ed. Boston: Pearson Education, 2012. Print.