I’m tired of reading posts/articles about how instrumental Dove has been in revealing the truths about the beauty and fashion world, how they’ve made women feel beautiful again, blah, blah, blah. It’s all crap. Read the following article by my friend, Robert, and you will see why…
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The Truth about Dove’s “Real Beauty”
by Robert C.
Ordinary women in their underwear are everywhere. Billboards of these women, that is, as part of Dove’s campaign for ‘real beauty’.
At first, I found these ads to be uplifting. There it was – in epic proportions – women trading in the supermodel ethos for a bottle of Dove firming lotion promoting natural beauty like it was the new black.
Up until recently I thought this was a revolutionary marketing campaign. That was until a good friend brought to my attention a very shocking piece of information. To my surprise, these natural Dove women co-exist under the same marketing umbrella as, wait for this…those sex-crazed jocks who get jumped in an elevator thanks to Axe body spray.
Yes, I was shocked. Unilver, the genius company that redefined the real woman in Dove campaigns, is the same company that owns the “spray more, get more” Axe deodorant body spray.
Given what each campaign stands for, I see more mixed messages here than when I hear about a McDonald’s opening in a hospital. On one hand, we have the full-bodied Dove woman parading around in her underwear promoting more female empowerment than if Gloria Steinem were featured on an episode of Oprah. A huge step in updating society’s ideals of beautiful women, right? Sure, but not when Jane with the flat chest is forced to compete with the outrageously thin, albeit heavily bossomed, Cassandra slithering around in the Axe ads.
That said, this David versus Goliath battle between real women and photoshop models is nothing new. What is new however, is that the same hand is feeding these contrasting ideas of female beauty. Unilever should treat their products like a parent should treat their children. Would you tell little Amy to embrace her freckles and stumpy legs and then tell your son Johnny that DD’s are the only letters he should be aiming for?
Now, I’m not saying go ahead and ax the Axe ads. All I’m asking is that Jane with the flat chest be given her 15 minutes in the elevator too.
Credit photos: www.img.abture.com & www.aussiefavourites.com
I wrote an academic paper about Dove’s campaign, and I totally agree with Robert’s point. What really bothered me, though, was that they weren’t just using real-looking women in their ads, they were touting that decision as a selling point, like “hey! look at us! we are totally changing the world of beauty! now buy our product.” instead of just doing the honorable thing of putting these women in the ads, they commodified it. and when it comes down to it, the ads are still just women standing around in their underwear, which, no matter their shape, isn’t very revolutionary.
Good day!,