Since the early 2000s, Dove has invested millions of dollars into creating advertisements targeting women who lack the understanding of their everyday beauty. They have invested and partnered with Boys & Girls Club of America, Girls Scouts, and Girls Inc. in hopes of making a difference in society (Huffington) . Their goal is to empower women to understand that they are beautiful in their own individual way. That in order for females in society to find themselves attractive they must first find the beauty in themselves and gain confidence in themselves in order for the future generations to do so as well. In this article I will be arguing that Dove is making a positive difference in the female community with their advertisements. Advertisements …show more content…
In society, it is not uncommon to find females who lack confidence in the their beauty, to be honest I sometimes do not feel beautiful. When I look to role models in my life I only see my mother, growing I never had a celebrity or famous figures that I could look up to. Until recently when Lupita Nyong’o made her debut there was not a celebrity I could really relate to. My mother always tried to impart confidence into me growing up, however to this day I continue to struggle with this issue. I have read many books and online blogs on loving yourself, however on certain days I do not feel my best. Dove is reaching out to females like me who encounter this everyday struggle, who will one day hopefully have daughters who also might suffer from lack self-confidence. I have witnessed first hand the effects of not feeling beautiful enough. Since kindergarten, I have seen young girls striving for attention from others, such as men, just in other to feel good enough. I have seen girls bully other young girls because they didn't feel good enough and wanted to put others down. This situation was extremely heartbreaking, the effects can lead to eating disorders, plastic surgery, self harm, and depression. In this situation women look to fulfill this dissatisfaction by looking for fulfillment in other areas which can lead to an even darker road. When women lack self confidence in their beauty it can lead to lack of self respect and even self love. Dove really wants to empower young girls so that they can in turn empower other young girls to find validation in themselves one day. From the beginning of time women have been looked down upon starting with Adam and Eve. However, today we actually have the opportunity to elect a female president and if that is not empowering enough I’m not sure what is. Although many may say that Dove created this campaign
Unfortunately, a lot of females fall into those traps and do not consider themselves beautiful unless they’re a certain weight or have their skin a certain way. Nobody embraces their bodies and their looks besides those that society gives you a perception of something that doesn’t exist to be “perfection”. And in the Dove commercial which I used in my presentation to state the image society has given women shows the wonder of photoshop. It showed how an average woman was changed into someone with a skinnier neck, perfect hair, and flawless skin all with the magic of technology. And by using real life human models it given women the perception that if they look like that then I can
A certain value is put on commodities and services that in turn promote “consumption of products that encourages conformity to feminine beauty ideology”. (Johnston & Taylor, 2008) Media and advertising also immensely influences the way one looks at themselves and how much they compare their own beauty to the models on TV screens and in magazines. Through advertising, Dove promotes a movement to minimize institutionalized and structural gender inequality, and encourages the practise of self-care. Although its is makes great business sense, it is clear that their is a prioritization of commodity purchases above the overall message which creates brand loyalty. Dove shows mixed messages early on in their campaign as they are “telling women to buy creams, "slim" down, put on a bra and generally engage in… the "body project" (Essig, April 22, 2013) and “young girls started to worry far more about cellulite on their thighs than goodness in their hearts”.
After watching the movie, Miss Representation, I have decided to use Dove’s new Real Beauty Campaign. I believe this company accurately counteracts the emotions and anxieties facing our female population in this generation by confronting them. I believe they antagonize what every other company chooses to exploit in order for their consumers to buy their products. Using the vocabulary provided in our textbook, I will define pathos and ethos along with their sub terms to analyze the advertisement. With so many advertisements and companies influencing women of our society to conform to a mold, Dove is sending a different message. After describing the ad, I will then use the rhetorical tools I have chosen to analyze and explain them.
The Dove Self-Esteem Project is set on changing the way young girls' feel about themselves and teaching those with insecurities to
...to them to love themselves as they as are is the first step in taking back control from the media. The media would like for them to conform to unrealistic standards of beauty for their own selfish benefit to solicit their industry. However if we don’t give in to medias perception of perfection the media will have to change.Certain companies like Dove have realized the medias negative effect on adolescent girls and has taking matters into their own hands by publishing a new ad with healthier looking model. This ad is one step in the right direction to building back up young girls self esteem and making them comfortable with their bodies. Women will never stop wanting to improve themselves however by embracing all different beautiful attributes women have they will refrain from practicing unhealthy methods and will work towards realistic goals that will make them happy.
First, Kilbourne’s research should be praised tremendously for bringing to light the unhealthy impression of true beauty in today’s culture. Kilbourne challenges the audience to reconsider their viewpoints on advertising that is sublime with sexual language. The evolution of advertising and product placement has drastically changed the real meaning of being a woman. According to the movie, every American is exposed to hundreds and thousands of advertisements each day. Furthermore, the picture of an “ideal women” in magazines, commercials, and billboards are a product of numerous computer retouching and cosmetics. Media creates a false and unrealistic sense of how women should be viewing themselves. Instead of being praised for their femininity and prowess, women are turned into objects. This can be detrimental to a society filled with girls that are brainwashed to strive to achieve this unrealistic look of beauty.
Pozner, Jennifer L. “Dove's "Real Beauty" Backlash.” Bitch: Feminist Response to Pop Culture. Issue 30, Fall, 2005. http://www.wimnonline.org/articles/dovebacklash.htm 7.
[This] phase of the campaign was created to debunk the stereotype that only thin is beautiful” (“The Dove® campaign for real beauty”, n.d.). This part of the campaign was monumental because “all women in the ad are real.” (Fielding et al., 2008). Because the concept of real women was implemented, women were able to relate their own self-identity, flaws and overall body image to the women on the advertisements. The use of “real people” in Dove’s campaign helps people realize that average citizens can still be as beautiful as the people that are consistently portrayed in the usual advertisements. These real people offer a connection to an individual’s everyday body issue struggles and allows Dove’s audience to recognize the fact that beauty should not be limited to western societies view. Ultimately, this section of the campaign allows viewers to make personal connections to the models in the advertisements which furthers Dove’s intentions of the Real Beauty
This campaign may have a reverse effect on these types of women. By hearing the responses from the women, they may feel that being confident is not something that is considered normal. This would be a constraint that this campaign and specific short-film could give. Another constraint would be men. Although Dove is a company that aims towards women, there are men that struggle with the same self-esteem problems that could also benefit from this same mission. By letting know that not only women, but also humans as a whole, should believe they are beautiful could change the impact of the message. The last thing that could pose a problem is the fact that the reveal, one picture is supposed to represent unattractiveness and one is representing beauty. You hear comments from the women mentioning crow’s feet or circles under their eyes weren’t in the second picture. So do these tiny things change the definition of beauty? Is the youthful looking picture supposed to be the only way to achieve this? In today’s society, we are taught that beauty is within certain constraints and this is something that is around us every day. Beauty and perfection surrounds us in so many aspects of life on a daily basis and this is what is making women so self-conscious. Society is measuring peoples worth by their outside appearance instead if their inner thoughts
Dove offers up the idea that age does not define beauty. Often the media tells aging women to fight against the aging process, to cover up fine lines and wrinkles. Typically we see young models in most beauty advertisements. Here though we see women of age, seemingly celebrating their wrinkles and age spots. Women may feel empowered when they hear, “beauty has no age limit” in this campaign, as well as see women displaying their age with confidence. Using age-appropriate models in this piece may lead to the product being well received and purchased.
This article talks about how advertising promotes the cultures current for body shape and site and the importance of beauty. It talks about women’s magazines and how they include so many adds for weight loss and how many girls own Barbie dolls. The piece also talks about how all of these adds effect people and to what extent they effect people. The author of this piece is the director of Research and Outreach for About- Face and has a doctorate in Clinical Psychology. Based on those facts alone I feel that this piece is very credible and contains truthful information. Limitations of this piece include only having one side and not pertaining specifically to ethics in advertising. I will be able to utilize this piece mostly because it contains a lot of statistics and good information to help me in the angle I am going to take on how ethics in advertising affect women. This piece is very different from all of my sources because it does not pertain quite so directly to the topic I am writing on. (190)
Based on the findings of a major global study, The Real Truth About Beauty: A Global Report, Dove® launched the Campaign for Real Beauty in 2004. The campaign started conversations around the globe about the need for a wider definition of beauty after the study proved their hypothesis that the definition of beauty had become restrictive and seemingly unattainable. The study found that only 2% of women around the world actually see themselves as “beautiful”. Since 2004, Dove® has utilized various communications channels to challenge beauty stereotypes and invite women to join a discussion about beauty. In 2010, Dove® evolved the campaign and launched an extraordinary effort to make beauty a source of confidence rather than anxiety, with the Dove® Movement for Self-Esteem.
In our current society, advertising is approached in different ways when trying to appeal to more of a male or female audience. Companies who use marketing and advertising for the end goal of selling products tend to aim their advertisements to the gender that is most likely to buy the products (Gender Matters). Unilever is a company that sells multiple brands and different types of product; however, two brands that they sell, dove and axe, take opposite approaches when it comes to advertising and this has been seen as a controversial issue with different portrayals of women (Said et al.). Dove has started the campaign that promotes real beauty and the main goal of this campaign is to help women all around the world realize their true beauty
In American culture today, society's view of beauty is controlled by Hollywood, where celebrities are constantly in the lime-light. The media watches Hollywood's every move, and is quick to ridicule “A-listers” whenever they dare to gain a few pounds or to let an uncontrollable pimple show. The media has created a grossly distorted mental image of what should be considered beautiful, and with almost every junior high and high school-age girl reading and viewing this message, the idea has been instilled in them as well. This view of beauty is causing many teenage girls to become obsessed with a highly problematic and unattainable goal of perfection.
The media has increasingly portrayed unrealistic views of women in the media. Whether it be on billboards or in commercials, it is almost always the same image; a beautiful woman with an amazing body and no visible flaws. In 2004, Dove challenged those advertisements and came up with the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty. It is a world-wide marketing campaign with the goal of banishing the conventional standard of beauty, and defining what ‘real beauty’ is. Despite having good intentions, I believe Dove’s real purpose is to simply broaden the definition of real beauty while making a profit.