The ‘Perfect’ Image
In 2006, Dove created a 75-second video called ‘Evolution’. (Piper, “Dove Evolution”) It earned immeasurable success and laurels. Today, it has over 17 million views on You Tube. It won two Grand Prix at Cannes; both in Cyber and Film. (Wentz, 'Evolution' Win Marks Dawn of New Cannes Era.") It has raised much needed awareness about how Photoshop and makeup distort images we see in magazines, billboards and any media for that matter.
The famed advertisement begins with the caption – ‘A dove film’. It begins with a close up of a girl. It is an average looking girl. She has blemishes, redness, heavyset jaw, and pretty blue eyes. She has shoulder length dirty blonde hair. In fact, one may see the hairstyle she has a million times in the street. She is no different from any of us.
And then begins her ‘evolution’. She is slowly transformed. It begins with covering up her blemishes. She now has skin as flawless as glass. Slowly, the imperfections that were not even noticeable when we first set our eyes on the girl, start fading away. Her hair is now styled and now looks like something every girl wishes for. Fake eyelashes are added and feature-defining makeup like eyeliner, bronzer, highlighter etc is applied on her face. Who knew that the ‘right’ makeup could change a person to that extend? She slightly resembles the girl we started out with.
But her transformation is not complete yet. Photoshop comes in. Her lips are pumped, her neck becomes longer, her nose becomes thinner, her eyes become bigger- after all, aren’t these features the society deems ‘perfect’? She looks like a completely different person now. A person would hardly be able to recognize the ‘average’ girl we began out with as the girl on the bil...
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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
Dove started the campaign “ Real Beauty” in 2004 . The campaign’s objective was to change the women’s perception for their definition of beauty. The Dove Real beauty campaign is a marketing campaign established in order to widen the definition of beauty as well as provoke discussion on what our society deems beautiful.” The campaign consists of 4 stages of advertising. The first phase placed initial advertisements that focus on featuring women of all ethnic groups and shapes . The second phase uses commercial advertising on television it targets young women . The third phase uses print advertisement that targets older women on the 50+ age range. The last, phase of the campaign is a video that has been trending on social media across the world. In 2004, Dove employed researchers to conduct a survey in order to study how much women are satisfied with their own beauty . As a result 2% of women that where interviewed in the 10 countries chose the word beautiful to describe themselves, and very few chose the word gorgeous and sexy ” (Ercoff,2010). The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty was created soon after with the hope of raising that 2%statistic.
This campaign was hold in September 2006. It aims to change the teenage girl’s and women’s definition of beauty. This campaign for real beauty use social learning theory to teach the females to have self-esteem and more confidence so that can lead to a healthy lifestyle. Dove has taken many steps to achieve their mission in changing the definition of beauty. Dove helps girls to learn more and more positive behavior through this campaign. For example, a girl who studied in primary school has curly hair. But all of her classmates laugh at her because of her hair as it is not same as others’ hair. Her classmates labeled her as
Stampler, L. (2013, May 23). How Dove's 'Real Beauty Sketches' Became The Most Viral Video Ad Of All Time | Business Insider. Retrieved April 25, 2014, from http://www.businessinsider.com.au/how-doves-real-beauty-sketches-became-the-most-viral-ad-video-of-all-time-2013-5
(Jhally, Kilbourne, Rabinovitz, 2010) The amount of money put into advertisement worldwide in 2011 was $464 billion. (Pavlik, McIntosh, 2014, p. 268). In our society, sexism has become a normal part of our everyday life based on the ads we constantly see and because of the society we live in. Women are represented in ads as objects and not as human beings. The advertising is convincing us that the most important goal for a woman should be to become “the perfect woman” and for a man to find one. Dove has a commercial called “Evolution” demonstrating the idea that “the perfect woman” does not truly exist. They show the transformation in which models go through before photo or video shoots. The makeup applied to create a flawless face and the hair extensions attached to create the ideal look are only the beginning of the issue. After the photographs are taken, we are taken through a visual process of the editing done to the images: Bigger eyes, smaller nose, bigger lips, higher cheekbones, slimmer face, bigger chest, smaller waist, smoother skin, these are only a few of the changes they make while editing these pictures. These ads create an unrealistic and unattainable idea of
Marilyn is told many times by people close to her that undergoing the transformation will make her beautiful and powerful, whereas if she doesn’t she will be unattractive and unappealing. “But afterwards, you'll be beautiful.” (Number 12 Looks Just Like You). Lana mentions to Marilyn many times that the transformation was the best decision she ever made and she was very ugly before going through the process, despite Marilyn thinking she was beautiful even before the process. Marilyn’s good friend, Valerie, also tries to convince her to undergo the transformation. She brings up Marilyn’s family and her own, she also mentions how painless and easy the process is. The high praise put onto the transformation process cause people in this society to be brainwashed into believe anyone who does not undergo the transformation is ugly and foolish. Not wanting to be labeled as such, many people, including Marilyn and her father, decide to undergo the transformation against their heart’s desires. Although transformation improves physical appearance and allows humans to live longer, it deprives people of basic life experiences that are necessary to enjoy it. If you have forever youth, you would not cherish your youthful years as much as if it had a limit. If everyone looked perfect and extraordinary then no one would be beautiful, instead
Wolf, Naomi, Ed. The beauty myth: How images of beauty are used against women. Random House, 1991.Web. 28 March. 2014.
Many people today feel like their faces are hideous, and the same can be said for Georgina from “The Birthmark”. Almost any- physical attribute can be considered ugly to oneself, and to others, depending on what the others
The commercial poured out a lot of emotions showing empathy, compassion and happiness through the women describing the way they look and someone else’s viewpoint on the person’s appearance. When the piano play pianissimo in the background it sets the tone of the atmosphere very mellow, serene and sympathetic. As you watch the advertisement seeing multiple women gaze at their sketches realizing the difference between a negative input and a positive output melts your heart and makes you smile to appreciate on the way you look. Dove revealed a caring side of them showing that they care a lot about their customers, also advertising to their viewers they are a “people person company”.
When asked what beauty is, most women will point to a magazine cover at a size two model — a small waist, long legs, and flawless skin. Dove has attempted to change this perspective with their “Campaign for Real Beauty”. Launched in 2004, this campaign is comprised by a series of advertisements such as commercials, short-films, billboards, and many more. Dove appeals to women’s pathos in order to market to women of all ages. The company’s strong ethos allows women to feel comfortable and believe that they are truly beautiful. A majority of the campaign is aimed at young adults but also includes women fifty years and older. The creative directors Janet Kestin and Nancy Vonk strive to remind women that they are responsible for setting their own
Derenne, J. L., & Beresin, E. V. (2006). Body image, media, and eating disorders. Academic Psychiatry, 30(3), 257-261.
The Dove® Campaign for Real Beauty is a worldwide marketing campaign launched by Unilever in 2004 that includes advertisements, videos, workshops, promotional events, the publication of a book and even the production of a play. The aim of the campaign is to celebrate the natural beauty exemplified by all women and inspire them to have the confidence and be comfortable with themselves and their individual, unique bodies. Dove's® partners in the campaign efforts include marketing and advertising agencies such as Ogilvy & Mather, Edelman Public Relations, and Harbinger Communications.
The advert is for a new product called ‘WOMAN’ that they are adding to their line of fragrances. The first thing that is noticed about this advert is the colour. It is very contrasting with the black and white, and gives a big impact to the audience. The white usually signifies innocence but with the black background it’s suggesting hidden depths, like a wild side that you could have. The model’s look is very confident, like she can get
...s herself and her true identity. She realizes that she isn't always going to be the girl that everyone wants her to be but as long as she is true to herself that all that really matters (MTV, 2011).
What does it take to feel beautiful? Perhaps a little bit of time, make-up, and a breathtaking dress; or at least that's what we have been programmed to believe. Without a doubt, all of the magazines, advertisements, and make-up beauty tips have influenced women’s beliefs about what it means to be beautiful. An artificial image of beauty has been imposed on each and every woman in our culture.