The use of advertisements by companies helps in communicating a certain message about their product. The advert has to be spot on if it seeks to capture the attention of a person. Hence, most adverts feature attractive messages, images, slogans or promotions ideal for the particular product. The fashion and beauty industry focuses on using young, slender and beautiful models to conveying their message. However, it might not please the multitude that does not fit the displayed model, and it brings out the issue of stereotypes in women. Unilever saw the loophole in such imagery and thought of a different strategy for their ‘Dove Campaign for Real Beauty.' They sought to use real women of different sizes and shape, from the age of 22 to 96. Their aim was to show that every woman is beautiful despite their physique. However, Jennifer L. Pozner thinks that the message still stereotypes women since the models advertise a firming crème. I side with Pozner in her claims despite the efforts made by the company in avoiding the stereotype.
Unilever launched the Dove Real Beauty campaign in 2004 after conducting a creative, strategic research for three years (Bahadur par 2). The research was possible from the partnership between them and three universities located in four cities across the world. The research centered on the stereotypes set by adverts and its effect on the common woman. It found out that most adverts portray an ideal woman as one who has a slender body and beautiful skin. Hence, women who do not fit the description face rejection and insults from the society (Bahadur par 3). In the long run, the advert does not fulfill its mandate as planned by the company. With the information gathered, the researchers advised the company to create an advert that will capture real beauty irrespective of a woman’s physical appearance or age. These structures and elements were the key factors in unifying the circle of women and sell a product that fits everyone.
The following years showed a significant change in Dove’s market penetration due to their ads which featured beautiful “full-figured” women (Bahadur par 4). They were successful in changing the traditional imagery of women and bring out the need to appreciate women as they are. The campaigns revealed the real beauty and not the fake ideal imagery painted by previous ads and other competitors. The adverts composed of print and video such as “Tested on Real Curves”, “Flip Your Wigs, “the Pro-Age series”, and “Evolution” among others (Bahadur par 6). Ogilvy and Mather, the advertising agency contracted by Unilever, was responsible for the viral videos on the internet that showed interviews with people expressing their views towards the adverts. They produced “Daughters”, a visual piece that featured mothers and daughters relating to the issues surrounding the perception of beauty and its industry (Bahadur par 7). Its success led to the introduction of “Dove Real Beauty Sketches”, a campaign that features a forensic sketch artist who draws out different women from their description and their sketches compared with stranger’s opinions towards the subject. The campaign went viral, and it attracted positive and negative views from people (Bahadur par 8). The positive views praised the campaign for its effort in acknowledging the real beauty and encouraged women to accept themselves and their bodies.
According to Jennifer L. Pozner, the Dove campaign did not suit the product despite it being captivating to the audience (Pozner par 1). The models are showcasing the company’s firming crèmes. Pozner states that if the company used the same concept for hair dye or soap product, it would fit the message. The firming crèmes help women to fix their flabby areas for a younger look (Pozner par 2). Hence, the product sidelines the concept of acknowledging women of different sizes. The message is hopeless as the advertisement focus on people spending more to remove the scars and stretch marks. Despite the vast line-up of models, the Dove campaign fails to strategies on how they can sell their firming crème without stereotyping women. Pozner feels that the advert message avoided the major stereotype of size and age and introduced the stereotype of outer beauty (Pozner par 3). The beauty of a woman composes of the inner and outer image, making it quite hard for cosmetic companies to avoid stereotyping their image.
Pozner acknowledges the effort made by Unilever in revolutionizing the advertising industry by showcasing the real beauty (Pozner par 4). The sight of attractive, healthy women looking comfortable and happy in the billboards shows their true imagery and acceptance of how they look like despite being against other models. For once, the world will appreciate women for who they are and not how they look. The campaign is inspiring to the audience, and it is quite hard for one to speak ill of the strategy unless one feels irritated by chunky women like Richard Roeper, a columnist with Chicago Sun-Times (Pozner par 6). According to him, it is quite unsettling looking at the images, even though Dove did a good job in breaking the advertising monotony. The image of a sexy young model on a billboard outside his window will make him feel superficial and sexist, unlike the image of a chunky woman.
The views by Roeper spiked a debate across the media with different headlines such as ‘flab or fab’ and whether Dove’s ad was the ultimate perspective turnover for the advertising industry (Pozner par 7). Pozner interprets the Roeper’s unsettling views as the reason some of the films do not succeed because of personal preferences of such kind of men. These men wear the gender-based bigotry badge in determining the kind of films that will be in production. The simple debate quickly became a nasty battlefield between men and women. The men’s fragile eyes felt that looking at some of the billboards was quite frightening which made the women object their opinions by sighting the change in self-esteem (Pozner par 8). Some of the comments sent to the Times featured words such as frightening, disturbing, and displeasing.
Later on, broadcast and print featured a parody of Dove’s campaign by introducing a man-on-the-street stream on Madison Avenue, where the presenter interviewed random men on their views towards the advertisement (Thomas par 7). Their aim was to insight the viewers to reject the campaign and bring back the silicone sweeties they like to admire as they commute to their workplaces. Pozner concludes her paper by stating that Dove’s campaign was necessary for backlashing underscores of “real beauty” despite their hypocritical product placement (Pozner par 11). The reviews by Roeper on the unsettling images portrays the thoughts and perspectives senior people in the film industry have to women. Such negative comments should change if the industry seeks to discard the stereotypes of women.
In my opinion, the ad and campaign help in boosting the self-esteem of women by helping them appreciate how they look. The stereotypes of women do more harm than good to them since it alters the mentality of men as evident from the negative remarks. However, the advertising agency failed in choosing the ideal product that will fit with the campaign. In conclusion, fashion and beauty advertisements should portray the common imagery of people and not sideline them.
Works Cited
Bahadur, Nina. Dove ‘Real Beauty’ Campaign Turns 10: How A Brand Tried To Change The Conversation About Female Beauty. 21 January 2014. Web. 7 April 2016. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/21/dove-real-beauty-campaign-turns-10_n_4575940.html>
Pozner, Jennifer L. Dove's "Real Beauty" Backlash. 2005. Web. 7 April 2016. <http://www.wimnonline.org/articles/dovebacklash.html>
Thomas, Carolyn. If we’re beautiful just the way we are, why do those Dove ‘Real Beauty’ ads tell us we need to buy their skin firming creams? 8 May 2010. Web. 7 April 2016. <http://ethicalnag.org/2010/05/08/dove-real-beauty/>
