Dove says I’m "more beautiful than I think", and I agree!
I was waiting to watch a YouTube video yesterday, and the Dove "Real Beauty Sketches" advertisement began to play. Let me tell you- I did NOT skip that ad.
Storified by · Wed, Apr 24 2013 22:35:09
Dove Real Beauty Sketchesdoveunitedstates
This advertisement caught my attention instantly and I could not stop watching.
It featured women being sketched by a forensic artist. The artist hadn’t seen the women, and his sketches were based off of descriptions by strangers, and their own descriptions of themselves.
Two sketches were made in total.
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Sketches based off of the descriptions of others resembled the women realistically compared to the other sketches based off of how the women saw themselves. The other sketches had heavy and harsher features.
This commercial is a part of Dove’s ongoing Real Beauty campaign and reminds women that we “are more beautiful than we think”.
This commercial has gone viral, and is now being featured on YouTube’s page, and of course it’s been playing before videos.
With exposure comes criticism, and there are many individuals and blog posts that criticize the commercial. Some say that the commercial was still sexist because a man sketched the women. Others say that this advertisement wasn’t diverse enough because minorities didn’t have enough screen time.
The video only focuses on a very small subset of women. Kate Fridkis of Psychology Today describes the concept of the video: "Some lovely, thin, mostly white women who are all pretty young describe their appearances to a forensic artist."businessinsider.com
Another controversy is the fact that Dove is owned by Unilever, the company that also owns AXE. This company that produces advertisements aiming to inspire women to feel confident and find the beauty in themselves, also is the same company that produces AXE ads that objectify women.
Individuals believe that this commercial focuses too much on appearance as a sign of self worth. I disagree. I think this commercial isn’t about that at all. This commercial is about how we judge ourselves and how we see ourselves harshly.
I know many women and men feel this way in the fast paced lifestyle we’re living in. We’re paying attention and tending to many different things, but not ourselves.
I believe the “Dove is owned by Unilever” argument to be weak, because Dove and AXE are two different products, with two different campaigns. If advertisements shouldn’t be like this Dove “Real Beauty” one, then are all campaigns supposed to be the same? Are they supposed to express the same things? If that were to happen, wouldn’t people be complaining too?
I loved reading comments on Dove’s page to see what others had to say:
I think Dove is just trying to open our eyes to that and trying to get women to see that we judge ourselves too harshly.. Of course it’s going to focus on appearance because today’s society already focuses so much on appearance. I don’t think Dove is trying to say "make your appearance better"… in fact they’re saying "be happy with who you are." Also, from what I see and purchase, Dove’s products serve to make our skin/hair healthier (or at least try too) rather than more attractive.realbeautysketches.dove.us
How you feel inside is reflected by how you see yourself on the outside. That’s all Dove is trying to say. The point of dove is to make you love that appearance by realizing how gifted you are, and to realize how important and influential you can be in this world. People are trying to good. Allow yourself to be a romantic, see the world for the beauty that it can be and see others, including big companies, for the beauty and good they are trying to do. One good deed does not fix a million wrongs, but if this video truly changes the way one girl views herself, it’s worth it.realbeautysketches.dove.us
This commercial was interesting, engaging and different.
I like this commercial, and I like Dove’s message that I’m “more beautiful than I think” because I agree! This is a positive and inspirational message that is refreshing and creatively expressed through an advertising medium.
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