Essay On The Dove Campaign For Real Beauty

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.
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.
The Dove® Campaign for Real Beauty was specifically created to provoke discussion and encourage debate. In September 2004, The Campaign for Real Beauty was launched with a much talked-about ad campaign featuring real, everyday women whose appearances are very different than the stereotypical beauty norms. The ads asked viewers to judge the women’s looks (ex. below) and invited them to ...

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...o be unedited and showing "real" women; however, there have been comments made that these ads have in fact been photo shopped, at least somewhat, to smooth the women's skin, hide wrinkles and blemishes, fix stray hairs, etc. Photo retoucher for Box Studios in New York, Pascal Dangin, told The New Yorker that he made edits to the photos and asked, “Do you know how much retouching was on that?” He added, “But it was great to do, a challenge, to keep everyone’s skin and faces showing the mileage but not looking unattractive.” The women who are targeted by Dove® and by these ads have mixed receptions as well. Some women felt as if Dove was basically telling them they knew the insecurities they felt and what all women felt. Social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter became an outlet for women to express their praise, as well as their criticism of the campaign.