The Dove Real Beauty Campaign Analysis

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

such as Dove Real Beauty Sketches, Distorted Idea, Beautiful & Average Pathway, and Dove Legacy. Some critics have the impression that Dove only created this campaign in order to gain more publicity for their products, however no one can take away the impact that Dove is making in communities. One could even say that dove is creating a revolution in the self-love movement and inspiring females of all ages.
In one of Doves most infamous advertisements it explores the idea of how others judge themselves and how we judge ourselves. The advertisement begins with a group of women who are asked to come to a warehouse without any idea about what is taking place. When they get there they are put into pairs and encouraged to get acquainted. In the next scene each woman meets an FBI trained forensic artist who draws each woman based off of their description of their appearance. Then they are asked to describe the appearance of the other woman they met. When the drawings were complete they were able to compare both versions of their picture; the one made by themselves and the one from their partner’s description. The difference between the pictures were drastic. When the women were asked to describe themselves, they were very harsh upon themselves, exaggerating all of their so called “flaws”. Conversely, when asked about the other ladies they praised their looks and were very positive with their description. When the audience was able to analyze the pictures they could see how the women saw the beauty in the others and how hard the women were on themselves. This ad is an excellent example of how Dove markets and addresses common self-esteem issues in women. At the end of the commercial, the FBI agent asked each lady: “Do you think you are more beautiful than you say?” making it come full circle. It demonstrates that women are their own worst critic. The atmosphere of the commercial was very warm, emotional, and touching. The techniques the marketers of Dove used would be the melodic background music, warm music, and cozy furniture in the setting. While highlighting their lack of self-esteem that they have, however on another spectrum it demonstrates the acceptance they have for each other . The advertisers really would like the viewer to understand and acknowledge the feelings of the women in the advertisement and their pursuit of self-acceptance, as well as the overwhelming guilt that they felt after the revelation. The people who can really relate to this commercial would likely be older women in their thirties and forties who have lost some of their youthfulness, possibly lack self-acceptance and seem vulnerable. This commerical became an internet sensation in a matter of days because it spoke so profoundly to the female population, calling them to love themselves completely and wholeheartedly.
There are many reasons women lack confidence in their beauty, whether it be growing up in a sexist society or living in a society with unattainable standards. The pursuit of perfection and the feeling of never being good enough is very detrimental to a person’s self-esteem. Dove has taken notice of this and created an advertisement on how a so-called “perfect” model is transformed into the person we see in magazines and other marketing tactics. The first model walks in barefaced and is treated by a multitude of hair and makeup staff preparing her for the shoot. After they have caked on the makeup they begin the photography and place filters on the model. After that, they begin airbrushing the photo, making the model flawless. Then the most shocking part is when they begin altering the model's body in order to create the so-called “perfect” proportions. They lower the model’s shoulders to elongate her neck. They make her eyes larger and cheekbones higher to make her look flawless. At the end of the scene, the advertisement states: “No wonder our idea of beauty is distorted”. This advertisement is very touching because as a young female growing up in today's society I see gorgeous people in the media such as Kylie Jenner, Jennifer Lopez, and Tika Sumpter. I sometimes wonder why I don't look like these celebrities or what can I do to look like them. However, Dove explains how fake society has become and how young girls will never be able to feel good enough because they cannot attain anything that is unreal. The techniques that the advertisement uses to make it relatable/accessible are using an everyday person that could be living right next door to you and taking an everyday image that you would see driving down the road and going behind the scenes to show you what really happens.
In this international campaign, Dove created a commercial in which they would go to a building and create two pathways for the public. One pathway was labeled “beautiful” and the other was labeled “average”. They had hundreds of females from all different backgrounds and ages choose between the pathways. Many of the women stood between the doors trying to decide where they belong. Others confidently strode down the average pathway as if it was a catwalk and some even did the same with the beautiful pathway. Others timidly chose a pathway and scrambled into the building. The most touching groups I saw were the mothers and daughters, where mothers would pull their daughters down the beautiful pathway so determined to let their daughters know how beautiful they were and how precious they are to them. This ad was honestly my favorite and had me swallowing back tears at the touching scenes of the mothers and daughter emotional interactions.The advertisers really made this commercial emotional and played upon the audience's heart strings by using this everyday activity. After the women walked into the building they were asked why they chose that pathway. Some of the ladies regretted choosing the average pathway and how it made them feel less of a person after choosing the path, while the women who chose the beautiful door had a boost of self-confidence and self-esteem. The women were presented with a situation where they became self-conscious and had to choose a path and in the back of their minds, they hoped their decision aligned with the rest of society's idea of beauty. Dove created this advertisement to appeal to all women to empower them to decide who they were and not let anyone decide for them . This commercial is very empowering and inspiring allowing women to define for themselves what beauty really is.
Through many experiments and trials they have come to the conclusion that the main source of a young girl's confidence comes from their insecurities of their mothers. As they do in the commercial “Dove Legacy”, where the young mothers and daughters share the same insecurities. Dove took this idea on how older generations leave a legacy of self confidence to the younger generations. In their campaign in “Dove Legacy”, they invited young mother to come and talk about their own insecurities of their bodies. They then invited their daughters and asked them the same questions. To the audience's surprise the mothers and daughters had the same insecurities. The mothers immediately recognized that their young daughters have copied their insecurities. One of the mothers stated that “self worth and beauty is an echo, and it echoes from me to them”. This commercial was very touching seeing how young girls took after their mothers. It was very hard to see young girls concerned on how big their thighs were, how small their eyes were, or how lanky their arms are. The setting of the commercial was in a home environment where the mothers and daughters were free and comfortable to talk about their insecurities. This advertisement appeals to young mother or people who take care of young girls. Dove revealed the extent of how young girls are influenced by their surroundings and how the older generation are in charge of showing these young girls the importance of finding beauty in themselves and loving their flaws. That it is our job to find beauty in ourselves and to then inspire the next generation.

Dove continues to reach out to younger generations of females in order to gain confidence in their beauty at an early age, to let them know how beautiful they are. In this day and age the pursuit of perfection seems to be on every young girl's mind. However, Dove’s objective is to tear down the walls of women finding physical “flaws” in their bodies and women should accept themselves just as others accept them. Critics may state that this campaign is just a scheme for Dove to try to get ahead of their competitors, however no one can say that Dove is not making an overwhelming impact upon the community. The Dove beauty campaign is an international movement created my Dove to get male and females alike to start a discussion on the meaning of real beauty.

The Dove real beauty campaign is one of the only campaigns in this day and age that bring up the subject of female beauty.

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

to market their products and not solely to empower females. Nevertheless, I think the campaign is brilliant and it is reaching young girls, as well as encouraging women to find validation in themselves and not others. I feel that real beauty is not simply physical beauty but also what is inside and it is seen in how you treat others and yourself.
Overall the experience of writing this essay was very pleasant. I am very pleased on the way I was able to analyze each advertisement and tie it back to the central thesis. I was very passionate about the topic, but I worry that it did not go into depth and only scratched the surface. If I was to do it again I may have shortened my description and elaborated more on the idea of women being empowered. Another thing I think I may be lacking would be not allowing the audience to fully understand what I was trying to explain. I would really like to thank my good friend Joy for proof reading my essay and giving me her thoughts on what I could work on to make my essay stronger. I would also like to thank the University Writing Center and especially Hadleigh for taking the time and helping me go through my essay. I would like to thank my Professor for taking the time to read my essay and sitting down and giving me feedback. I would also like to give my thanks to the Dove for creating this campaign for people like me.