Since 2005 Dove has a campaign running that's titled "Campaign for real beauty". All over the world commercials were broadcasted and initiatives are still being launched to change the stereotype view we have on beauty. Several media channels are used to reach this goal: advertising, interactive billboards, panel discussions, and a Self-Esteem Fund.

This campaign has the right intention to work on something that's genuinly a problem in our western modern society. Many women do infact suffer from the social pressure of media, which idealizes the concept of beauty over and over again. On the catwalk you see girls so skinny it's unhealthy, billboards project women enhanced with special technology to look more stunning and soap shows will rarely star girls with body fat percentages over 14%.

Male fatties in Hollywood

The same actually goes for men, but to a much lesser extent. Ofcourse you see male models in commercials and movies that look nothing like the average joe, but at the same time you see these obese men playing lead roles in popular soap spin-offs. This positive attitude towards average looking men can be explained by a different focus. Power, wealth, witiness and confidence are the male qualities to which many thrive. In western society male appearance is considered much less important to measure success, compared to female beauty.

Forest Whitaker

When looking at this list of overweight actors you won't find one female name. Jorge Garcia (Hurley in Lost), John Candy, John Goodman, Forest Whitaker,... they all carry some extra meat. In Hollywood man fat is fab! When finally a movie was made with a lead role for a fat girl, the part had been reserved for another man...

Martin Lawrence playing an overweight woman in "Big Momma's House"

Boosting product sales

So this Dove campaign definitely has chosen a good cause to start a campaign for. The problem with the Dove campaign is their added intention to increase profit margins on their produts. Dove is selling soap, and soap is meant for washing and cleaning yourself (thus having a good appearance), "wash yourselves with dove soap and you shall look prettier", the link is easily made. The campaign must boost product sales. Linking the company's new "everybody is beautiful" image to their products will definitely do just that.

Dove does just the same thing as any other commercial product company. They use the insecurity of women all over the world to sell their product. Besides this fact though, it does have to be said the campaign has substance and delivers on output. With the several incentives launched, Dove tries to spread the awareness of the women's natural beauty.

Beautiful because healthy

When talking about self esteem and looking good, you should not be thinking about products that alter the outside, (make-up or soap). These products can only enhance the way you appear. The real issue at hand is living healthy. Eeating right and exercising occasionaly is very important. To feel good, to look better and to live longer, people (and not women in particular) should respect their body! Eating junk, smoking and drinking a lot do not contribute to this self-respect ideal and only increases your insecurity. To increase your self-esteem you should increase your self-respect.

This concept of being healthy (also mentally) by living healthy sounds familiar, but it's something often forgotten, on purpose. The concept is applicable to many things in life. For example, we often tend to medicalize aches and ailements by taking drugs to treat them. Many of those ailments can be prevented when eating a healthy diet.

The saying "real beauty comes from the inside" definitely applies here. What food you put in your body will determine how you look, feel and thus behave. Living healthy does not mean you have to count calories or that you have to starve yourselves. It means that you should be aware of your eating habbits and what kind of effect it has on your body and mindset. There's so much food being produced that literaly makes you sick (eg. foods containing trans fats), which makes it inevitable that some people eat very unhealthy.

Dove ads and parody

This dove campaign commercial and the following parody visualize my point very well. In this first clip you see a woman being transformed to an unnatural looking billboard model. This is done by applying excessive layers of make-up and by applying photoshop effects:

The next clip is a parody on the previous commercial. The concept is exactly the same as the Dove commercial, but contains a message that has a lot more value (i'm not talking about the final statement!). How you treat and respect your body will have a profound influence on how you look and feel:

ironically, in this clip the man feels happier as he gets unhealthier.

Links:

Dove self esteem campaign