On the Wings of Dove

This is a must-view for anyone who has young daughters, nieces, friends... It's been getting quite a bit of play this last week, but the first place I saw it was on Marketing Profs. The post (and accompanying video) show quite graphically how the advertising world creates an untrue and unattainable image of 'beauty' that's causing our little girls to develop terrible body images, and unhealthy obsessions with thin-is-beautiful, beauty=good, and with "beauty" (whatever that means) in general.

Dove Evolution


A few years ago, Dove soap had an ad campaign in the states that showcased "real" women - i.e., women that looked like us, like our friends, like our colleagues. Perfectly attractive, but normal: normal looks, normal weight. Normal. I don't usually buy Dove products, but I did in the wake of this ad. And I'll do so again, based on the ad that they're running in Canada that demonstrates what goes into making someone who looks like the rest of us into a super-model: the make-up, the hair-do, and - this is the worst - the pixel-by-pixel sculpting of the model's face to make her look thinner. This ad - which I would hope will run in the States at some point - is a real eye-opener.

Maybe it's all marketing gimmick, but Dove is doing the world in general (and young girls and young women in particular) by exposing this less than savory use of Photoshop to glorify something that doesn't exist.

I'm going out and buying some more Dove. (And Dove products will be stocking stuffers for my 9 and 10 year old nieces come Christmas.)