The first time I saw “Dove Evolution” was in Jill Falk’s Survey of the Professional Media class. Each student was given a certain topic for the final project and one student received the topic of women portrayed in the media. She began her project with the famous “Dove Evolution” video. The video showed a normal woman’s transformation into the look of a supermodel with the use of make-up artists, hair stylists, photographers, and digital photo-shop experts.
The media restricts women into two categories: beauty and physique. I don’t think I have to go through all of the tedious examples of magazines or television shows that do this. Just flip through a magazine or turn on your T.V. right now and you’ll see. The way in which women are portrayed in the media has been an ongoing issue since the 1950s. Even then women were supposed to be slim with a pretty face. Dove’s “real beauty” campaign, featuring women that “range in dress sizes from 6 to 14 and have different body types”, is in fact real beauty (Media Ethics 82).
Some might claim that Dove’s advertising agency, Ogilvy and Mather, are just trying to do what every other advertising agency does and that is make money. So, what if Dove was just trying to make money? Isn’t that what we all want? While Dove’s primary goal may have been to make money on their products, their message behind the “real beauty” campaign is what truly matters. Compare a Victory Secret ad to a Dove “real beauty” ad and the truth is revealed. Slim standing next to curvy, brown-hair by blonde and black skin by white, Dove acknowledges the beauty in women’s diverse body types. Helping women feel more beautiful, Dove commercials may also help women with a lack of self confidence.
All women have insecurities. Dove’s “real beauty” campaign gives commonality to all insecurities women may have. Whether or not a woman decides to purchase Dove products after viewing these commercials isn’t the point. In my opinion, Dove simply wanted to advertise their products for the sake of reality. No one is perfect and the “real beauty” campaign by Dove addresses just that.
