1. Beauty Inside and Out
Today if youaskedpeople whattheythinkof themselves,almosteveryone willstartoff with
somethingnegative andbegintobringthemselvesdown.Noone eversaysIhave the besteyesormy
nose or cheeksare perfectandwhyis that?What makespeople questionhow theylookandwhyare
people notcallingthemselvesbeautiful?The answeristhe mediasettingunrealisticstandards toward
womenall overthe worldtoachieve the perfectbodyevenwhenitisunachievable.Althoughmost
people knowthatisunachievable,itisslowlypickingawayatnot onlytheirself-confidence,butalso
theirconfidence togetthrougheverydaylife.It’saviciouscommercialstrategythathasto stopand
Dove isdoinga perfectjobinhelpingbringnotice tothe subject.
What Dove callsthe “The Dove CampaignforReal Beauty”is the perfectthinginwhichIam
tryingto expresshere.ForyearsDove hasfocusedongettingthe wordoutthat you don’tneedmake-up
or any otherbeautyproductto call yourself beautiful.Youjustneedtobelieve thatyouare beautiful
and youare, it’sthatsimple.Nowwhatthisarticle bringstothe table isstaggeringandhonestlymakes
me feel alittle saidinside knowingthatthisisthe resultto society’sstandardonbeauty.“2% of women
worldwide describethemselvesasbeautiful;and81% of U.S. womenstronglyagree that"the mediaand
advertisingsetanunrealisticstandardof beautythatmostwomencan't everachieve”(Anonymous1).
If womenknowthisthenwhyisit theyjustletthat be the standard andput themdown?Well insteadof
addressingthe problemthatwayDove takesa differentapproachandfindswaysto make women
discoverforthemselvesthattheyare beautiful.
In 2014 Dove posteda videoof a mannamed Gil Zamora whowas an FBI sketchartistand Dove
askedhimto talk and draw to these womenandneverlookattheirface.Thiswasthe Sketch
Experiment.The womenthen describedtothe Gil whattheythemselveslooklike andhe woulddraw
them.Afterall thatwas done andfinishedhe made the womentake alittle breakandtalkto someone
2. while takingthe break.The artiststill notseeinganyone’sfacesaskthe person todescribe the other
womenthathe/she talkedto.Thatiswhenyoustart to see the differencesbetweenthe twopictures.
The drawingthat the womendescribedthemselvesdidnotevenlooklike thematall.Theylookedugly
inthe average person’seyes. The drawingnexttoitwasthe drawingwhenthe otherpersondescribed
herand she lookedbeautiful andmore the drawinglookedmore accurate.Atthe endof the videoyou
theyput in7 simple words“youare more beautiful thanyouthink.”Whata powerful wayto express
innerandouterbeautyby makingyourealize thatyouare beautiful andshouldhave some confidence in
your stride.Thisbringsitbackto the mediasentimentallytellingwomenthattheydonotlookbeautiful
so withoutevenasecondthoughtthey pointouttheirflawsfirstandneversayanythinggood
throughoutthatwhole thing.Self-confidenceishardto getinthe firstplace andwe don’tneedsome big
companyto tell uswhat we needtobe confidentor“beautiful.”
Dove doesn’tstopthere;2015, Dove takestwo signsandput themovertwoseparate doors
that go intothe same place.The signssay “Average”and“Beautiful”andtheykeepthemupfora while.
Whenthe signscatch the people’sattentiontheystopinfrontof the two doorsand are thinkingabout
whethertheyare beautifulornot.Afterlonginthoughtmostof the people walkthroughthe average
door andneverlookback.Aftermanytimeswalkingthroughthe doorsthoughsome peoplestarted
walkingthroughthe beautiful door.Why?The answeristhe people were tiredof beingaverage and
decidedtomake a change and go to the beautiful door.Thatisa signof mediathatcan change people’s
perspectivesonhowtheysee themselvesandothers.Womensaidwhenwalkingthroughthe beautiful
door theyfeltaccomplishedandheldtheirheadhighbecause theydofeel beautiful nomatterwhat
people say.
So notall advertisersare badasyou can see here,butoverall the majorityof themsetstandards
and use Photoshoptomake unreal womenormale models.ThisPhotoshopneedstostopandit has
3. made an effectonsome countrieslike Spain.Spainactuallybannedextremelyskinnymodelsandthey
require acertainweighttoperformona beautyor model show. Thisshowsthatchange can be made,
and at leastpeople are tryingthingstogetthisbeautyMeta outand accept people forwhattheylook
like andwhotheyare.
