Dove's "Real Beauty" campaign aims to promote a more inclusive definition of beauty by featuring women of various shapes, sizes and appearances in their advertisements. However, some critics argue that the campaign may unintentionally reinforce unrealistic beauty standards and is primarily a marketing tactic to sell more products. While Dove's intentions seem positive, their ads have sparked negative reactions from those who find the models unattractive or feel the company is encouraging obesity. There is still work to be done in changing societal attitudes around beauty.

1. Beauty Inside and Out RobertTatum
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…almost.
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.“4% 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 womenthendescribedtothe Gil whattheythemselveslooklike andhe woulddraw

2. Beauty Inside and Out RobertTatum
them.Afterall thatwas done andfinishedhe made the womentake alittle breakandtalkto someone
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 waytoexpress
innerandouterbeautyby makingyourealize thatyouare beautiful andshouldhave some confidence in
your stride.Thisbringsitbackto the mediasentimentallytellingwomenthattheydonotlookbeautiful
so withoutevenasecondthoughttheypointouttheirflawsfirstandneversayanythinggood
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.

3. Beauty Inside and Out RobertTatum
So notall advertisersare badasyou can see here,butoverall the majorityof themsetstandards
and use Photoshoptomake unreal womenormale models.ThisPhotoshopneedstostopandit has
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.
However,the reasonthatI focuson The Dove Campaignisbecause of the backlashthat
happened andJenniferL.Poznercansee the flawsinthiscampaign.Poznerexpressesthatthe campaign
iswell anddoesconveythatwomenshouldlike whotheyare notmatterwhattheylooklike,butthe
onlyproblemisthatwhenthe commercialsstartto come out a new productfrom Dove also
convenientlycomesoutaswell.Notonlythis,butina waythe Dove advertisementisadouble edged
sword.“Yet eventhoughDove’s“Real Beauty”adsplaytoand subtlyreinforce the stereotypesthey
claimto be exposing,it’simpossiblenottofeel inspiredbythe sightof these attractive,healthywomen
smilingplayfullyatusfrom theirplacesof billboardhonor,theirvoluptuouscurvesall the more luscious
alongside the bags-of-bonesincompetitors’campaigns.”(Pozner220) Was thisreallyjustan advertising
stuntall along? Going backto the quote “2% of womenworldwidedescribe themselvesasbeautiful;and
81% of U.S. womenstronglyagree that"the mediaandadvertisingsetanunrealisticstandardof beauty
that mostwomencan't everachieve”,there wasanotherstatisticthatSusanChumskypointedout
whichis“…the researchalsofoundthat71 percentwomenare satisfiedwiththeirbeauty.”Thisis
interestingandwhywouldDove leave thatout?Iam not sayingitis a strategyto catch people’s
attentionwiththe statistics,butitdefinitelyseemsthatway. Notonly hasthat buta mannamed
RichardRoepermade a statementthatwouldjustsnowball thiswhole thing.He says““Ifindthese Dove
ads a little unsettling.If Iwantto see plumpgalsbaringtoo muchskin,I’ll goto Taste of Chicago,
OK….Whenwe’re talkingwomenintheirunderwearonbillboardsoutside mylivingroomwindows,give

4. Beauty Inside and Out RobertTatum
me the fantasybabes,please.If thatmakesme soundsuperficial,shallow andsexist—wellyes,I’ma
man.” (Pozner221) Withthiscommenteveryone hadafielddayandit wasalmosta runninggag
insultingthe womenonthe billboardsandalsothrowingoutphraseslike“We shouldn’tencourage
people inbeingoutof shape.”These are boldstatementsthatthe mediacanjustconsume andalthough
it isbad and notencourages the campaignat all Dove isstill benefiting fromitdue tothe mediaitis
getting.Nomatterwhatit isstill gettingattentionsothatexplainsthe 24% increases of sales. We should
not pointfingersonwhose faultthisis,butwhatwe shouldcome outof thisis that there isstill a
probably withthe societyfindingtheseadsdisturbingandwe shouldjustswitchbacktomore “perfect”
lookingmodelswhichiswhatthe campaignitself wastryingtogo againstbutit ironicallysparkedthey
exactopposite of whattheywere tryingtoportray.The fact that the menare soquickto judge the
womeninthe billboardisveryshockingandheavilysupportingthatthere issomethingverywrongwith
today’sbeautystandardsandwiththe campaignstill goingon,onlytime cantell whatwill come outof
this.

5. Beauty Inside and Out RobertTatum
References
1. BuzzFeedYellow(June28,2014). RetrievedJune 26,2014
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RT9FmDBrewA
2. Female Body- WestminsterCollege (n.d.).RetrievedJune26,2015
http://www.westminstercollege.edu/myriad/index.cfm?parent=...&detail=4475&content=4795
3. Jack (n.d.).RetrievedJune26,2014
http://www.adsavvy.org/25-most-racist-advertisements-and-commercials/
4. Malgorzata Wolska(January9, 2011). RetrievedJune 26,2014

6. Beauty Inside and Out RobertTatum
http://krytyka.org/gender-stereotypes-in-mass-media-case-study-analysis-of-the-gender-
stereotyping-phenomenon-in-tv-commercials/
5. PTB (January28, 2013). RetrievedJune26,2015
https://11pb32.wordpress.com/2013/01/28/unrealistic-standards-set-for-men-in-the-media/
6. Dove’s“Real Beauty”Backlash(Fall 2005)
https://online.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781457605741/pages/229202150
Case Study:Dove'sBrand AwarenessFindsBeautyinReal Women
Anonymous.PRNews63.33(Aug20, 2007).
http://search.proquest.com/docview/204215621/4A3F44F1E5F041D2PQ/6?accountid=38189

7. Beauty Inside and Out RobertTatum