In 2011, Dove’s body wash campaign sparked immense criticism, and rightfully so. It portrays three women, in a gradient from darkest skin tone to the whitest skin tone. A black woman is standing in front of a “before” pane and a white woman is standing in front of an “after” pane. The ads fine print states: “Introducing Dove VisibleCare, our new revolutionary line of body washes that actually improves the look of your skin” (Dove qtd. in Moss, 2011).

Initially, some may applaud Dove for incorporating women of diverse ethnicities. However, this is quickly overlooked as it is evident that Dove is portraying that the lighter your skin tone, the more beautiful and clean you are, while women of colour -specifically black women- are rough, dirty and not as beautiful. This ad suggests their body wash can “improve the look of your skin”, and how they display this improvement is by going from a darker skin tone to a lighter one. Once again perpetuating the stigma that being “white” is the ideal for women’s beauty.

Not only does the ad have the women aligned based off of the gradient of their skin, but also their body size. The woman of colour is curvier, while the white woman is thinner. Dove clearly portrays the notion that being white and thin is the ultimate definition of beauty. Dove (2017) released a statement on their Facebook page stating they are “…committed to representing the beauty of diversity”. However, it is not enough to just incorporate diverse women in campaigns when they are then being compared to white women and portrayed as lesser than.

With my jammed ad, I have attempted to expose Dove’s racist, tone-deaf portrayal of what “visible beauty” is. First, I replaced Dove’s “before” and “after” on the background panes with “ugly” and “beautiful”. I attempt to highlight that Dove has portrayed women of colour, specifically black women, as undesirable and rough. Dove’s ad is targeted to emphasize that their product can allow women to have “visibly more beautiful skin” and how did they represent this transition from ugly to beautiful skin? They did so by having a black woman stand in front of a “before” pane, a white woman stand in front of an “after” pane and a woman with a tanned complexion, stand in between; thus, they portray a gradient of “visibly more beautiful skin” from dark skin (ugly) to white skin (beautiful), and this is what I attempted to expose in my jammed ad.

I want those who look at my jammed ad to recognize that just because there are three different women who differ in skin tone, does not mean this is what inclusive beauty stands for. If anything, this ad perpetuates the racist definition that being white and thin is the highest form of beauty, some may call this “white skin bias”. I altered the bottom text to emphasize that the original ad presents the notion that being any skin tone darker than white is lesser than, and individuals should attempt to lighten their skin to increase their beauty.

In addition, I accentuated the shape of the women’s bodies. I want to highlight that Dove’s ad also indirectly promotes that being thinner is more beautiful, as the white, thinner model is portrayed as the beautiful end-result from the use of their product. While the woman of colour is curvier and is used as an example of what must be improved upon.

I would like to add that Dove’s response to the backlash following the release of this ad ended with, “All three women are intended to demonstrate the “after” product benefit. We do not condone any activity or imagery that intentionally insults any audience” (Dove qtd. in Moss, 2017). If this was Dove’s intent, they had a horrendously poor execution. Dove never apologized for this disturbing ad within their statement. Just because they did not “intentionally” mean to insult diverse ethnicities does not take away from the fact, they did. Frankly, they insulted every audience that was not white, and the fact that they fail to recognize, apologize, and take responsibility for such actions suggests they do not sincerely care about true inclusivity within their brand.

I came across a lot of disturbing ads when searching for one to jam, and this alone was an eyeopening experience. As consumers, we must do research and educate ourselves on the integrity of companies prior to investing our money into them. If we continue to buy products from companies who have a history of unapologetically creating racist advertisements, what does that say about us as consumers?

Dove. Facebook. 7 Oct. 2017,  https://www.facebook.com/DoveUS/posts/1493719354007207. Accessed 1 June. 2020.

Moss, Hilary. ‘Dove VisibleCare’ Ad Called Out For Being Racist (PHOTO, POLL). 23 May. 2011, www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/dove-visiblecare-ad-racist_n_865911.