[Original Ad]
Dove is one of the most famous brands in the global hair/body shampoo market. Dove has lots of different lines and products, and their market share is high. They advertise their products mostly through TV, radio, Internet, newspaper and posters so their products are exposed to as many people as possible. Due to their brand power and reputation they have earned, their advertisements are also powerful. However, Dove sometimes put themselves into a trouble/controversy as they purposely make advertisements in a very discriminative way. The original advertisement above shows two types of skin: skin before using Dove and after using Dove and used three female models who are ethnically different from each other. The problem arises here. Dove intentionally put a black model in front of the word “before” which gives the viewers an image of the black model as skin before Dove. At the same time, white model is located in front of the word “after” which gives the viewers an image of the white model as skin after Dove. In the advertisement, skin before Dove doesn’t look clean whereas skin after Dove looks very clean. Dove also put a Latin model between the black model (before) and the white model (after) as if the Latin model is a transition point which is very degrading and offensive to coloured women.
[Modified Ad]
Without changing the number of the models used or skin colour of the models, I put “Three models with Dove” so the viewers know that skin before Dove doesn’t belong to anyone. Dove used and compared three different skin colours to deliver a message that white skin is more pure and cleaner than other skin colours. However, the skin condition has nothing to do with the skin colour (or ethnicity). It only depends on whether they used Dove or not so I also stated below the models that “No matter what skin colour you have, the effectiveness of Dove is all same. Just like three models above show”. By putting this message, the viewers can make sure that coloured women used in the advertisement are not meant to represent “before”. No white skin is superior to black or Latin skin.