Dove’s Real Beauty Campaign began with “Beyond Compare: Women Photographers On Real Beauty”, which was an exhibit organized by Dove and Ogilvy and Mather. The exhibit featured the work of sixty-seven female photographers that marked the beginning of a quest to understand women’s thoughts on beauty. This quest would eventually evolve into the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty. In 2006, Dove released a video titled “Evolution,” that displayed a beautified model for a photo shoot only for her already beautiful image to be further photoshopped. This video showed that perhaps the reason “beauty” has been associated with a single image is due to what we’re shown in media.
However, the soap company didn’t stop there. In 2013, Dove launched another video titled “Dove Real Beauty Sketches | You’re more beautiful than you think (6mins)” in which women were asked to describe themselves to a Gil Zamora, an FBI-trained forensic artist. Not only were the women asked to describe themselves, but also each other. The video displayed how vastly different the perceptions of ourselves are in comparison to how others see us. While it’s easy to speak, it is even harder to put words into action. But Dove did. With the launch of a billboard titled “Real Diverse Women in Underwear,” Dove showcased beautiful women of different shapes and ethnicity, proving that beauty is not as cut and dry as media may have us believe.
While the distortion of body image is not a new idea, Dove’s campaign has only brought more attention to how beauty is morphed. The idea of beauty and how we perceive it has been influenced by everything we see around us. Dove’s use of videos to display how today’s society perceives beauty only spurs the message onward. While it is easy to write about something, it is even harder to show it. Through the aforementioned videos, Dove has greatly displayed the effects that the media has had on our perception of body image. While words may have an equally powerful effect the use of video allows the content to be more spreadable, as most would rather watch a video than read an article. The use of video allows people to share and spread Dove’s message, creating a powerful impact in the fight for the love of one’s body.
Works Cited
Bahadur, Nina. “How Dove Tried To Change The Conversation About Female Beauty”. Huffpost Canada, 2014, https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/dove-real-beauty-campaign-turns-10_n_4575940. Accessed 7 Nov 2018.