The same company that plays the role of “improving the self esteem of young girls” also manipulates the insecurities of women to sell their products. Their ‘Campaign for Real Beauty’ was a real good act. They took a stand against the beauty industry’s brainwashing of young girls and women in our culture and almost got by without criticism from anyone that happens to be immune to the brainwashing of all ads. Yes, even Dove ad’s are full of it. Just check out the compelling video they made about the beauty industry’s effect on young girls. They bring up a good point: that advertisements often objectify women and tell them them that they need to be ‘younger, thinner, firmer, softer‘, but isn’t that the same message that Dove sends out anyway? I mean, this is the same company that markets skin lightening cream in India.
Firmer: Dove had the audacity to market skin firming cream in their ‘Real Women’ campaign. Does this make sense? The most amusing part of the ad is the fact that a qualification for all of the models was to have (quoted from the casting call) “flawless skin and hair… No Scars… beautiful hair and skin is A MUST”. That doesn’t sound to real to me. Check out the ad for the casting call for yourself.
Softer: If you’ve heard the buzz about Dove’s new deodorant ads for ‘Ultimate Go Sleeveless’, then you already know that apparently armpits are ugly too, and in order to be beautiful you need to purchase Dove’s deodorant. It’s not just about body odor anymore, it’s about softer skin. And, it will give you better looking armpits in only 5 days! It’s just what we all need, right?
Self Esteem? Nope. Now that large companies realize that directing their marketing efforts to manipulate women’s self consciousness is so effective, they have decided to test this method out on men. Unilever, Dove’s parent company, is the same one that markets Axe products, which are detrimental for both women and men. Obviously the ads don’t paint a real good pictures in young girls minds: sluty girls desperate to have sex with some guy because he is wearing axe deodorant. Yes, that’s a real good way to boost self esteem. But what does this do to the men who watch the commercials? I mean, it basically is saying “if you want to get laid, you have to spray chemicals on your skin that we call Axe.” Because you don’t have any natural sexiness, it’s all in the can.
By the way, this is also the same company that sells SlimFast. Because you have to be slim to be beautiful! Oh, and they’re also on Peta’s list of companies that test on animals. I think it’s safe to just not support them, what do you think?
