Prompt 4

In this day and age, where most people agree that the models one sees on television and magazines aren't examples of real or normal people, Dove has done a curious thing. Amidst this environment, they have taken advantage of people's want for self-esteem and acceptance and used it in their advertising campaign. It is important to notice this, because if one fails to do so, they might miss the clever things Dove is doing to sell their products, and not necessarily do what they're suggesting they are.

Taking the example of a print ad, with a very freckled young woman gazing contentedly into the lens of the camera. We are given two options to the side of her face, with small check boxes next to them, indicating a selection. The top option says, 'ugly spots?' while the bottom contrasts with 'beauty spots?' Even smaller words below say, 'Does beauty mean looking like everyone else?' This particular ad is giving only a small amount of options. I personally would call the spots on this woman's body 'freckles'; I believe few people would chose the word 'ugly spots' because this woman is not ugly, nor do the spots on her body make her so. But beauty spots is going a bit far. The selection is not true to form. There are not only two extremes of people, however, Dove is suggesting there are only two choices. Also, the small writing below suggests that if we say 'no', we agree this woman is beautiful. I admit beauty can have variety, but again, I feel like I am forced into two answers. Even so, this kind of ad gives Dove ethos. It is standing up for freckles, and that everyone can be beautiful. But not...everyone. It's interesting to see who they left out in their campaign. Even though this woman has freckles, she is still 'beautiful' besides them. It is interesting to consider that even though Dove is gaining support of their campaign, they aren't using non-beautiful people to participate in it because they realize not many people would enjoy looking at them and it would not associate well with the products they are trying to sell.

Speaking of those products, I also looked over one of the videos released by Dove entitled 'Pro-Age'. This video featured attractive late forties women sitting tastefully nude and smiling, words after them, 'Too old to be in an anti-aging ad'. Thereafter they say something along the lines of, 'this isn't anti-age, this is pro-age' and then a speaker introduces the products along with the narration 'beauty has no age limit'. Well, if it doesn't, why didn't you show us eighty, or ninety year olds? Clearly beauty does have an age limit, or I'm certain Dove would have paraded them in front of us to prove this point. But again, it was only late-forties women. The close-ups on their body weren't even focused on their wrinkles, but rather tight, youthful-looking skin. It's simply the ethos they're using, to make them seem like a good company working for the aging woman, on her side. Also interesting is that even though they label their products as pro-age, they are still anti-aging products. The natural processes of aging are slowed through their use. If Dove came out with a product that would wrinkle one's skin, that, I accept, may be labeled pro-age without any eyebrow quirks from me. Until then, I applaud their efforts to make a unique campaign that makes women feel good, however, I still believe their main focus is to make money, and thus they do things that defeat their own message quite blatantly.