Dove Campaign for Real Beauty
MEDIA STUDIES 120
MS. M. WUEST
The Real Beauty Campaign
 In 2004, Dove launched the very successful Campaign for
Real Beauty which features real women, not models,
advertising Dove's firming cream.
 The advertisements focus on promoting real, natural
beauty, in an effort to offset the unrealistically thin and
unhealthy archetypal images associated with modelling.
 The sentiment is articulated quite strongly through their
slogan "real women have curves" as well as the campaign's
Web site, which features quotes from each of the Campaign
for Real Beauty models. The women share their
perspectives on what real beauty is and why they wanted to
be involved in the campaign.
The Campaign in Canada
 In November 2005, casting agents representing Dove Canada were in
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Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver to find a
new group to participate in print and TV ads. The ads focus entirely on
body image.
The second phase kicked-off with a television and cinema
advertisement (aired during Superbowl XL) which featured Canadian
girls and adolescents aged five through fourteen.
The girls share what they believe to be their own personal flaws. One
dark-haired girl "wishes she were blonde." Another "thinks she's ugly."
A red-haired girl "hates her freckles."
The girl's statements are underscored by Cyndi Lauper's True Colors,
sung by the Girl Scouts Chorus of Nassau County, N.Y.
Dove - True Colors
Campaign: 2013
 Now there are the Dove Real Beauty sketches. It is a genius ad
campaign that went viral. It became the most watched video (Week of
May 30, 2013) on YouTube with more than 110 million views.
 The video goes like this: A forensic artist was hired to sketch women
based on the women’s description of themselves. He then drew the
same women by asking someone else to describe her features. The
ladies are presented the sketches side by side. In each case, the sketch
the women contributed to was less flattering than the one where she
was described by someone else.
 The tag line to the ad reads “You’re more beautiful than you think.”
The Dove Campaign
 Dove - Evolution
 Dove – Onslaught
 Dove – Amy
 Dove Pro-age Campaign
 Dove For Men
 Dove- Real Beauty Sketches
Dove
 What is the message, or theme, of the ad campaign?
 Who is the target audience?
 How do the media makers make a wide variety of
people value the message they’re sending?
 These ads, and this campaign have become classic
Dove, which purports to be on a mission to change
our perception of what’s “beautiful.”
 The campaign has elicited many kudos for Dove. But
are they warranted?
 It’s refreshing to think a corporate giant is looking
out for our well-being – but is this the case?
 Dove’s ads use copy scolding advertisers: “Don’t
manipulate our perceptions of real beauty.” The ads feature
real women of all shapes, sizes and ages, rather than
models. Essentially the “Real Beauty” campaign is a
campaign against traditional ads and advertisers which
commonly use impossibly skinny models, with ample
cleavage and flawless skin. Those ads, say Dove’s research,
contribute to women’s negative body images.
 In addition to changing women’s perception of
themselves, Dove is also aiming at girls. The
company’s latest ad said this: “Buy Dove and raise a
girl’s self-esteem.”
 How does your deodorant purchase help to raise a
girl’s self-esteem?
 Visit Dove’s website and you will find the “The Dove
Self Esteem Fund.” According to the website each
time you buy Dove, you help provide self-esteem
building for girls
UNILEVER
 Questions about the campaign can be directed to
Dove’s Head Office. Which is Unilever.
 Incidentally, Unilever is also head office for Axe.
 AXE is the brand that claims to have “been helping guys get
the girl” since 1983. AXE makes personal care products for
men and therefore its ads are targeted to men. They are full
of buxom blondes wearing skimpy clothing and oozing sex
appeal. The ads are the antithesis of Dove’s.
AXE: A Unilever product, just like Dove.
 With its coolly seductive
fragrances and packaging,
the brand has established
itself as the world's top
male grooming brand by
coming up with a constant
stream of new ideas to keep
guys a step ahead in the
mating game. Each year,
for example, they launch a
new deodorant fragrance.
The Axe Ad Campaigns
 YouTube - Funny Axe
Ads - Touch the Girls
 YouTube - Axe Dark
Temptation
 YouTube – Axe
 YouTube - The AXE
Effect - Women –
Billions
How did our idea of beauty get so distorted?
 So while the Dove Self Esteem Fund asks “How did
our idea of beauty become so distorted?” it doesn’t
have to look further than its sister company AXE for
the answer.
 Ironically, the company that aims to end self-esteem
issues in women, is also complicit in contributing to
them.
Assignment
 Find a partner.
 Complete the questions assigned.
 Consider your stance on this broader question:
“Dove and Axe:
Examples of Hypocrisy or Good Marketing?”
Be prepared to defend your stance in a class
discussion.