Wow, that tune is catchy.
Today, The Toronto Star’s Jennifer Wells drew my attention to Onslaught, the latest ad from Dove’s “Campaign For Real Beauty.”
[Video stream might be faster here.]
What do you think of this one? Should Dove stop, or do you like these ads, or are those two totally different questions? Is our self-esteem ultimately determined by corporations? Does Dove give this message credibility? (I can’t count the number of times I’ve tried to make this same point to the glazed-over faces of friends.)
(If you’re just tuning in, we’ve previously discussed the dangers and merits of Dove’s campaign, including pit pride and parent company Unilever’s conflicting messages. And recently we’ve been wondering if corporate marketing can ever really be used for “good.”)
Digg
Facebook
del.icio.us
nine comments
Wow, Erin, thanks for posting this. I am kind of blown away -- this is a highly effective ad! I'm going to think about it some more before I comment... I look forward to this juicy discussion!
Posted by Nicole
October 3, 2007, 9:28 AM
The merit I see in Dove's film/ad campaigns, especially this one, are that they open dialogue for the public. It puts a message into the conscience of an audience, an audience that may not have had this conscience prior to being exposed to said message. We are inundated with negative images and messages of and about women on billboards, on T.V., on the magazine stands but it seems as though collectively, women and men alike are tolerating the message these images are sending. The irony that a beauty company is criticizing the beauty industry, is problematic and a fascinating paradox. But aside from Dove's profiteering, isn't it encouraging and refreshing to see an assault on the disturbing images staring at us from the glossies, the T.V. and even bus shelters? It gets people thinking, reminds us to question what we see. It encourages women and men to take perhaps a new, critical approach in our reaction to the onslaught of beauty standards and challenges us to verbalize counterculture to our children.
Posted by Lilith Attack
October 3, 2007, 9:47 AM
I think the ads are great. I agree with Lilith Attack - they make a great case for simply pausing for a moment to consider everything that we see over the course of a day. And though these images affect adults one way, it's necessary to stop and think what our daughters (nieces, granddaughters, godchildren, etc.) are seeing and internalizing. These images teach them, from a heinously young age, that they are not good enough. Kudos to Dove.
Posted by babysinblack
October 3, 2007, 10:20 AM
You beat me to it!
I've been skeptical of Dove, because the first round of the Campaign for Real Beauty advertised "firming cream" - which also, presumably, "really works". But taken in isolation (if it's possible) this video is pretty fantastic. So now my feelings are mixed.
Posted by Allison
October 3, 2007, 11 AM
The dove ad pretty much captured how I was feeling today.
I was just passing a bus stop today with an ad for Paris and Nicole on it, and Paris was of course half-dressed and she had that stupid look on her face. I just wanted to get a can of black spraypaint and write something over it...but of course, I'm not 13, I can't go around spraypainting bus stops. But "they" can put objectifying images of women at random places all over the city.
Posted by Jaye
October 3, 2007, 4:29 PM
I guess I'm the odd one out, but I really dislike this ad. I do agree that at face value this ad is doing something positive - but I found that their last ad was better at deconstructing the way the beauty industry works. This one just seems to be a case of Dove creating a fake distinction between itself and other companies, all the while patting itself on the back.
I find the way Dove is saying "All these horrible beauty campaigns are so awful! We are so much better than them!" totally disingenuous. We've really clearly seen that Dove is essentially the same as other corporations - the whole progressiver-than-thou vibe really irritates me.
It reeks of a good guys and bad guys approach, where parents and Dove are the noble protectors, other beauty companies are the bad guys, and girls are the helpless victims of vicious beauty campaigns. I think it's incredibly disempowering the way the ultimate message of the ad is not "fight back! resist! overturn!" but "protect your helpless children".
More than that, the ads just seem to miss the point to me. Like I said, it puts the onus on parents - when really the onus should be on beauty companies like Dove, which in the end is not doing anything different. Why doesn't Dove work on changing the industry in a genuine way instead of badmouthing everyone else and then saying it's parents' jobs to fix? Could it be because they don't actually care about self-esteem and this is just an ad campaign? I wonder...
Posted by Thea
October 3, 2007, 5:05 PM
Funny, I just blogged about this ad yesterday! :)
I like the message of the ad but would like it more if I actually believed they were genuinely concerned about the impact of advertising on girls.
I HATE the fact that this kind of thing is coming from Unilever who also make Axe with their unbearably sexist ads. Talk about a mixed message. :P
Posted by Nikita
October 3, 2007, 6:11 PM
what Nikita said
It's really disgusting and telling that Unilever's putting this ad out... using fake concern as an advertising gimmick.
How sick
Posted by emk
October 27, 2007, 11:47 PM
this is very interesting...
the success of this advertising campaign is the same as all the objectifying and pretentious enemy companies....they succeed and profit as a result of failure and imperfection upon an obsessive society, that will sacrifice anything at the cost of something called 'beauty'. i think it's subliminal messages remain just as negative as other adverts....this product will make you better, it will make you feel better. yes, any intelligent and normal individual could argue that this is a positive approach, but what the majority of people do not conceptualize the real targets of the campaign, at unfortunately, it is money. no matter how clever the guise of down to earth, empowered, kind, diverse and good spirited women they put in the ad's, it won't change underlying agendas of profit.
what a clever campaign, they make you feel guilty for wanting the sexy, sleek and cheeky products.....uh, am i the only one who does not want to be defined by a corporate company? all i want is freedom, the freedom to choose. i want to walk into a store and be able to choose dove one day, and perhaps chose a different one another day. if a chose dove will i become a better person?
yes, we need to teach our daughters and sons about the ethics of advertising and representation, BUT.....we also need to teach them to think for themselves, and raise them to shape their own identities, be able to question even the most so called "positive" ad campaigns in post modern soceity.
progressive? maybe....
challenging? maybe....
effective? i think not....
happy reading :)
p.s. im going for a teaching interview for a media studies position, i think i will teach this ad campaign for my lesson, let's see if this is good enough to land me a job:) xx
Posted by kristin
June 27, 2008, 6:01 PM
Leave a comment
This blog post is older than 90 days old. All comments submitted regarding this post will be automatically held for review by the editors before posting. Your comment will not appear on the site until it has been approved.
Our comment policy
Shameless prides itself on the diversity of opinions expressed by our writers, and we encourage and appreciate different points of view. Our intention at Shameless is to foster community and to maintain a safe and positive blogging environment; we do not consider it our duty to give a voice to anybody with an opinion.
Discussion on this site is moderated. We will delete comments that:
(We get to decide what's discriminatory, hateful, attacking, or inflammatory).
In some cases, we will cap off comments on a discussion when we feel they are spiralling out of control and fostering an unwelcoming space for bloggers and readers. Comments will be closed by the Web Editor, unless the post is by the Web Editor, in which case the Editor in Chief will close them.
If your comments repeatedly make the same point, they may be deleted. This also applies to comments made by multiple members of the same organization.
Your comments should be about the topic of the post, not its writer—although we certainly encourage praise for our writers, if you want to say something nice.