Today I'm going to comment/rant about something that I have been seeing going around the internet. It is the above picture comparing Victoria Secret's "Love My Body" campaign versus Dove's "Real beauty" campaign.
Now, I think that Dove is attempting to have admirable intentions with what they are trying to achieve through their "real beauty campaign" but to me the above picture falls short in several ways.
First: The Above Comparison suggests that Women with Thin Body's are not "Really" Beautiful
I think a major downfall of Dove's campaign is that they are displaying the -median- women rather than showing true diversity. Notice how none of the Dove models look like the VS models? This is suggesting that only "real women" look like the women in the Dove campaign.
Now, the VS models believe or not, naturally have bodies like that. I find women are quick to say “well VS models are NOT healthy, they’re anorexic”. This is wrong and extremely hurtful for women with this type of body (they’re called ectomorphs). Yes, they work out and eat a certain way, yes it is wrong to over sexualize them, and only use that type of model to sell a product, but I feel Dove is saying there is something wrong if a women looks like a VS model. That is bullshit... period.
Second: What About the Other Women Dove?
Similarly, Dove has also left out of their campaign muscular women, obese women, disabled women, body builders, fitness competitors, women with skin conditions... the list could go on.
Are they saying that these women are not beautiful too?
Again, are they suggesting that the only beautiful women are the ones with an average 25-30% body fat type range of similar height and age who wear bad knickers? Dove has repeatedly said their goal with the "real beauty” campaign is to have women enhance their body esteem by showing diversity. I would argue that this picture (although is superficially diverse) is about as variable as white rice on white bread.
Dotting a couple of different ethnicities and hair colours in a group of women does not = representation of all women, sorry Dove!
Third: Where's the men Dove?
To me this highlights very nicely the transparency of Dove's mission. Yes women have low body esteem generally, but so do a lot of men. So why aren't they part of this social responsibility crusade that Dove has taken upon themselves.... Oh that's right, men aren't Dove's target market.
To me, as a multi billion dollar company, if you are going to attempt to be socially responsible, try not to use it to make a profit. I know, I know, everyone is looking for a profit, even the most serious of social crusades (i.e., the fight against cancer), but to me, if your motives behind something are to bring in a profit by seeming to care about your target audience, it just screams wrong to me.
Anyway, I thought Dove sold soap type products.... not naked ladies
Fourth: Why the HELL are these women in their underwear.....
Necessary to have an impact in the world of media.... possibly. Trying to get the message across women should be comfortable naked, maybe....
However, if I look closely at this picture, it seems to embody a lot of the things that disempower women, rather than empower them
a) A lot of the women look meek and passive: You should be confident with your body women! Wait… don’t be too confident/muscular/dominant, we wouldn't want you to wander out of the kitchen now would we?
b) They are in their underwear: Nothing is more empowering to women's esteem than saying that their worth is based on what they look like naked! Forget that law degree… it means nothing in the bedroom.
c) Absence of Personality: This is a prime example of the pure objectification of women. We have no inclination of their personalities, their lives, their dreams or their desires in this picture. They are objects, pieces of meat in poorly selected underwear. Go women!
I guess what I'm getting at here is that although this advertisement an attempt to empower women and stimulate change in what a beautiful women is, it falls short in many many ways.
Rant....over
Stay Strong!
~Byn
