Dove's Campaign For Real Beauty-Rough Draft

Many people agree that the issues of using photo shop in editorial ads and the way the media portrays women needs to be addressed. The overwhelming amount of young girls who believe they are not beautiful is growing at a rapid pace and a majority of adult women do not feel completely happy with the way their bodies look (Bahadur, Nina). To spark a conversation about how women thought about their beauty, Dove launched a campaign 10 years ago this past January and it has been going strong ever since. It started with a photography exhibit featuring women of all shapes, sizes and color and has turned into several shocking videos that have gone viral. These videos are meant to bring awareness to women that the beauty standard they hold themselves to, is not at all what it should be. Though some people argue that this campaign is only going “skin-deep” in a definition of beauty, it still is raising eyebrows to how we, as a society view beauty and how that needs to change. I believe that these videos tug at the heartstrings and shock viewers into understanding the unrealistic expectations the media has put on us and how it affects our own perceptions of ourselves.

Dove’s first ‘Real Beauty’ video was a time-lapse called Evolution. It featured an “average” looking woman who went through a makeup and hair session to look more “glamorous.” It then showed the process of using photo shop to transform her into a society-based “billboard worthy” model by lengthening her neck, getting rid of blemishes, changing her eye shape and other various physical changes. In the beginning, it sounds as if there is a manager on set introducing but you can’t really distinguish what he is saying. It gives you the impression that you are about to witness a production of sorts; like a movie or something. There are no other spoken words in the video, just background chattering which is interesting because it gives the illusion of chaos which reflects what the world of “fake beauty” is. The way us viewers see it, it’s as if we are looking at the model from the sidelines as she is whisked away and changed before our very eyes into someone we don’t recognize anymore. At the end, the tagline pops up on screen and states “No wonder our perception of beauty is distorted.” This video shocked its viewers and many people realized that what they compare their bodies and beauty to, is actually completely fake. They use a mix between ethos and pathos to argue why this is wrong. We understand that ethically (ethos), the model is being physically changed before our eyes by an editing program, creating something that is not real but claiming she is real. They also toy with your emotions by making women realize that they compare themselves to unrealistic standards that are completely fake. You can view the video here.

The video achieved what Dove wanted it to by starting the conversation of how women view themselves. Take Part featured an article written by Melissa Rayworth discussing the Dove campaign and she says that the video was successful in the fact that “we've begun to make a habit of questioning how women are depicted and what tools are being used to change or edit their appearance for public consumption.” Logically, after viewing these videos, the first thing that most people do now is wonder what was done to edit each and every magazine cover, commercial and billboard they see. This creates some uncertainty of trust in the media and what they show the general population.

Dove’s most recent video published in April 2013 features the rhetorical question of whether women think they aren’t as beautiful as they actually are. A diverse group of seven women were recruited and told to describe what they look like to an FBI-trained forensic artist who was not able to see them. One by one, they were asked to describe themselves in general terms and what they perceived their features to look like. Some women described themselves using phrases like “I have a wide set jaw” or “I would say I have a pretty big forehead.” The artist finished up the sketches and each woman was sent out without viewing the finished product. Then, they were told to describe another woman from the group. They all had met briefly earlier in the day and were told to spend time with each other but had no further instructions. The descriptions from the other participants sounded much less critical and were expressed as “she had a cute nose” or “she had very nice blue eyes that lit up when she spoke.” When the two sketches of the same woman were compared, the differences were obvious. All of the self-described sketches looked considerably older and not as realistic to what each woman actually looked like. All of the images described by the other participants tended to look happier, friendlier and more accurate. As one woman said “I should be more grateful for my natural beauty. It impacts the choices of friends that we make, the jobs we apply for, how we treat our children. It impacts everything. Couldn’t be more critical to your happiness.” The forensic artist then asks “Do you think you’re more beautiful than you say?” And the woman nodded in response. The tagline of the campaign is: "You are more beautiful than you think" (Gray, Emma). You can view the video here.

So the question is, does the Dove Real Beauty Campaign really change women’s views of beauty? In some ways, I think it has, and in others, I don’t think it has met the mark completely. On one hand, it has brought awareness to the general public that what we view as beautiful in the media, is mostly fake. On the other hand, women will always compare their beauty to something. Let me explain. These videos have definitely helped women understand and appreciate their natural beauty and have taught them to question what makes them beautiful which is an amazing thing. But, like I said, women will always be comparing themselves to something; it’s just in our human nature. I do love how this campaign has really made people realize that what a lot of media shows us is ethically wrong. Does that mean that all magazine covers feature edited models? Not necessarily, however it does make us question how these people achieved their level of glamorous beauty. We, as women, need to take a step back and really analyze how we let so many things dictate the way we feel about ourselves. Like the one saying goes “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” and it’s true. We need to realize that our own natural beauty is what makes us unique. That uniqueness is what makes us such beautiful souls. We need to embrace every curve, size, color and unique feature that makes us gorgeous women. I do think that the Dove Real Beauty Campaign has been a light guiding the way to a different view of how women perceive beauty.