The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty... RIGHT.

When I first heard of the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty, I thought it was a great idea. Why should we let the media control our standards for beauty? Sure, models are great. I have friends who are models. Photoshop is pretty cool. I wish I could use it better.

But these things aren't an accurate representation of real people. Last I checked, there is another approximately 99.99% of people who aren't models. And girls are heavily targeted by this kind of advertising. So Dove decided to use regular women in their marketing. Way to go, Dove, lead the moral way in advertising.

But wait just a second. Look at your bottle of Dove lotion/deodorant/shampoo/anti-cellulite cream or what have you. I'd like you to notice the little Unilever logo on it. Unilever is the company that owns Dove.

Now go find a can of Axe.
What can you find?

That's right. Axe is also owned by Unilever. I'm certain you've seen at least one Axe commercial. You know, the ones where some guy sprays the product liberally and skinny, scantily clad young women flock to him.

These ads are nothing but degrading. Towards both women and men, actually. Women are portrayed as objects, and the men are controlled by their hormones. What happened to Real Beauty? What happened to the noble cause?

Well, sadly, I think the hypocrisy of Unilever was there all along. Even looking solely at Dove; they sell BEAUTY PRODUCTS. As in, things you use to be more beautiful. How is this promoting the idea of being happy with your body?

Add in to all this that Unilever is also responsible for giving the world Slimfast... It's always about the money, isn't it?


For more on the topic, visit this site as a starting point:
http://www.cbc.ca/streetcents/guide/2005/02/s07_01.html