Tag Archives: dove

The Soapbox: The Problem With The Dove Real Beauty Sketches Campaign

Kate FridkisApril 18, 2013 //
Dove Sketches
The Dove Real Beauty Sketches Campaign. Read More »
Mirror, Mirror: Rules
Kate comes up with better beauty rules. Read More »
Racist Dove Ad
Is this Dove ad racist? Read More »

Don’t get me wrong, I am a sucker for the message “seriously, though, you’re beautiful.” And I agree with the viral clip, so many of us get distracted by all of our perceived flaws. We get caught up in criticizing our appearances and miss out on our own beauty. We are often more generous toward strangers than we are toward ourselves.

I like that the Dove Real Beauty Sketches campaign is pointing all of this out. I hope it starts a bunch of conversations. And I hope that my reaction is interpreted as a continuation of the conversation, rather than nitpicking criticism. Because I really don’t want to nitpick, I just want to point out some things I noticed as I was watching.

In the clip, some lovely, thin, mostly white women who are all pretty young describe their appearances to a forensic artist, who sketches them without looking at them. And then other people describe these women, and the artist starts all over again, based on the new description. At the end, the women are shown the two portraits of themselves, and they can see how differently the sketched faces turned out, based on the descriptions. They realize that they’ve been unnecessarily critical of their appearances. Keep reading »

Is This Dove Ad Racist?

Julie GersteinMay 25, 2011 //

Look at this advertisement for Dove’s new VisibleCare line. Notice anything “off” about it? I didn’t at first — until rants began appearing around the web claiming that Dove’s model placement seemed suspect. At issue: the African-American model is placed on the “before” side of the ad to signify, say some, that dark skin can be scrubbed into a pleasant white “after” shade. What do you think? Is the model placement merely a coincidence, or do you think Dove’s advertising team needs an attitude adjustment? [Huffington Post] Keep reading »

Nike Likes Big Butts And It Cannot Lie

Jessica WakemanAugust 3, 2010 //

What’s the best way to sell running shoes to women? Nike goes with big butts. (Well, “big” by print advertising standards. You’re not going to see Gabby Sidibe‘s ass in any of these Nike Women ads.) In 2005, the company hawked its lady products with a big juicy booty. Similar to Dove’s Real Beauty campaign, a print advertisement declaring “My butt is big” was pretty groundbreaking at the time. Critics, however, disliked the fact that only a woman’s ass — as opposed to, say, her face — was used in the ad.

Now, five years later, Nike Women is recycling their big butts and, oh joy, the model isn’t just a disembodied bottom. But, personally, I’m not crazy about it. Some of us don’t have an interest in doing “ten thousand lunges” and couldn’t care less about luring “herds of skinny women away from the best deals at clothing sales.” We just rock our big butt for our big butt’s sake!

What do y’all think of Nike Women’s new ad? [Guanabee.com] Keep reading »

Frisky Rant: “Mad Men” Is Making Advertisers Comfortable With Sexism Again

Ami AngelowiczAugust 2, 2010 //

Maybe it was because last night’s episode of “Mad Men” was a little slow—my brain couldn’t process that it was Christmas time—but I found myself actually paying attention to the commercials. Yes, commercials are always annoying, but last night’s were particularly so. I couldn’t help but be especially irked by the blatant sexism in the Clorox and Dove ads. Before you roll your eyes, let me explain what I mean. Keep reading »

Today’s Lady News: Dove To Cast “Flawless” Women In New “Real Beauty” Campaign

Jessica WakemanJune 28, 2010 //
  • Dove is casting new models for its “Real Beauty” campaign. Cool! Who are they looking for? “Real women.” Cool! What do these real women have to look like? “Flawless skin, no tattoos or scars.” Oh. [Styleite.com]
  • Remember Provincetown, Massachusetts, the town that voted to give all students in grades K-12 a condom if they want one? MA’s governor, Deval Patrick, poo-poos the idea. [CNN]
  • The Senate Judiciary Committee has started the confirmation hearing for Elena Kagan, the country’s solicitor general. If confirmed, Kagan would be the third women to sit on the Supreme Court. [BBC]

Keep reading »

Dove To Release A Super Duper Body Wash

Zandile BlayJuly 28, 2009 //

Honestly, because just keeping you clean isn’t enough. These days we need our body washes to multi-task: moisturize, tone and doedorize. Dove hears our cries and is answering it with a new line of body washes which make more promises than a politician during election year. The as yet titled sopas are made with a special NutriumMoisgture technology which was developed at Dove labs in New Jersey. What’s so special about them? They keep oils and your skin while you bath instead of making it dry. Keep reading »

Ellen DeGeneres Is The New Face Of CoverGirl

Wendy AtterberrySeptember 17, 2008 //

This week, Ellen DeGeneres was announced as the new face of CoverGirl. While I’m a big fan of the very out and very outspoken talk show host, I feel a little uneasy about where CoverGirl is really coming from with their latest cover girl choice. Without a doubt, DeGeneres is likable, quirky, relatable — heck, she’s even “easy breezy.” But hawking a major cosmetics brand? I don’t know. To me, it feels gimmicky and phony, like a marketing ploy, in the same way the Dove campaign for “real beauty” did. As it turned out, Dove airbrushed those real women into oblivion. I didn’t buy that Dove ever thought real women with real cellulite and real curves were really beautiful. Nor do I buy that CoverGirl really thinks Ellen is representative of their very airbrushed All-American girl image. I mean, it’d be one thing if she were a lipstick lesbian, but does Ellen even like makeup? Maybe she does. Maybe she doesn’t. But I’m willing to bet she’s not hung up on it. Color me cynical, but using unconventional beauty to sell products designed to bring women closer to the ideal standard of conventional beauty just seems disingenuous to me. So what do you think? Keep reading »

Wonderbra Plans The Largest Lingerie Shoot Ever

Catherine StrawnJune 18, 2008 //

Wonderbra is trying to organize the world’s biggest underwear shoot ever, and let me tell you, there is a lot of competition in this category. They’re looking for 1,000 women in London to photograph in their new line of bras. We smell a bigger version of Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty. At least with so many models, the people will be so small that airbrushing won’t really be a factor. [MarieClaire.co.uk]

Keep reading »

Dove’s Side Of The Airbrushing Story

Catherine StrawnMay 9, 2008 //

Dove finally issued a statement about the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty ads and whether they were airbrushed. They say that there wasn’t any major retouching on the photos, only removal of dust and minor color correction. Pascal Dangin, the retoucher, confirms this: “The recent article published by The New Yorker incorrectly implies that I retouched the images in connection with the Dove “real women” ad. I only worked on the Dove ProAge campaign taken by Annie Leibovitz and was directed only to remove dust and do color correction — both the integrity of the photographs and the women’s natural beauty were maintained.” Who can you believe? [JolieNadine.com via Jezebel]

Previously: Even “Real” Women Are Digitally Enhanced Keep reading »