Ten years with Dove's 'Real Beauty'

Based on a lovely presentation in a class i had last week, I decided to write an article on one of my other classes, but I also wanted to share it here:

Through the last 10 years, Dove has produced numerous of campaigns supporting and promoting real beauty. The first groundbreaking campaign came in 2004 and it asked people 'oversized or outstanding’, 'ageing or ageless' ect. based on pictures of what Dove called 'real women'. 

Though it is discussable what the 'real woman' should look like, it brought awareness to the never-ending discussion about body image, in a time where models were a size double zero. 

So have Dove helped change the image over the years? They have certainly made an effort. Here are some of the most outstanding Dove ‘Real Beauty’ Campaigns the last ten years.

Dove Evolution:

The first big video-campaign, which focused on the evolution from ’normal’ to campaign model, showing how they firstly applies enormous amount of makeup, just to later retouch the picture into a completely unrecognizable version. Showing this campaign is a way to tell people that the pictures they see in the magazines, they are not real women, they are retouched and manipulated into characters.

Onslaught:

People do not always think about all the different images children are exposed to, and this video shows very well how a little girl can perceive an image from a picture. Dove tried to specifically target the way it is becoming normal to manipulate looks, with pills, surgery and again retouch.

Pro-Age:

With the words ‘too old to be in an anti-ageing campaign’ plastered over pictures of what seems to be average women, Doves focusses on the beauty in age, and not the younger-is-better trend.

Beauty Sketches:

Trying to see how different the perception people have towards themselves, and how others see them. This was a realisations-campaign and it went viral in no time, with women sharing how this campaign really got them to think about their perception versus the surroundings perceptions of them. This campaign was so moving and well constructed that it took top honors - a Titanium Grand Prix - at Cannes film festival.

#Selfie:

In a time where the selfie is latest trend, there can be a pressure to look your best at all times, and taking that picture for your social media. However, his trend also makes a lot of young girl overly conscious about their looks. Where now it is easier than ever to redefine beauty through the selfies, showing that beauty is so much more than looks.

Has the Dove campaigns really changed perceptions? Especially the ‘Beauty Sketches’ campaign got women to think more about accepting their look and focus on the parts they really like, instead of keep wasting time on hating the parts that they really do not like, and think ‘ you are more beautiful than you think’ just as Dove puts it, in the end of the video, so a few perceptions have been changed over the years, and Dove is not finished.