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“In an environment where beauty brands sell products by capitalizing on women’s insecurities about their looks,” (Harbinger Communications, 2009), many young women nowadays are feeling an increasing pressure to look like the industry stereotype. This desire has long been the root of North America’s increasingly prevalent self-esteem problems amongst female youth.

In 2004, Dove took action against the issue by launching its Campaign for Real Beauty, “a global effort that is intended to serve as a starting point for societal change and act as a catalyst for widening the definition and discussion of beauty” (Unilever, 2006). Since its inception, the campaign has resonated across many nations communicating, “real beauty comes in many shapes, sizes and ages” (Unilever Canada, 2007).

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The Beginning
In 2004, Dove commissioned “The Real Truth About Beauty” study whose mission was “to explore empirically what beauty means to women today and why that is.” (Etcoff, Orbach, Scott and D'Agostino, 2004). Based on a global study of 3,200 women, aged 18-64 across ten different countries, the results revealed that the idea of beauty had become limited and “functionally defined as “physical attractiveness.” Since many of these ideals are often unrealistic, women find it difficult to see themselves as beautiful. “This can contribute to unhappiness and low self-esteem and self-worth – especially among those women (often younger) who are more likely to take their cues from popular culture.” (Etcoff et al).

With a focus on addressing these problems, the Campaign for Real Beauty launched with a series of television ads featuring real women of all ages and ethnic background with questions that invited viewers to judge the women’s looks. Wrinkled? or Wonderful? Viewers were encouraged “to cast their votes and join in a discussion of beauty issues at [|www.campaignforrealbeauty.com]” (Dove, 2006). After stirring a buzz in the media, a second advertisement was launched, featuring six “real women, not models,” in underwear “advertising Dove's firming cream. The advertisements focus on promoting real, natural beauty, in an effort to offset the unrealistically thin and unhealthy archetypal images associated with modeling” (Media Awareness Network). As the campaign began to gain momentum, Dove began branching into major North American markets. By November 2005, the campaign had reached all major cities throughout Canada. Billboards could be seen along the Gardiner in Toronto featuring women who were outside the stereotypical definition of beauty with words such as “Fat? Or Fab? Vote now by texting this number.”

Going Viral
Soon after, Dove Canada decided to take the campaign viral upon the release of its [|Evolution] video, a short 60-second video showing an ordinary woman’s face being transformed into the face of a supermodel. //Evolution// was soon posted on several popular sites such as “YouTube, MySpace and Google Video, topping viral popularity on lists such as The Viral Chart” (The Inspiration Room). With the tagline “No wonder our perception of beauty is distorted” and ending with a logo of the Dove Self-Esteem Fund, this video communicates an understanding of the social issue at stake and offers an effort in support of finding a solution. A series of other viral videos soon followed, including //[|Onslaught]// and [|Amy].

Dove Self-Esteem Fund & The Community
Dove continues to actively promote what real beauty means through the Dove Self-Esteem Fund. In an effort to foster a positive environment for change, the Dove Self-Esteem Fund is committed to:

• Developing and distributing resources that enable and empower women and girls to embrace a broad definition of beauty • Providing needed resources to organizations that foster a broader definition of beauty (Unilever Canada, 2007)

To fulfill the outlined efforts, Dove provides many online and offline resources such as downloadable self-esteem programs, hosting workshops for youth, videos, discussion forums, programs for mothers and daughters, and so forth.

“The Dove Self-Esteem Fund has launched numerous initiatives aimed at awareness- raising, including mentoring programs, one of which was launched this year at the Henry Street High School in Whitby” (Wells, 2007). Last year in May 2008, a Dove also sponsored a play called Body & Soul was put on at the Toronto’s Young Centre for the Performing Arts. The play was a collaborative effort put together by a group of women in their 40s+ to promote age and beauty, with a script that was created through mashing up “thousands of letters Canadian women wrote: an ode to their bodies.” (Black, 2008). With no mention or hint of a Dove product in any way, this play served as a milestone towards instigating social change on the issue of positive self-esteem amongst women.

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Dove
Naturally, Dove is the primary stakeholder in the fight for this social cause. As an established international beauty brand with a reputable history, Dove knew it possessed the power and proper resources to launch a sizable social campaign against the status quo of beauty. By recognizing the increasing number of self-esteem issues amongst women, Dove set out with a goal to “offer in its place a broader, healthier, more democratic view of beauty” (Unilever Canada, 2007) by promoting and raising awareness about the issue and what action could be taken against it. Dove’s action against the stereotypical definition of beauty caught on quickly upon the release of their viral videos. “Our objective," says the marketing exec at Dove Canada, "is to take your breath away." (Wells, 2007). With a real shock value in their viral videos, Dove has surely caught the attention of many women and brought the issue surrounding “beauty” up for discussion.

Target Audience: Females
Arguably, the most critical stakeholder group in this campaign is the target audience, females. The Campaign for Real Beauty is aimed towards females of all ages, ranging from pre-teen to women in their 90s, all of whom may be subject to self-esteem or image problems. According to many discussion forums, blogs, and interviews, females from all age groups agree that the Campaign for Real Beauty is a wonderful and much-needed campaign to boost female confidence in a world where beauty has become narrowly defined. Real Beauty Model Shanel Lu states, “I love the thought of being part of an ad that would potentially touch many young girls to tell them that it is all right to be unique and everyone is beautiful in their own skin” (Media Awareness Network). The Campaign for Real Beauty hosts many workshops for women and female youth, mothers and daughters, and other events such as sleepovers, and ultimately the establishment of the Dove Self-Esteem fund which aids in funding and hosting such events. Based on many tangible results of the campaign, the majority of the target audience are supportive of the campaign.

On the other hand, there are also many people who are critical of the campaign. Dove’s parent company, Unilever, owns many other brands such as Slim-Fast and AXE, both of which contradict the message behind the Campaign for Real Beauty. Also, at the end of Onslaught, the tagline reads “Talk to your daughter before the beauty industry does.” But the thing is, Dove is part of the beauty industry. These sorts of thing are what some of the audience is finding to be contradicting, maybe even hypocritical. However, marketing exec Alison Leung states that Dove “exists on its own.” (Wells, 2007).

The Beauty Industry
Lastly, the beauty industry itself is a stakeholder in this social cause for many reasons. Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty may be a potential threat to other industry players who carry similar products due to the impact the campaign has had on their shared consumer market. Because Dove was the first to launch a campaign pertaining to an ongoing topic of social interest, consumers may be likely to perceive Dove as a preferential brand when choosing what brands to purchase from next time they are at the supermarket. In addition, even though the campaign does not aim to advertise Dove products in any sort of way, many of the ads do mention that upon purchasing a Dove product, a percentage of the profit goes towards the Dove Self-Esteem Fund, which may serve as incentive for consumers to buy Dove as opposed to other brands.

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Amongst the controversy some people claim surrond this campaign, the overall level of positive impact and audience reach Dove has achieved is undeniable. Even though the beauty industry plays a highly influential role in defining beauty, many other factors asides from beauty industry advertisements such as bullying and verbal abuse also contribute to the ubiquitous self-esteem issues amongst female youth and women. Despite the campaign, the beauty industry will inevitably continue to advertise their products in the same way. In a capitalist economy, the goal of any industry is to generate profit, and if sexy ads are the answer, companies will stick to it. However, upon the creation and continuation of Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty, Dove demonstrated that even though they are part of the “culprit” – the beauty industry – they are not completely oblivious to the social issues that surround their target market. Through implementation of their socially conscious campaign, Dove has created an eye-opening experience for all consumers alike.


 * References:**

Black, Debra. [|Dove anti-ageism campaign hits stage]. (2008, May 9). The Toronto Star.

Etcoff, Nancy, Susie Orbach, Jennifer Scott and Heidi D'Augostino (2004).[|THE REAL TRUTH ABOUT BEAUTY: A GLOBAL REPORT]. 1-48.

Harbinger - Campaign for Real Beauty - Dove. Retrieved February 3, 2009, from Harbinger - Marketing to Women Web site: http://www.harbingerideas.com/case_studies_services_detail.asp?ID=2&Return=6

Media Awareness Network. Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty | Teachable Moment. Retrieved February 3, 2009, from Media Awareness Network (MNet) Web site: http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/resources/educational/teachable_moments/campaignrealbeauty.cfm

The Inspiration Room. Dove Evolution in Campaign for Real Beauty. Retrieved February 3, 2009, from The Inspiration Room | Daily Web site: http://theinspirationroom.com/daily/2006/dove-evolution/

Unilever (2006). Dove. Retrieved February 5, 2009, from Campaign for Real Beauty Web site: http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.com/press.asp?id=4562&section=news&target=press

Unilever Canada Inc. (2007). Dove. Retrieved February 3, 2009, from Dove Web site: http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.ca/supports.asp?id=1560&length=short&section=campaign

Unilever Canada Inc. (2007). Dove Self-Esteem Fund. Retrieved February 3, 2009, from Dove Web site: http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.ca/dsef07/t5.aspx?id=7975

Wells, Jennifer. [|Dove ad delves into the ugly side of beauty]. (2007, October 3). The Toronto Star.