Dove's "Campaign For Real Beauty"

[Faint]

Have you seen this commercial?
http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.com/commercial.asp

This, along with Dove's previous "real women have real curves" ads, have managed to annoy the hell out of me. Having reviewed a forum on the company's site, it seems that the effect the two ads have had is to convince women that they no longer need to be concerned what they look like. Instead they can just be happy with who they are and not seek improvement. Worse, it seems that these girls are going to expect us guys to love them in all their overweight laziness. I think this is delusional idiocy. What do you think? Here are some points:

1) By saying "real women have have real curves" Dove is in fact belittling any girl who is slender, model thin, or lacking in the curves department.

2) By attempting to teach young girls that they should be happy just the way they are, Dove is in fact encouraging an already overweight generation to remain overweight. In essence they seem to be saying, "If you're content with what you have, you do not need to seek change (i.e. improvement)". "Be happy with your fatness and have another Twinkie".

3) Ultimately, the ads won't work anyway. Men set the standards for what we want women to look like. The media picks up on it, and women buy into it. Women can say "I AM beautiful!!" all they want, but most men probably won't agree if the women don't fit into the popular idea of beauty (like...Victoria's Secret).

4) Self-esteem and a revoluion involving soap is plagiarizing of "Fight Club".


Agree?

 

[Darkdale]

eh - most women aren't beautiful. Beauty is rare. I think people should stop obsessing about it all together. As for Dove, they are trying to sell a line of decent products to women who want to feel beautiful. Dove didn't create the obsession with beauty. They are simply serving a public need.

 

[evearael]

The pursuit of the media's ideal of beauty is extremely damaging to the psyche's of young girls... and young boys. Whether this manifests itself in eating disorders, plastic surgery or depression, it is negative and unrewarding to live to the ideals of others. Guys, be honest, what good is fifty pounds of makeup the morning after, or drastically unrealistic proportions? A girl that is happy and confident will continue to wash her face and exercise, because she is caring for herself. A girl that is adrift in the vast sea of impossible standards will be neuroticly insecurity and miserable. Who would you rather date--the girl next door who is happy or the model who is miserable and cringes at the thought of fast food?

 

[Quoth The Raven]

Beauty is a cultural standard, which changes with the generations. As Darkdale said, very few women are 'beautiful'...in the sense of the standard of the time, anyway. Doesn't stop them getting work mincing about in designer clothes though. Personally I think Kate Moss is far from beautiful - I'd go so far as to say I think she's entirely unattractive - but hey, if someone else wants to drool at the sight of her then that's their perogative. If designers want to hang their clothes off her, that's their perogative as well.
Personally, I wouldn't consider myself beautiful. But that does not mean as a matter of course that I'm in any way unattractive...and that has nothing to do with how much I weigh. I've fluctuated between a US size 8, up to a 16 at my heaviest and back down to an 11 now. At no time in my adult life have I had any lack of attention from men, except when I was feeling crap about myself. Which feeling generally had nothing to do with whether I was concerned that some bloke might think I wasn't meeting his 'ideal'. There is more to what makes someone attractive than a passing physical resemblance to an underwear model. The number of women who don't look like underwear models but still manage to have significant others should be proof of that. Maybe the point is to get young girls less focussed on attaining a level of physical perfection that can't be done without the aid of a photo editing program, and get them more focussed on being happy to work with what they have and turn that to their advantage.
People need to be encouraged to lose weight because they'll have less chance of dropping dead from a heart attack before they're 30 and they'll feel healthier and be able to do more because they'll have more energy, not because they're trying to please someone else. And it never works if you're doing it for someone else. Women who lose weight and keep it off are self motivated...they're not doing it because hubby says,'You used to be beautiful before you turned into the Hindenberg.' In fact, for a lot of over eaters, that right there is a reason to go tuck into a bag of chips. In fact, I know of a number of cases where the wife loses weight and the husband divorces her because he doesn't like the 'new her'.
Dove are trying to appeal to a particular demographic...and there are a lot more women with curves than there are women without. It makes better business sense to appeal to the larger proportion of the population.
Don't like it? Don't buy their soap.

 

[CAPPA]

Faint, Dove is not the first and will not be the last to offer their rendition of what or how a young girl/women should look like and dress. their view I’m sure is based on a great deal of PR/polls which would advise them on the populations size and such

I really think it's not right or wrong. It’s just is. Our society is soo diverse that they may have decided to choose the biggest or best demographic possible for their ads.

That said, beauty really is in the eye of the beholder. and, moreover, especially in America, size is becoming a real issue and "thin" girls seems to be sliming down in numbers (no pun intended)

oh and btw, it seems us men have to watch our weight also, for every "large" women i see, a large man is not too far out of sight.





:sarcastic

 

[jamaesi]

I actually like the Dove Commercials and ads, it's nice to see some girls who aren't stick thin (not that there is anything wrong with being skinny natually, I just don't find it as attractive as a woman with some hips... I like my women healthy with some curves. ).

2) By attempting to teach young girls that they should be happy just the way they are, Dove is in fact encouraging an already overweight generation to remain overweight. In essence they seem to be saying, "If you're content with what you have, you do not need to seek change (i.e. improvement)". "Be happy with your fatness and have another Twinkie".

Not all girls who are over a size 0 are unhealthy.

3) Ultimately, the ads won't work anyway. Men set the standards for what we want women to look like. The media picks up on it, and women buy into it. Women can say "I AM beautiful!!" all they want, but most men probably won't agree if the women don't fit into the popular idea of beauty (like...Victoria's Secret).

Only if we let them!



Dove shows women of ALL sizes, from 0 and up- the point is we all ave different bodies, not all of us are going to be a size two and it doesn't mean we need to starve ourselves to get there.



This is why I utterly adore looking at vintage photography (especially erotic ). The women in vintage pornography (in addition to being almost fully dressed, oh no ankles!) look happy and healthy. You can't see ribs, they have some curves, but they aren't fat. They are your normal body size and shape for women.

 

[CaptainXeroid]

...http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.com/commercial.aspit seems that the effect the two ads have had is to convince women that they no longer need to be concerned what they look like. Instead they can just be happy with who they are and not seek improvement. Worse, it seems that these girls are going to expect us guys to love them in all their overweight laziness. I think this is delusional idiocy....

Sorry, but I completely disagree with this assessment.

... 1) By saying "real women have have real curves" Dove is in fact belittling any girl who is slender, model thin, or lacking in the curves department...

Huh....they didn't say anything against 'model thin' women. The point of the ads was that not every woman has that figure.

...2) By attempting to teach young girls that they should be happy just the way they are...

NO! They are trying to teach them they should harm their health trying to live up to unrealistic standards.

...3) Ultimately, the ads won't work anyway. Men set the standards for what we want women to look like. The media picks up on it, and women buy into it. Women can say "I AM beautiful!!" all they want, but most men probably won't agree if the women don't fit into the popular idea of beauty (like...Victoria's Secret)...

Perhaps a point of the ads is to help empower young girls not to let men set unrealistic standards for female beauty.

I've only seen Fight Club once, but I didn't see many similarities between the Dove ads and that movie. I'm not sure if you're posting these things to get a rise out of people, but if this is really what you thought about the ads, then nothing personal, but I think you really missed the point.:sorry1:

 

[Feathers in Hair]

Y'know, I eat healthy, I exercise when I'm not too depressed to do so, and I was about to let your post get to me back into a depressive slump when I realized that you could be only being sarcastic, because I'm not sure if anyone could so entirely miss the point of those ads unless they were doing so intentionally.

After a decade or so of being told that not being thin means that we're not beautiful, I don't see how any intelligent person could begrudge women a few ads that suggest otherwise. It is not my impression, from the ads, that anyone is trying to suggest that thin women aren't beautiful. It simply seems like they're trying to say that those of us who 'embody the goddess' are, too.

 

[Darkdale]

You guys, I hope you understand that Dove is not trying to define women. Women define women, and Dove is pandering to their already existing notions of what beauty is. Dove won't make money going against the established opinions of its customers. Dove makes money by giving in to the established opinions of its customers.

 

[Ðanisty]

This is why I utterly adore looking at vintage photography (especially erotic ). The women in vintage pornography (in addition to being almost fully dressed, oh no ankles!) look happy and healthy. You can't see ribs, they have some curves, but they aren't fat. They are your normal body size and shape for women

I'm a fan of vintage pornography too! Those women were beautiful.

 

[jewscout]

it seems that the effect the two ads have had is to convince women that they no longer need to be concerned what they look like. Instead they can just be happy with who they are and not seek improvement

whats wrong w/ that?

i don't think it's trying to say that people shouldn't exercise of take care of themselves, but rather that not everyone has to be a size 0 or 1 to be considered beautiful...

Rachel has plenty of curves...and i love it! HOOT!

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

Worse, it seems that these girls are going to expect us guys to love them in all their overweight laziness. I think this is delusional idiocy.

Speaking of idiocy - what disgustingly ugly, egocentric, and judgemental crap that was.​

 

[Darkdale]

Speaking of idiocy - what disgustingly ugly, egocentric, and judgemental crap that was.​

Do you think that men should defer to women for their own values? Should men not have high standards for what they want their women to look like?

If appearances don't matter, shouldn't women be giving men the same benefit of the doubt? Women are far more demanding than men, their standards are higher than ours, and they are quicker to break off a relationship due to "appearance" related issues. Furthermore, men are the more romantic ones. They fall for women harder and faster, and hold on to the pain of losing a relationship longer. All this according to some psychologist I saw on CNN, and then later on MSNBC, on Valentines Day - not so much from personal experience.

However, personal experience has led me to believe that beauty and good health more often than not go hand in hand. I don't care about whether Jane is a size zero or not. I do care if Jane is healthy.

 

[Joe bag of doughnuts]

Wow! Why are you all making such a big deal about some fat chicks in their panties on a soap commerical? Get real, that is how most of our wives look in the mornings. Now if they decide to put us guys on in our boxers you will have something to puke about.


'Nuff said.

 

[Darkdale]

Wow! Why are you all making such a big deal about some fat chicks in their panties on a soap commerical? Get real, that is how most of our wives look in the mornings. Now if they decide to put us guys on in our boxers you will have something to puke about.


'Nuff said.

lol speak for yourself. I look pretty damn good in my boxerbriefs.