Buckle up, boys and girls (especially the girls) — I’m about to ruin your favorite new ad campaign, and things might get ugly.
I’m referring to Dove’s “Real Beauty Campaign” and its recent advertisement, “Real Beauty Sketches.” This video has gone viral and has become ubiquitous on social media networks. I can’t even begin to list the number of my female comrades who shared this video. This is not an attack on anyone who found the video inspirational, wonderful or heartwarming. It was an incredibly well-executed advertisement.
For those who somehow may have missed the so-called “ground-breaking” commercial, I’ll break it down for you:
One by one, several women are brought into a room and asked to describe their faces to an “FBI-trained forensic artist,” who is separated by a curtain. Each woman describes herself, harshly picking apart her face and insecurities.
Next, they ask the women to describe another participant to the forensic artist, and as you can guess, they are much more positive when describing a stranger.
Then the big reveal happens. The two sketches are placed side by side and the one described by the other woman is overwhelmingly more aesthetically pleasing.
The sentimental music swells, and Dove proclaims “you are more beautiful than you think.” Everyone lives happily ever after and no one has any self-image-related anxiety.
Haha! Just kidding.
Many people are still missing the underlying message of “Real Beauty Sketches.” Dove presents itself as being progressive. “We’re not like all those other beauty companies who use svelte models to make you feel like dog crap in comparison,” Dove cries out indirectly.
However, Dove is still a cosmetics agency and needs you to buy its products. I don’t even know what they’re trying to sell in this commercial. Soap? Lotion? Drafting boards? Dove may be going about its goal in a clever, underhanded way, but it is still reinforcing the idea that women need to be beautiful to have worth.
Under this guise of forward thinking, Dove also pretends to break down barriers of the conventional beauty ideal. However, it’s clear from “Real Beauty Sketches” that what’s beautiful to Dove is thin, relatively young white women.
While there are a few women of different racial backgrounds in the video, the focus is largely on the white women. They have all the speaking roles. The descriptions are focusing on them. The “star” of the video is a blonde-haired blue-eyed woman. This is an issue.
Where are the plus-sized women? Where are the older women? Where are the women of color? Where are the transgender women? Where are the women with disabilities?
This is not to say any of these groups of women should be expected to be attractive nor are they unattractive. Being deemed good-looking should not be your job, obligation or responsibility. Your sense of worth as a person should not be directly correlated to some stranger’s opinion on if you’re gorgeous or not.
What about someone’s personality, intellect, empathy, sense of humor, skills, talents or contributions to society? Do these facets of a person mean nothing?
Apparently Dove isn’t too concerned about what makes a person beautiful other than appearance, and that’s pretty shallow.
Taylor Schoen is a 22-year-old communication studies senior from Metairie.
