Dove: Real Beauty Sketches

The "Real Beauty" campaign that the company launched in the early 2000's was a truly groundbreaking piece of marketing. Never before had such a global company made such a bold statement regarding body image, beauty, the trend towards "magazine beauty," and the damage that these negative thoughts are having on the female mind today. Full-figured women were shown in their underwear, smiling and confident in their skin. Other women were shown on billboards across the country with a simple question. Is she "oversized" or "outstanding?" The ad was even somewhat interactive (which was rare back then). Passersby could vote by calling a phone number dove had provided. The entire campaign was a smashing success and has won almost every award given in advertising today.

Welp. Dove is at it again, y'all. Here is the new Dove ad - Real Beauty Sketches - shown below. If you haven't seen it, I highly, HIGHLY recommend it. Go. Watch it below, and then we can analyze it together.

Insane right? Insane in how genius that marketing is. Insane in how true that experience is with women describing their beauty. Just... insanely awesome basically.

Here lies the true genius behind Dove's marketing:
Dove has been able to position themselves as the company that genuinely cares for you as a person. Sure, they make products that they want you to buy. The products are supposed to make you look prettier, and that's great. But what Dove has been able to achieve with the consumer is enormously more profitable than buying a bottle or two of lotion every couple of months. Dove has earned the customer's trust. Women trust Dove with their most precious assets -- their confidence and self-worth. Through ads like the one shown above, women are beginning to feel more empowered, stronger emotionally, and more confident expressing the fact that we are all uniquely beautiful. We are not  "magazine beautiful" nor should we strive to be. Magazine beauty only happens in a magazine. I mean,  have you seen Kim Kardashian without makeup? Doesn't look the same! And that's just it. Its not the same. Its not reality. Dove has managed to release non-traditional advertising and have it be incredibly successful. I understand that a good chunk of the reason that this advertising methods can be so successful is because it is so unique in marketing today. Not many other companies are advertising with heavier women (although it is beginning to not be as taboo to do so), so Dove has been able to maintain a first-mover advantage in that respect.

Do I think that other companies will start to market with fuller-figured women to play off of Dove's success? Yes. Do I think that it will become a new norm? I do not. I think that as a society, marketing with thin, photoshopped women is something that will not change, at least in my lifetime. I can only hope that more companies start marketing towards our self-esteem and self-worth.

Be the change you wish to see in the world.
-Ghandi