Every single day, you walk through a series of doors, not thinking much of it. Enter, exit, male, female – all descriptions that you are probably so used to, that you don’t put much thought into it. What if you approached a set of doors that yielded two option for you to choose – ‘beautiful’ and ‘average’ – which door would you walk through?
May seem like a silly question, but Dove’s 2015 ‘Choose Beautiful’ campaign forced women, in Shanghai, San Francisco, London, Sao Paulo and Delhi, to make this decision, and the results probably won’t surprise you.
“Am I choosing because of what’s constantly bombarded at me and what I’m being told that I should accept? Or am I choosing because that’s what I really believe (Long, 2015, para. 10)?”
I’m sure you are certain that you would walk through the ‘beautiful’ door without a second thought, but of the 6,400 women who were put on the spot, many of the women chose the average door – which isn’t a surprise at all when you consider how narrow-minded society is with their definition of beauty (Arce, n.d.). It wasn’t until after these women made their split decision, that they thought about the deeper psychological elements associated with their actions. Most women were embarrassed, even ashamed of their choice.
Dove’s campaign forced many to take a good look at how they perceived themselves, and reflect on these realities. Although the ‘Choose Beautiful’ campaign’s goal was to empower women to embrace their beauty and “seize the opportunity to chose what makes us feel beautiful everyday”, many felt that the campaign missed the mark, asserting that the ad was patronising and shallow (Kemp, 2015; Vagianos, 2015).
“I should be more grateful of my natural beauty. It impacts the choices and friends that we make, the jobs we apply for, how we treat our children. It impacts everything. It couldn’t be more central to your happiness (Long, 2015, para. 7).”
Dove’s primary goal with this campaign was to encourage women to be happier with themselves, but many argue that the campaign was overly melodramatic, taking away from the underlying message (Long, 2013). Critics raised issue with the fact Dove is moving with a spirit of hypocrisy, as they’re are pushing a campaign that focuses on natural beauty, yet they sell products like cellulite firming cream (Long, 2013). Some focused on the the lack of choices offered to participants, with only “beautiful” and “average” as choices. “And instead of giving women two superficial choices, Dove could have added several qualities — such as Funny, Intelligent, Unique or Kind” (Arce, n.d., para. 5). Lastly, many criticized Dove for not digging deeper and exposing the unapologetic culture that demeans women by imposing unrealistic ideals of beauty, instead of asking women to shut up about their insecurities (Arce, n.d.). A task the beauty giant may never want to participant in, as they could be labeled as a potential culprit.
Despite naysayers and the negative backlash, Dove’s Real Beauty campaign – which the ‘Choose Beautiful’ campaign is a subset of – afforded the company a significant boost in sales, from $2.5 billion to $4 billion (Chumpsky, 2015). Dove has also been recognized for offering some of the best advertising campaigns of the 21st century. Dove accomplished exactly what they set out for, but many question if Dove is simply adding to the problem.
Dove hasn’t crossed any ethical boundaries with their ‘Choose Beautiful’ campaign, however, for those of us that can look past great production and compelling music, it’s clear that the ad “has mastered the art of passing off somewhat passive-aggressive and patronising advertising as super-empowering”, which is troublesome enough (Chumpsky, 2015, para. 3).
Honestly, which door do think you would of walked through? Where do you stand on the ‘Choose Beautiful’campaign? Was it passive-aggressive advertising or do you feel they are apart of the ‘feel beautiful’ solution?
References
Arce, N. (n.d.). Dove’s New Choose Beautiful Ad Sparks Online Backlash. [Web log page]. Retrieved from http://www.techtimes.com/articles/45843/20150413/new-dove-choosebeautiful-ad-campaign-sparks-online-backlash.htm
Chumpsky, S. (2015). Why Dove’s ‘Choose Beautiful’ campaign sparked a backlash. [Web log page]. Retrieved from http://fortune.com/2015/04/15/why-doves-choose-beautiful-campaign-sparked-a-backlash/
Kemp, N. The top 10 marketing mishaps of 2015. [Web log page]. Retrieved from http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/article/1374495/top-10-marketing-mishaps-2015
Long, H. Dove’s ‘real beauty sketches’ ad deserves some praise. [Web log page]. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/07/dove-beauty-choose-beautiful-campaign-video_n_7010178.html
Vagianos, A. Dove’s ‘Choose Beautiful’ Campaign Says Women Are So Much More Than
Average. [Web log page]. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/07/dove-beauty-choose-beautiful-campaign-video_n_7010178.html
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