Raven
King
Eng
110
4/20/2015
Critical
Analysis
Dove Real Beauty Sketches
The way women see themselves is
dramatically different from how others perceive them. We have a tendency to be
much harsher and critical on ourselves than others when it comes to body weight
and physical appearance, when in reality our descriptions are merely
exaggerations of the truth. Comparing one’s features to those of another shows
the level of self-esteem of a woman and shines light on how society has
programmed our views. In 2013, Dove conducted a compelling social experiment to
bring this to life using a group of women, by creating the short film Dove Real Beauty Sketches produced by
Oglivy and Mather ad agency; which
explores how women view their own beauty in contrast to what outsiders see. This short film exhibits examples of pathos,
ethos and logos.
Unilever, a company that was created in 1930 by
William Hesketh Lever, the founder of Lever Bros, owns Dove. Along with this brand they also own brands
like Tresemme, Vaseline, Ben & Jerry’s, and Axe—a company that is known for
their misogynistic ads using women and sexual attraction to promote the use of
their products. According to Unilever,
their aim is to make a positive impact in many ways: through our brands, our
commercial operations and relationships, through voluntary contributions, and
through the various other ways in which we engage with society.[1] Unilever’s Dove brand has been conducting
a marketing campaign called Dove Campaign for Real Beauty that aims to
celebrate women’s natural beauty since 2004. The video launched in 4 key markets, United
States, Canada, Brazil and Australia, and was then produced and uploaded in 25
languages to 46 Dove YouTube channels across remaining countries. Dove is committed to building positive
self-esteem and inspiring all women and girls to reach their full potential.
Each woman is the subject of two portraits drawn by
FBI-trained forensic sketch artist Gil Zamora who cannot see his subjects: one
based on her own description and the other using a stranger’s observations. Before the session
was set to begin with the sketch artist, each of the women were unknowingly asked
to spend time with a stranger without being told why. Zamora then drew a second sketch of each woman
– but this time it was taken from the strangers’ descriptions of each woman. Most
of the sketches that were created from the strangers’ point of view showed a
more beautiful, happier and typically a more accurate version of the
women. The results show clearly how when
it comes to their physical appearance, they are their biggest critics and put the
most pressure on themselves. When asked to describe themselves, each of
the women referred to their physical features in an overall negative way. For
example, the use of phrases like “rounder face,” “big forehead” and “protruding
jaw”. But the strangers who were asked to
describe the same person used more positive words and phrases.. The extreme
differences between the two sketches brought up a number of emotions and strong
reactions when each woman is shown her two portraits side by side, which is an
example of pathos. They all agreed that
their self-perceptions were harsh and more time should be spent appreciating
the things that they do like about themselves.
An example of ethos is the problem of
body image caused by ads and commercials in the media. Concerns about physical appearance have become
so common among women these days, much more than men. It typically begins in the early years in
childhood and continues to affect them throughout their lives. The idea of having the perfect body according
to our societies standards is constantly drilled into the minds of young girls,
at a time when impressions and the need for acceptance to be so important. Even before the stage of puberty, they are
told that in order to receive praise you must live up to the standards of being
pretty and skinny. At this point, young
girls will become concerned with their body weight and physical appearance;
which is when unhealthy eating habits become more prevalent.
A constant reminder of the so-called
“perfect woman” in the media directly impacts girls’ confidence in their
body. Seeing these images and ads only
gives young women something false to compare themselves to. Meanwhile, these exact images have been photo
shopped and airbrushed to showcase the idea of perfection. When in fact these models do not even look the
same in pictures as they do in real life. The media chooses to tell the narrow view of
what beauty is, rather than to tell the whole story. However, without creating a definition that
also includes traits that are far beyond that of only physical appearance, the
future generation of young girls will definitely miss the chance to identify
with a diverse set of women they can relate to.[2]
Being exposed to these ads using thin models only creates insecurity and makes
these women self-conscious of the traits they possess. These women have been trained to think that
the traits and features they have are not good enough, so they view them as a
negative part of themselves. The media
has programmed women to think that if you do not look like the girl in the
magazine, on television and in the music videos, the only way to come close is
to change what you already have. However, there is also evidence of logos. Every
woman internalizes these images differently, they may not go to the extreme and
get plastic surgery, or develop eating disorders but they might just accept
that their features are unique.
There are some questions and critiques
that rise when it comes to this ad campaign. It clear that Dove began this Real
Beauty campaign with the intentions of exploring the factors that contribute to
low self-esteem in young girls and women today. They compare themselves to pictures and ads of
thin and attractive models that are labeled as the “ideal woman”. She embodies
the perfect body weight, height, and physical features that many of us are
striving to obtain. However, there are
some areas that fall short of this goal they are trying to reach in this film. All
4 participants are Caucasian, three are blonde with blue eyes, all are thin,
and all are young (the oldest may be about 40 years old); the majority of the
non-featured participants are thin, young white women as well. At least three
black women were in fact drawn for the project, two were briefly shown with the
sketch artist describing themselves to him in a negative light, but they were
both lighter skinned. A black man is shown as one of the people describing one
of the women, as he comments on her “pretty blue eyes”. An Asian woman is briefly shown looking at the
completed drawings of her and you see the back of a black woman’s head, but
neither of them is shown speaking. People of color are onscreen for less than
ten seconds out of more than six minutes of footage. The diversity of women that was the goal was
seen but not executed accurately. A
different way of conducting this experiment could have been that instead of
comparing the women’s views to those of someone else’s, they could have
compared sketch of her views and comments with that of a real photograph.
Body image is something that every woman
may struggle with at some time in her life. Whether she focuses on weight gain
or physical appearance, it is up to her to come to conclusion that her features
are unique and something to never be ashamed of. The models that are seen
everyone have been the template of the “ideal woman”, which in all reality is a
standard that is unattainable.
After writing the critical analysis, I've come to notice how much the society we live in affects our decisions everyday. We are constantly thinking about ways to make ourselves better, as if we aren't good enough to begin with. The standard of beauty and physical appearance has affected women for the longest time because we are taught that there is only one version of beautiful. Therefore, if you don't fit that criteria in some way, well then you need to do what it takes to get there. Women and men as well, always feel the need to make comparisons between the features they possess and those of someone they assume is "perfect". When in fact, this idea is all wrong. If we are always focused on what we can change about ourselves we will never be able to accept and love the features that make us unique.
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