Similar to the print ads, the commercials do not address those girls and women that are foster children or were abandoned or do not have a mentor of any type. Again, it seems that those groups that would, stereotypically speaking, benefit from a self-esteem movement are being overlooked by Dove, and are furthermore being neglected as members of the female entity. Furthermore, the commercial is implying that all mothers have a high enough self-esteem to teach their daughters to be positive about themselves; though, this is certainly not the case. For instance, a well-known psychotherapist who specializes in treatments of eating disorders with families asserted that, mothers with "unresolved body image concerns and disturbed attitudes towards eating and weight management are passed down" to their children, as a legacy of sorts (Natenshon). How are these mothers being addressed in the Dove commercials? How are these commercials helping the mother's self-esteem issues? Failing to address and acknowledge groups of females that do not fit the classic mother prototype ultimately has a negative impact on women and the generations to come. By not addressing all the parts of whole female entity in the commercial and print campaign, it will have a negative impact on the individuals that it does fail to address. Women that cannot readily identify with the image in front of them could lead to them having a more negative self-perception.
Dove, in their "movement of self-esteem" campaign has indirectly marginalized certain sub-groups of the female gender. By choosing these types of women in their media campaign, Unilever, a major corporation with a strong global presence, has reinforced the standard of "real" beauty, which according to the ads are people with flawless skin, a healthy body, a beautiful smile and tame hair; instead of celebrating individuality- a woman with tattoos, a teenager with acne or a young woman who is disabled. The distorted image that corporate America has created of women is one that marginalizes and drives girls and women deeper into the self-esteem issues that may already...
Dove managed to neglect all women by using them as the subject of and the target audience in their national media campaign. The sequence of thinking that Dove wanted to initiate was that these "normal" women with "real beauty" did not have a problem with their bodies or themselves and were using Dove products, hoping to catalyze women who did have self-esteem issues to buy Dove products and feel as jovial as the women did in the print ads and commercials. As one women's blog stated, "Dove is merely profiting from the illusion of enhancing the self-esteem of women while simultaneously reinforcing the message (and myth) of firming cream to eliminate cellulite as a necessary part of a healthy body image" (Rivas).
After careful examination of the print and commercial ads that Dove launched as a part of their "movement in self-esteem" campaign for women, it seems that only some women's self-esteem benefited from the campaign while others were marginalized; but, more importantly this media campaign created a weak image of women as an entity. It should leave women saying that they have no love for Dove.
Works Cited
"A New Vision." Dove Features- Videos. Web. 21 March 2011. .
"Dove." Campaign for Real Beauty. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 March 2011. .
Dreisbach, Shaun. "Shocking Body-Image News: 97% of Women Will be Cruel to Their Bodies Today." Glamour n. pag. Web. 21 Mar 2011. .
Hintz-Zambrano, Katie. "No Love for Dove- Women Don't Like Models Who Look Like Them." Lemondrop. 26 March 2010. Web. 21 March 2011. .
Natenshon, Abigail. "Empowered Parents." When Parents Have Eating Disorders. Abigail H. Natenshon, n.d. Web. 21 March 2011. .
Rivas, Nathan. "Campaign for Authenticity." Beauty Bunch Blog. 07 October 2010. Web. 21 March 2011. .
