Reality Check

In lecture, Alex showed us the Dove Campaign video where an ordinary woman is made over, and then airbrushed to look like a supermodel on a billboard. I am so glad that a major company is using the media to reveal the process needed to form the “beauty” that we have grown to simply accept. The “beautiful” women in the media have been conforming to a certain image, and airbrushing has made them into graphic design projects, rather than real people.

In the Dove commercials they are showing young girls as well as older women of all shapes and sizes, which will hopefully inspire all age groups to love their bodies and themselves. The more women begin to see other women with normal body types, faces, hair etc. in the media, they may start to respect themselves more and discover their true beauty.

I find it slightly troubling that it has taken so long for a company to take this stance about the beauty portrayed in the media. It is a different stance that it is getting a lot of attention because it is what most women have been waiting for. They have wanted to be told that ordinary women are beautiful and that the women in the media are fake, so they can strongly relate to the new commercials. However, I find it sad that “being yourself” is such a revolutionary idea in our society.

In the end I believe that these Dove commercials are definitely a step in the right direction, and I believe more major companies should follow in their footsteps. Hopefully, the media can be used to transform its own image of women. I have included two Dove commercials, one is the one mentioned above with the airbrushing, and the other is a campaign about self esteem. Another video I found while looking up the Dove commercials is also included, and it displays the differences between original photos and airbrushed photos which I found really interesting.

Self esteem video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ytjTNX9cg0&search=beauty%20dove%20campaign%20esteem%20beautiful%20daughters

Dove Airbrushing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsiquyNfkag&search=beauty%20dove%20campaign%20esteem%20beautiful%20daughters

Extreme photo retouching: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4wI_o8gyxA