Dove ad for "Real Beauty Campaign"
Let me first say that nothing in this post is meant to offend anyone. The things I say are simply my opinion and how I feel about this ad and the message it is trying to convey.
Skinny girls always hate on big girls, and big girls always hate on skinny girls. That's how it's always been and it will continue to be that way until the end of time. The picture above is supposed to depict "real" women. Let's forget about the fact that I'm 15 for a second, and pretend I'm, let's say, 25 instead. If a real woman is to be defined by this picture, than I am most certainly not a real woman.
Characteristics of real women based on this picture:
- "overweight" or "thick" or "curvy" or "chubby", or to put it simply, "fat"
Another thing: Since when does Britain's opinion matter in America? Oh yeah, it doesn't. And no, the models in beauty advertising aren't unrealistic. There are women ALL around the world that are size 0 and healthy and beautiful. Most of which do not starve themselves to get that way. Ever heard of metabolism? Some women have a faster metabolism than other women, but that is by no means their fault. So why do we hate on the skinny women for something they can't really control? Honestly, in my own personal life I find women who say that are just mad/jealous they can't be a size smaller, so they take their own insecurities out on the women they are jealous of by saying they aren't real. Yes there is photoshop and computer touch up blah blah blah. But think for a second...figured it out yet? This is also an advertisment, and like it or not, digital retouching is in ALL PICTURES. Yes, including this one. Ah, now you've caught on. The fact is, EVERYONE has blemishes and marks and bumps and bruises and scars and things they don't like about themselves; things others don't like as well. No one wants to see a model with a pimple or a bulge because of bad body positioning. That's how our world is, get over it.
This ad actually makes me kind of angry, like most things in our world, because it tells size 0 women that they are somehow not real and therefore inadequate. Personally, I think we are not all equal, but that's not because of what we look like, it's because of what we do with the life we are given by God. What if all those women were serial killers? Still the definition of real? Didn't think so. I understand this ad is trying to counter the negative effect ads like Victoria's Secret has on bigger women and include them, but they didn't acheive that. Instead, they reversed the situation and made the bigger girls feel like they're better than skinny girls and excluded the skinny girls out of being "real". Victoria's Secret is to one extreme, and Dove has gone to the other extreme. Neither one is right.
I'm offended by this ad because it makes me personally feel as if I am somehow unreal just because I do work out and honestly want to be skinny. Being bigger than I am isn't a bad thing that's not what I'm saying, but I, myself, do not want to be bigger than I am. I like being what others call skinny. That might be because of the so-called "fake" pictures in the magazines and because I was made fun of in elementary school for being chubby, but why must I be punished and told I'm not real because I grew up in a society that said this is what I'm supposed to look like? Exactly, I shouldn't. I am just as real as the next girl who does the same things I do but is 100 pounds heavier than I am.
I am beautiful. So are you. So is my mom, who by clinical definition is overweight. Love ya, Mom! If I let this picture define what real is to me I would quit playing volleyball and be in the kitchen eating more bread so I can gain weight. If I let Victoria's Secret define what real is to me I would be in the gym right now and on a juice cleanser every other week. But here I am, writing to you. And guess what? I like it that way. My definition of real could be very different from your definition of real, so why does society have to tell us which one is right? They don't! Who said we have to listen to the ads telling us she's beautiful because of this and she's not because of that? We don't! We become fake when we conform to the ads and believe everything they say. Beauty comes from within, literally, because when you're healthy you feel good and when you feel good you feel beautiful. No number, just feelings.
Real to me is staying true to yourself and doing what you want to do and gosh darnet if that's eat another Twinkie then you eat that Twinkie! If that's going to the gym because that's what makes you feel good then do that! Don't let some magical being behind the advertisment tell you you're not beautiful just because you do or don't look a certain way.
This ad uses a white background and the white bra-underwear set to make the ad feel happy and fresh and innocent, and cover up its message which is demeaning, hurtful, and one big fat lie. Oops, wrong word?
The target audience for this ad is women who might be plus size or women who don't fit into the "perfect" look of the women in magazines. I think this ad was used to make bigger women feel better about themselves and that it's okay to be bigger.
I think this ad uses the appeal of the Need for Prominence because it puts bigger women under the false pretense that they are real and skinny girls aren't. This makes them feel as if they are better than other women because they are somehow "real". Some ads also do the same for skinny girls against bigger girls. I don't think the ad uses the Need to Feel Safe but it does, in a way, make bigger girls feel safe because now they think they are "real" and it's okay to be overweight. So they hide their unhealthiness behind being so-called "real". I think this ad also uses the appeal of the Need for Aesthetic Solutions because real is supposed to be beautiful and Dove is all about making women feel beautiful.
This ad uses the advertising techniques of Plain Folks because real women are supposed to be everyday women doing everyday things. I think this add uses the technique of Weasel Words because they use the world "real" to cover up the fact that the women are overweight.
Permission to be cliche for a moment? Granted. Real women come in all shapes and sizes. It's not like every ad of a woman has a fake woman. She is alive and moves and lives. Don't be mad because she happens to be a size smaller or bigger, or she has a certain type of fat where you don't, if you know what I mean. Real women are skinny, real women have abs, real women have muscle, real women have fat. I have fat! Don't pretend like you haven't noticed... Real women have size double D boobs, real women have size A boobs, real women wear size 0 and real women wear size 17. Don't try to say a woman isn't real because she works out 2 hours a day and has a strict diet and likes it that way. Dont try to say a woman isn't real because she likes to eat ice cream and spends her time doing other things she enjoys more than the gym. That's her and you are you, so do you and keep your nose on your face instead of in someone elses business. Please and thank you.
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