Dove's Newest "Social Experiment"

[the_std]

So for those of you who don't know, the health and beauty company Dove has been running a campaign called "Real Beauty" for a while now. They seem to emphasize diversity and realistic beauty, rather than the standard Photoshopped magazine model. They've been a huge success, and their latest one seems to have hit home with a lot of women.

This is their latest video, Real Beauty Sketches. It focuses on women being sketched by a forensic artist who cannot see them as they explain their looks, and then another portrait being done of them by people who they've just met. It's supposed to show the difference between your perceived looks and the way other people see you.

I'll admit, I got kind of teary-eyed when I watched it for the first time. The people responsible for editing, production and soundtrack all hit it on the mark and it's a beautiful piece of filming. Then I went about my merry way, not truly thinking about the message of the piece.

Today, I ran across this tumblr article written in response to the video. And I began to realize all the things that were unsettling about it, or off, or just plain wrong.

Have a read and see what I mean. Sneaky racism, an emphasis on beauty being the most important thing to a woman's life... It's kind of sad, in a way. In the end, Dove is trying to sell a product, and these videos reinforce that message. It's just too bad that they want to wrap that advertising in a feel-good message that isn't nearly as wholesome as they'd have you believe.

[Aethian]

I shouldn't have clicked on the tumblr article...I had seen the Dove experiment and had wondered how I would have gotten portrayed. But now...yea I don't know fully what to think.

[Nekojin]

I'm shocked - SHOCKED, I tell you - that a company devoted to selling beauty products could somehow be delivering the message that beauty is important. I would never have imagined such a thing. [/snark]

[the_std]

... Well, of course.

Except that's not really how they're marketing it. They're marketing it as "you're special, you don't have to be stick-thin and on the cover of Vogue, real women are awesome". It's easy for women to see that message and think, "You're right, I'm beautiful! And that's super important!" When I am home and have access to the article, I will quote the piece where the woman says, "Your beauty is the most important thing to your life - your children - your job - everything."

That's not really healthy thinking. At all.

[Nekojin]

I'm normally one to be critical of these ads. My first thought was, "I'll bet that the profile artist was overaccentuating negative features when drawing the women's self-portraits." But at the end, if you look at the pictures - and not just the ones they're trying to draw your attention to - you'll see something interesting.

The article makes a great to-do about the fact that all of the focused women are white, and seriously overplays the importance of this, and how Dove is subliminally trying to say that white is right. But if you watch the video, watch for the sketches of the black woman with the frizzy hair. Her self-portrait is pretty damn close to the picture described by her observer.

What else could be inferred from this data? Could it be that caucasians are more overly critical of themselves than others? Is it possible that Dove simply picked the individuals who were the most overly-critical of their own appearance?

Meh. I think that the base message, you're more beautiful than you think you are, is positive. Nitpicking it to death isn't useful.

[the_std]

Meh. I think that the base message, you're more beautiful than you think you are, is positive. Nitpicking it to death isn't useful.

I disagree that it is nitpicking it to death, when the woman who is featured most prominently in the video says...

“I should be more grateful of my natural beauty. It impacts the choices and the friends we make, the jobs we go out for, they way we treat our children, it impacts everything. It couldn’t be more critical to your happiness.”

The bolded part is what I really have a problem with, and what I take issue with the video on. If the message really is "you're more beautiful than you think", why go out on such a strong message that says otherwise?

[siead_lietrathua]

see i took that part as not her thinking her BEAUTY impacts her happiness but her GRATEFULNESS for the natural beauty she has. because if we think ourselves beautiful it does impact how we conduct ourselves and that can effect our day to day lives by boosting confidence etc. her literal/ social conception of beauty isn't what was critical, her learnig to change her internal negative image to reflect her outer actual apperance is what is important.
that's why they use sketches and not photographs for stuff like this, it is easier to disregard a photo of yourself because you look for the flaws that would not be there in a simple hand sketch.

the dove real beauty campaign seems to be about self-acceptance and to stop being our harshest critics.

[Gravekeeper]

Rather fascinating experiment, I'd like to see it as an actual documentary not just a commercial.

I think the blurb under the video is more unsettling than the video itself though:

"Only 4% of women around the world consider themselves beautiful."

=/

[guywithashovel]

This is just one of those subjects that, if you're going to talk about it, you almost have to accept that someone is going to be offended by what you say. That probably sounds like a broad statement, but I think it's true.

Personally, I liked the way the experiment was carried out, having the artist draw a picture of someone based on how she described herself and then draw another one based on how someone else described her. That can give you a chance to see how other people see you versus how you see yourself. You might see that everyone is not zeroing in on the supposed imperfections you see when you look in the mirror.

[TheHuckster]

The bolded part is what I really have a problem with, and what I take issue with the video on. If the message really is "you're more beautiful than you think", why go out on such a strong message that says otherwise?

What is wrong about the statement that self-confidence and good self-image can improve you reaching your goals? That's all that statement says to me. When you are self-conscious about your looks or anything else in life, it will always be a nagging voice in your head that says, "You aren't fit for this" or "You will fail this job interview"

That doesn't mean you should be a narcissistic cocky egomaniac, but it means you need to believe in your success. Otherwise, why the hell are you even trying?

And it's not just about looks, even though this ad focused on looks. I remember I had to deliver a speech at a funeral. The thing I was hung up on was not the words I wanted to say or even the inflections of my sentences. It was my voice. Really, it was. I hated my voice, and the thought of my voice being the focus of attention for even 5 minutes freaked me out. In the end, I ended up choking during the speech, as that one extremely stupid and irrelevant thought about myself destroyed my confidence and I ended up stuttering. Afterwards people came up to me and said, "I know you were nervous, but the words you said were beautiful." It was at that moment I realized I shouldn't have focused on something I couldn't even control, much less really should care about.

In many ways, peoples' confidence in petty things like looks or other shallow concepts affect them. For many of them, something about themselves, whether it's their looks, their voice, or their shy personalities, will be the thing that they get hung up about, even if those things really don't matter and more importantly most people won't even care about. Had I not cared or didn't think my voice was something to be ashamed of, I know I would have delivered my speech a lot better and people would have been far more receptive to it.

That's what the message in this video reveals to me.

[Gravekeeper]

Annnd here's the reverse.

The Internet is quick on its feet. >.>

[Ladeeda]

I think it just proves eye-witness descriptions are an ineffective way to identify criminals.

[Hyena Dandy]

Only if the criminal is describing themselves...

[TheHuckster]

I think it just proves eye-witness descriptions are an ineffective way to identify criminals.

Huh? When I saw the ad, the way people described others looked far more accurate than how they described themselves. I'd say it advocates sketch artists.

[Lace Neil Singer]

This is just one of those subjects that, if you're going to talk about it, you almost have to accept that someone is going to be offended by what you say. That probably sounds like a broad statement, but I think it's true.

Personally, I liked the way the experiment was carried out, having the artist draw a picture of someone based on how she described herself and then draw another one based on how someone else described her. That can give you a chance to see how other people see you versus how you see yourself. You might see that everyone is not zeroing in on the supposed imperfections you see when you look in the mirror.

Huh, I should probably have this experiment. My fiance says I'm beautiful, my friends say I'm pretty and I've had random guys ask me out... but when I look in the mirror, I still see the Plain Jane who scrubs up well that I've always been. -.- Worse, on my bad days, I'm seeing myself as being fat and ugly. I've always had bad image problems and I think I always will.