Dove has received plenty of praise and awards for its “Real Beauty” commercials which used real women instead of models for the campaign. It’s also staged a few social experiments with women such as “Sketches” that are about empowering women and accepting their bodies. However, its latest attempt at a feel-good female empowering ad has inspired a mini backlash.
The ad shows a Dove experiment where women are given a placebo “beauty patch” which they are told will give them hormones to improve their physical well being and appearance. Sure enough, the women begin believing the affects of the patch and are giddy over the perceived transformation they’re experiencing, only to be told at the end that the patch was nothing more than a shot of confidence.
Watch the ad below:
It’s definitely a well-intentioned commercial as Dove once again seeks to empower women with the message that they don’t need beauty products to feel beautiful. However, that message coming from a company that manufactures beauty products for that sole purpose seems to ring a little hollow. And plenty of bloggers took issue with the fact that the ad made women look stupid.
Maggie Lange, writing for New York Magazine:
Shame upon you, Dove, for making these women seem dumb, and for not scripting at least one of them to act outraged that she had been duped.
Kate Dries at Jezebel:
So it’d be nice if they stopped assuming that everyone’s version of hating what they look like or not feeling self-confident involves tears and can be fixed with a little Dove Reality Check™ or whatever they’re calling it this week.
It’s definitely true that positive thinking works miracles. But that’s not what this campaign is really about; it’s about teaching women that Dove knows better. Dove is smarter. You should buy Dove because they’re on your side and they can teach you things.
And on the Loyola Digital Advertising Blog, author emiller28 wrote:
Maybe this is just me, but I found this ad rather insulting to women as a whole. I feel that Dove is basically calling us gullible, that a placebo with the least scientific name ever could actually improve the way women feel about themselves in a matter of weeks.
What do you think of the ad? Inspirational, patronizing or just plain silly?
