Campaign for Real Beauty
Referenced in Wonderbra...I mean Wonderbranding (you know that name was chosen intentionally). I still haven't gotten around to commenting on the Campaign for Real Beauty. Here's the scoop:
Real women have real curves
Firming the thighs of a size 2 supermodel is no challenge. Real Women have real bodies with real curves. And Dove wants to celebrate those curves.
Join these six real women who were asked to be in our ad campaign for NEW Dove® Firming. Get to know more about them and their experiences with the campaign. Help by telling more women to stand tall and celebrate their curves....
Roll over each woman to see more.
Um, "roll over" is a computer term. Glad that's straight.
Stacy Nadeau
Hometown: Ann Arbor, Michigan
Occupation: Full-time student
Favorite food: French fries, they are my guilty pleasure...
Favorite curves:
My curve on both sides of my torso. I definitely inherited that curve from my mom. I’ll never forget when I was younger and I used to look at her honeymoon pictures when she was in her bikini on the beach. She had the longest, flattest stomach. I remember thinking she was so beautiful and I wanted to look just like her....
You’re excited about this campaign because…
I can be part of attempting to finally change the media’s view on women’s body types. I have always been a curvier girl and always will be. I am proud of my body and think all women should be proud of theirs too. This is my time to encourage and help women feel great about themselves no matter what they weigh or look like. Women have surrendered to diets and insane eating habits to live up to social stereotypes for too long. It’s time that all women felt beautiful in their own skin.
I thought the "journal" was a blog, but it wasn't:
Tell us about the casting call when you first had to appear in your underwear.
I was scared of the creditability of the audition when I found I had to be in my underwear. But I was going with two other friends so I told myself I would just keep aware and get out if it became uncomfortable or unsafe. When I realized it was all legitimate, it was a little nerve racking. I had never done anything like this before so I wasn’t sure how to stand to make my body look the best. The people at the auditions were very comforting and encouraging so they really helped. Going with friends also made it more fun than anything else.
How did you feel meeting the other women? And what did you think about Rankin as a photographer after seeing all the famous celebrities he’s shot and now after he has shooting all of you?
I was so excited to meet all of the girls. I think we were all in the same boat and a little unsure of our surrounding or how we were all going to get along. But we all hit it off right away. Even after the first day, I felt like I had made a new group of girlfriends! The shoot was a blast because we were all together having fun.
After looking at Rankin’s book, I was blown away seeing all of the major celebrities he has shot. I think that was one of the first moments where it really sunk in that this was really something, and we weren’t just doing an “ad” for a magazine, we were launching an amazing campaign that I was so proud to be a part of.
A psychologist has pointed out in USA Today that, horror of horrors, this advertising campaign is...capitalistic:
"Any change in the culture of advertising that allows for a broader definition of beauty and encourages women to be more accepting and comfortable with their natural appearance is a step in the right direction," says psychologist and author Mary Pipher. "But embedded within this is a contradiction. They are still saying you have to use this product to be beautiful."
USA Today then gives details about the model search:
Unilever used talent scouts to find Shanel Lu, a Maryland manicurist; Stacy Nadeau, a student in Michigan; Sigrid Sutter, an administrative assistant in California; Julie Arko, a kindergarten teacher in North Carolina; Lindsey Stokes, a retail assistant in Maryland; and Gina Crisanti, a Texan working in a Chicago coffee shop.
Crisanti says she was taking out trash at the shop, and when she returned, a scout who had spotted her sold her on trying out by showing her the U.K. campaign.
"When she showed me the U.K. ad, I was taken aback," says Crisanti, 24. "To see real women in all shapes and sizes represented in such an honest way, I thought it was bold and compelling, and I knew I wanted to be part of it."
Women such as Crisanti, who wears size 6 pants and size 12 for other apparel, also were picked because a scary-skinny model would be hard to take seriously pitching a line of cellulite-reducing products.
Did I mention that Dove is a capitalist organization?
I have no problem with this per se. I completely admire these women who have enough pride and self-esteem to be photographed as they are. If, of course, you take as read that a modern woman is constantly standing around in her knickers in the full force of a wind machine. As we do.
I just have a problem with it as a hard sell. Please note, everybody, they're doing this to make money. If advertising as a whole were to adopt the attitude that no, this world is not made up entirely of the beautiful people, I'm sure everything would be hugs and puppies. But we all know that'll never happen. Who wants reality? We all subscribe to escapism in one form or another. We all want to dream of a world that "exceeds" our own.
And another thing. Just how patronising can you get? I can almost hear the advertising execs rubbing their sweaty paws together in glee. (apologies to any nice advertising people who may be reading this - hey, I use stereotypes too)
"Genius. This'll definitely make the fat birds part with their cash. Not that it's hard-earned, they obviously sit on their arses all day eating cakes and pies. And the skinny birds'll pay up so they don't have to look like that."...
Using the majority of womens' poor self image to sell something? Surely that's nothing new, and definitely not something to be applauded.
That's why they call it a "campaign." It wasn't the "Altruistic Presentation of Views on Real Beauty." Surely they don't want to turn this over to the government:
Hello, I'm Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice. Excuse me for a moment while I strip down to my undies. The Bush Administration believes that women should have high self esteem...HEY! WHO INVITED FORMER PRESIDENT CLINTON TO THIS TAPING?!? AND IS THAT CLARENCE THOMAS BY THE COKE MACHINE?!?
Comments
But that's about the only exception.