Dove Campaign Ad for Body Image

Dove sells body wash, soap, shampoo and deodorant, as well as firming and lifting lotions

The conundrum that is Dove has a new commercial ad for their positive body image Campaign for Real Beauty project. They sell necessities like body wash, soap, shampoo and deodorant, but also beauty products like firming and lifting lotions. Does their positive campaign make them a better company to buy from?

This week their newest advertisement was released, titled, Onslaught. In the same vein as Jean Kilbourne’s work, her study that people see an average of 3,000 ads a day, the Dove video starts on an innocent girl looking and smiling into the camera. Then the “onslaught” begins.

Images of billboards, transit ads, infomercials, magazine covers, mannequins, pill bottles, posters, food, gyms, plastic surgery and purging are flashed onto the screen at lightening speed. The end message reads, “Talk to your daughter before the beauty industry does.”

It’s an interesting angle, as Dove is a huge part of the beauty industry. But the commercial is effective and I certainly won’t complain about companies going in this direction. We just have to remember that Dove is a multi-million dollar beauty business as well.