Dove’s “Real Beauty” Ads May Need to Get Real
An ad soliciting perfect-looking women to model for Dove’s next “Real Beauty†campaign appeared on Craigslist last Friday. {The Cut} “Real Beauty†aims to push back against the alleged unrealistic body types often featured in the media by showcasing women with average bodies. At the time the ad was posted, it seemed to have revealed that all Dove actually meant by saying it would feature “real†women was that the ladies would not be professional models. The posting said applicants need not have any scars or tattoos or be too curvy or athletic and must have beautiful arms, legs, hair and faces along with flawless skin.
Now Dove claims the ad was not approved, saying in a statement:
“Unfortunately, this casting notice was not approved by the brand or agency team and did not reflect the spirit of the brand team’s vision. We appreciate that this has been brought to our attention, and we are taking the necessary steps to prevent this from happening in the future. We believe our images demonstrate that real beauty comes in many shapes, sizes, colors and ages and we remain committed to featuring realistic and attainable images of beauty in all our advertising.” {The Cut}
Normally, we would say this is just their good PR response so the company does not lose credibility, but it is odd that Dove would post an ad for models on Craigslist of all places, and some past “Real Beauty†ads have featured women with tattoos.
The bigger issue is actually the name of the campaign. While diversity is sorely needed in fashion and beauty, “Real Beauty†implies another narrow definition of reality. Certainly some models are unhealthily thin, and there are more than a few examples of photos retouched to mask that, or terrible Photoshop examples that push them into a humanly impossible shape; but women who are naturally thin do exist, and are as real as anyone else. We vote for the next Dove “Real Beauty†campaign to feature curvy, athletic AND thin women. For real.
