Tag archives: Dove

The fashion industry has long been criticised for creating a false set of standards for beauty. Then again, in its defence, one only has to look at ancient statues and paintings – Greece’s Athena, Rome’s Venus – to realise that the appreciation of human beauty is something that is inherent in human nature. Nonetheless, the fashion industry stands accused of creating standards that the vast majority of women are unable to attain; using graphics software to soften every flaw, and even improve physical aspects such as lifted cheekbones, narrowed waistlines and plumped-up lips.

Psychologists say that this has caused many women to have a self-critical outlook on themselves, resulting in a loss of self-confidence and poor self-esteem.

In 2004, after market research indicated that only 4% of women consider themselves beautiful, Dove launched its Campaign for Real Beauty, originally produced by Ogilvy & Mather Brazil. It started off as a billboard campaign that featured ‘regular’ women photographed by Annie Liebowitz: the public were invited to vote on whether a particular model was “fat or fab” or “wrinkled or wonderful”… the votes being updated in real-time and displayed on the billboards.

Unilever, the owner of Dove, also published a study into women’s sense of self and identity. The study was aimed at creating “a new definition of beauty [which] will free women from self-doubt and encourage them to embrace their real beauty.”