Hi All,
Dove have been leading the way with their real beauty campaigns for the past few years, demonstrating that we are all beautiful in every way. They have had add campaigns, the most well known being the Dove Campaign For Real Beauty 2012, which showcased women from all sizes, shapes, ethnicity’s and ages in order to show the world that beauty is at the heart of every woman.
Dove Real Beauty Campaign 2012
We have all been waiting to see what the next campaign would entail and it has certainly hit the headlines with a bang. The latest triumph from this body loving brand, is an add campaign that has not only involved the promotion of real beauty, but also the FBI! Dove has employed FBI sketch artist Gil Zamora to produce two separate images of one women to help analyze the differences. The first sketch will be created with Gil being given a description of the women as they see themselves – he will not see them, he will just get their description of themselves. For the second drawing he asked member of the public to describe the women to him in order to create the final piece of art.
He then sat with the women and showed them the two drawings, which differed greatly.
The first sketches (a replication of how the women viewed themselves) was in general older, rounder and more withdrawn than they actually are – proving that we all have a slightly distorted image of ourselves. The second image was closer to the women actual features and when revealed did shock 99 % of those involved.
Dove Sketch Artist Interpretations
Much like when Gok Wan used to make guests match their body sizes in his show ‘How to Look Good Naked‘, none of the women were able to accurately match their own faces by simply describing them. A recent article in Gizmodo ( a technology site for all us geeks!) looked at the variety in the ways we view ourselves on film and in the mirror. It made the valid point, that when we view photographs of ourselves and we think ‘But I looked good when I left the house’, it is down to the fact that we never really get to see our full range of movement and expressions that a camera sees, thus distorting how we perceive ourselves.
Love Your Body Advert from The Womens Health Foundation
Then we move onto Body Dismorphic Disorder, a debilitating mental illness that means that you can never view your true self Sufferers of this condition will always see a distorted version of who they are, often attributed to externalizing inner feelings. What is so lovely about this campaign is that it could, potentially be used as a form of therapy for people who suffer from BDD, low self esteem, eating disorders, or simply women like me who are trying to learn t love ourselves in a world that constantly judges.
So well done Dove for another reason for us to smile in the morning!
