Positive Beauty: Dove's Self Esteem Programme

Over the weekend, I saw an advert on TV that really made me stop and think. In fact, the advert made me feel a little bit emotional. The advert was for Dove, and I don't think that I could possibly explain it to you, because this is a classic case of you have to see it for yourself:

The advert is part of Dove's Self-Esteem programme which is aiming to donate £250,000 into educating young people about self-esteem. And, personally, I think that the programme is an excellent idea. 
I remember watching an Extreme Parenting programme with Super Nanny Jo Frost a while back, where she was talking to some very young Primary School age girls who were already far too aware of body image for my liking, to the point that they honestly (at that young age) believed that anyone who was "fat" would never find love. To know that we live in a world where thoughts like that are being planted so young is sad, and I honestly think that opinion and thought patterns need to change. Not only in attitudes towards ourselves, but also in attitudes towards each other.
Take this image of the stunning Jennifer Lawrence, that I used in a recent Makeup in Film post:


I really can't believe that we live in a world where someone who looks like this, with that amazingly curvy figure, that I would absolutely kill for, is being told, by the media (essentially male critics, I might add!) that she was "too fat" to play Katniss. For such an argument to have come to light, at all, is just ridiculous no matter how you choose to argue about it (too well fed for District 12 appears to be the main one, but we won't go into that one right here!). The point is that here is a beautiful young woman who is being criticised over something relating to the person that she is, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with how she looks.
Whether you believe in God, Mother Nature or your Gene Pool, every single one of us has been created differently, and I personally wouldn't want it any other way. We're unique no matter how fat, or thin we are, or even what color our skin is. Our bodies are as different as our personal tastes, and we should strive to be whatever we were created to be. Some of us were made to have hour glass figures, whilst others were made to be apple or pear. We all have freckles and marks that are part of who we are, but they don't define us. Our actions are what define us, and I honestly hope that we can be the generation that encourages our children, and future children, to realize how beautiful they already are.


Note: I was not asked to write this post, and I am most certainly not being paid for it. Anyone who has read my Positive Beauty posts will know how passionate I am about endorsing anything that encourages girls, of all ages, to realize that they are beautiful, no matter what anyone tells them.