Dove is attempting to redefine what beauty has changed into with their Campaign For Real Beauty. The medium of this text is web-based and it is fairly informal. Dove is trying to make a difference in the lives of women while advertising their products at the same time. Their website utilizes images, articles, and other resources. The site portrays what are generally considered as “average” women, or even less than that, as beautiful. The text attempts to convince all women that they are beautiful. This is accomplished by means such as portraying women who would not usually be considered as someone of great attractiveness as beautiful, and by sharing stories from other women.
The target audience of Dove’s campaign is the women of the world. The home page of the website lets the user choose their country of origin. The website makes itself even more friendly by allowing more than one language option for countries in need of it. There are thirty-four options. Some of these include:
- United States
- Brazil
- Denmark
- Greece
- Korea
- Norway
- Turkey
- Vietnam
This is an important tool used by Dove. I looked at each version of the site that were in English. All of them contain the same basic information, but each version has a different home layout. The material is presented in a way custom to each region. Gearing so specifically towards women of a certain region is helpful to Dove by better targeting a wide range of women.
Dove has been making its mark in the world of beauty products since 1957. Being in the industry that long, Dove has seen what has happened to the definition of beauty. Their campaign has come at a time when the “ideal” way for a woman to look is like the airbrushed covergirl of magazines, the insanely thin runway models, or the gorgeous movie star. Because of their history Dove has a background that builds credibility to make a stand on today’s definition of beauty and to help with the self-esteem issues facing women today.
The campaign is very pathos-oriented. The way the campaign employs image plays the emotions of its audience more than anything else. The images of women that look like the average, day-to-day women rather than super thin models relates to the audience. To see a woman who might not have a perfect body or gorgeous face be proud of who they are is inspiring. The campaign is challenging what beauty really looks like. The images provoke much emotion in a short amount of time because seeing a woman who might not be gorgeous or have an amazing body showing off her confidence shows that anyone can be comfortable with who they are.
For the audience member that wants to spend a little more time exploring the site there are many other features that the website offers. There are blogs and articles, discussions, tips, and videos. These are just some of the features of the site.
Dove is intervening at a crucial time. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, one in every five women suffers from an eating disorder or some form of disorderly eating. Self-esteem and body image are huge problems facing women in the world today. When on the website there is a link to the Dove Self-Esteem Fund. By entering the UPC of a Dove product you can choose from certain charities to donate one dollar to. Not only does this aid in the problems of women today, but it helps Dove to sell their products. It sends the message that by purchasing Dove you can make a difference.
Another tool Dove uses is that they give the role of communicating to the audience. The users are being convinced of the cause by other users. The audience becomes the writer in this sense. There is a very understanding tone to the text. The audience member is drawn in by the fact that they are not alone in this fight. They are not the only person facing these problems. The site is very user-friendly. It is not difficult to navigate through the site. The easiness is inviting to the audience.
While going through the site’s many features, I discovered a couple of items that I really liked. The first was when I was exploring the site and I stumbled upon the “quizzes” section. I took a quiz regarding image manipulation. It is so crazy to know that so much of what we see in images has been manipulated. It helps for women to put things into perspective. Why do we compare ourselves to people that do not actually exist the way we are seeing them? It’s ridiculous. Too often, we find ourselves comparing ourselves to these photo-shopped beauties. We do not pause and think about how the photographer caught the model at just the right angle and then manipulated the picture later to enhance her beauty.
The second item that I particularly enjoyed while exploring the site was an article called Taking Your Life Back. The topic of the article is one’s “inner critic.” The inner critic is what we allow to tear us down over and over again. The article tells us “Your inner critic was created by your past experiences, and you are not your past, so there is no inner critic. It was a false and fictionalized identity created by you as protection from your fear of truly discovering your true essence of self.” There are many more articles on the site just as inspiring as this one. These articles offer fantastic advice on how we can turn our perspectives of beauty and ourselves completely around.Dove is making a difference in how women are viewing themselves. Dove is bringing a deeper meaning to the term beauty. Dove’s website accomplishes this through customization to the audience, powerful images, thought-provoking articles and videos, and much more. By relating to their audience so well, Dove is able to accomplish their goal with this text.
No comments:
Post a Comment