Dove's new advertising campaign
 

There's been a lot of talk about it in the papers and such so I was curious to hear everyone's opinions. What do you think? Good idea or bad?

(If you aren't aware of it, it's the one with the regular women - not models - in underwear and the slogans are things like "As tested on real curves." You can see more about it here.)

I love it! I think it's clever, ballsy, unusual, and definitely effective. While I don't think that things like extreme obesity (which can be overcome, although admittedly with difficulty) should be showcased as the "anti-model", showing real women with healthy bodies, who aren't afraid to show them off, is inspiring.

It is so disgusting and ruins my mornings.

-Rudey

I think it's great, but doubt it will change anything. :(

What will be great is when women who are built like that don't have to go on campaigns to declare their beauty. When we can have a size 8 or 10 actress/model on magazine covers without stories of how she's "voloptuous and doesn't care what Hollywood thinks".

I also think it's not right to say "real women have curves" because it does imply that thin, uncurvy women aren't "real" women - and many of those women are naturally like that. And yes, I'm curvy, but I have plenty of friends who aren't and they are definitely real women! :D

It was realtively successful up here so I guess that's why they are trying it in the US now (Canada gets to be a test market a lot of the time).... I just think it's interesting that the marketing team that dreamed up the AXE commericals is the same team that dreamed up this Dove campaign...

Anyways I have to applaud the use of "real" people in tge ads, which is a nice change from the nominally "perfect" images we are bombarded with...

Jossip isn't very kind but neither are the people who wrote on the ads here in NYC....

http://www.gawker.com/news/doveads.jpg

They put out a ton of these in Chicago that are huge. Every bus stop has them practically. They are on large billboards. I feel like they're going to come alive and attack the city.

At least put some of that Lane Bryant clothing on them.

-Rudey

I kind of like the ones they did in the magazines with that woman covered in freckles and the really old woman. They were definitely a departure from the typical model. I think the campaign is a good idea, and everyone (even the guys at work) seems to know as soon as they see one of those models that it's an ad for Dove :)

The ads are cool, but Dove is made by Unilever, which tests on animals, so I won't buy it.

aren't there lists somewhere of things that are tested on animals and things that aren't?

I had no idea Dove was tested on animals. Although I guess maybe it's not. I doubt they've done much to change it lately.

PETA has a list and so does the National Anti-Vivisection Society, which shows Unilever here.

I'm really annoyed because when I checked PETA earlier to verify that Dove is tested on animals, I saw that Loreal/Lancome does too. I thought they didn't -- maybe they changed. Grrrr.

ETA: That link doesn't work. You can go to the NAVS site and search.

lol at "Vivisection"... not a word you see often. Made me think of the Divine Sisters of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood!

Ah, crap.

Don't worry. It's cute when rabbits wear lipstick.

-Rudey

Unless things have radically changed at Unilever since I worked with them, the vast majority of products that are listed as "animal tested" involve in-vitro as opposed to in-vivo testing (though some in-vivo testing still takes place).

Browsing the web I noticed that they are still using the global statement crafted by the Unilever Canada Consumer Affairs department:
http://www.physiosport.com/ourvalues...al_testing.asp

Personally I hope that the computer, mathematical, and bio-chemical modeling programs that they have been working on/with pan out, and totally eliminate the need for any animal testing.

Anybody else find it ironic that the billboard ads are for cellulite removal cream?

They may be using people of different sizes, but the viewer/reader will never know the actual height of the models. While short, skinny people make up a huge chunk of Hollywood, no one really knows that they're small! (A girl in my PR class worked at a clothing store, and sold a pair of pants to Eva Longoria. She told me that Eva is barely 5' tall (my friend is 5' even)) If you're going to use all sizes, USE SHORTER PEOPLE TOO!

Personally, I am glad to see this campaign. (not able to use Dove) I HATE seeing skinny, young things constantly in ads. I think it makes women think that is the only way to live.

At least they're using women who actually have cellulite to remove.

The Sun-Times recently published some thoughts on the campaign from some of its male staff who did not like the campaign. Yesterday this response appeared. (The author posted similar thoughts in her blog.)

Here's an article from Slate about the campaign.

I was just coming to post Wendy McClure's article here, but I see you beat me to it!

the dove ice cream and cookie commercial's.... is it rachel ray's voice?

i think it is, and my roommate and i argued about it yesterday

This is silly. Women are the ones buying the products and they're the only ones the campaign needs to appeal to. This would be like me complaining about there being too many old fat guys in the ads for golf clubs.

Exactly. I was just about to post that -- the guys need to shut up and complain about the marketing for stuff that is actually being marketed TO them. Bitch about how the girls in beer ads don't have big enough boobs or something.

Of course, every bit of backlash against these ads is only going to make the people who like them support them that much more rabidly. I wouldn't be surprised if there were Dove execs running around slapping "fat cow" stickers over these billboards, just because they know that it means that women who like the ads will be more likely to support them in terms of dollars.

Do they plaster your city with them in huge billboards? These aren't just on the bus terminals, they're all over and pretty big. I feel like they will come alive and kill people.

Guys aren't complaining because they won't buy it but because they're forced to look at it. Besides when have you seen a huge marketing campaign for golf clubs all over the city? Do they even show fat dudes or Tiger who can press a good amount of weight?

And so if skinny is a ridiculous perfection, and too hard to achieve, is showing overweight women supposed to be better for society? Isn't that on the other end of the spectrum?

-Rudey

I don't know why, but I just find htis post completely funny when looking at the rest of the thread.

I do understand your point, Rudey. However, according to the article, the size range was 4-12. 12 is NOT obese. 12 is chunky probably for most women under 6 feet, but NOT obese (Unless you are 5 feet tall). 12 is not even plus-sized. So I think it's a bit extreme for people to say they're promoting an unhealthy lifestyle or the other end of the spectrum. The other end would be a 300 pound woman.

Yes, one of the guys in his blog called size 10 fat. I was size 10 all through college, and I assure you I was not fat in the least. The real insanity is a guy thinking size 10 is fat.

Isn't an 8 average?

Let's assume a 12 is average. If obesity rates are that high, then I don't think the average is anything you should want to approach.

I don't think you should have to put up with a hairy, fat, bald man in a speedo every day on large billboards throughout the city, and you probably don't since I haven't seen them in NY. I shouldn't have to put up with these gladiator women in granny panties every morning.

-Rudey

Yeah -- it continues to surprise me that these women are being called fat. Honestly, for most of these guys that are derriding these women -- this is what your girlfriends look like under their clothes! Get over it.


If I can put up with seeing images that make me uncomfortable in every media campaign on the planet, you can be a big boy and deal with ONE image that makes you uncomfortable on your way home from work.

Well, I did think it was funny when one day a tv station played the Dove commercial talked about here, and followed it with a Dove ice cream commercial!

Men's sizing is so different than women's. They have a 30" waist, they buy pants in a 30" waist. A woman buys a size 10 in one brand, an 8 in another, and a 12 in another - there's no standardized sizing. Then, we have hips & boobs. Or in my case, don't have hips! By the time I find pants that fit the rest of me, I can fit a family of four in the seat of my pants!

I can remember having a discussion with the former concerning my sizes, and the totally confused look on his face! So, I'm just putting all of this down to ignorance of women's sizing.

In one of the billboards that's huge, a black chick has what looks to be a very large tattoo on her thigh. Is it a tattoo or graffiti?

-Rudey

ehhh, not sure I agree with the logic on this one. I AM an 8 and I think I look pretty good. And judging by the looks I get from men while I walk down the street, I don't think they mind how I look either. So, just because I am the average size - which is considered healthy and normal by my doctors - you think I should be worried about becoming obese? So instead I should starve myself and stress out my mind and body to get to a size 4 - which, BTW, to me is unnattractive? I'm not accusing, I'm just trying to see if I've got your point.

And as for your concern with me having to look a hairy, fat, bald men, well, I do appreciate it! ;) However, that is where I think men and women differ. Men will bitch and moan that their day is ruined because they are not looking at the most gorgeous woman in these ads. Women would see a "yucky" ad of some "ugly" man and just choose to not look at it when they walk by.

A 12-14 is average, or at least was last time they took a significant poll -- which was, I believe, at least 5 years ago. It's probably grown larger since then.

A size 12 is not "obese." Sizes cannot be equated with weights, and obesity is only based off of weights. A girl with larger hips but a smaller top could easily be a size 12 and not even be overweight, let alone obese. Or a girl who is big all over and shops only at places that vanity size to the extreme could be a size 8 and be overweight.

Regardless of what size they are -- I doubt Dove is going to release height and weight statistics on these women, but given that I spent far too many years of my adolescence trying to eyeball heights and weights, I can 80 percent guarantee that not a single one of them would fall into the "obese" range. One or two might fall into the overweight range, but certainly none of them are carrying enough weight to land them in the obese category. None of them are overweight enough to be called unhealthy based on their weights alone (although their eating and exercise habits might pan out differently). And honestly, even if they were -- tons of the models used in regular ad campaigns are thin enough that they are endangering their health based on their weight alone, not even taking into account those who are starving themselves or using coke to stay that thin. So until we eradicate those models from marketing campaigns too, "Dove is promoting an unhealthy lifestyle!" is hardly a viable excuse.

I have to agree with all the previous posts about fitting in different sizes, because there is no standard.

I wore a size 16 when I weighed 180. Everyone tells me I don't look my weight (I appreciate that!) It is more than frustrating to try on clothes and have no idea what is going to fit. Need a xanax to go shopping sometimes. It is uber-frustrating.

I heard somewhere that even guys' clothes are going the way of vanity sizing. A size 34 pants might really fit someone who has a 36 inch waist in some stores!

I also agree that we can't say that a certain size is "anorexic" and another size is "obese". If you're 5' tall, a size 0 is just on the skinny side while a 10 may be verging on fat. All this vanity sizing is also causing really small people to be sized out of stores! Ten years ago, the smallest size at the Gap was a 1. It's now a 0, and the 0 is slightly bigger than it was two years ago.

Disclaimer: I don't know enough about chick sizes

Now if you think you're hot, good for you. If you're happy with how you look (I haven't seen how you look), then I am sure a size 8 is great for you. Now since 61 percent of the adult population was either overweight or obese in 1999 and that number has grown, I don't think it's great to promote an average that's skewed to promote being overweight and obese. If these girls were thin, they wouldn't be promoting fat cream.

And I don't think you understand how different this is in NYC vs. Chicago. In NYC, it's not everywhere. In Chicago you will see it everywhere.

It's kinda funny, but I bet that if these were skinny girls in thongs, all the chicks would be flipping out. Since it's big softball-player type girls in granny undies, all the chicks dig it.

-Rudey

I like the new ad campaign. It makes me feel more normal about myself. Instead of seeing some skinny chick and thinking "dang it i'm fat".

This saddens me. I love Dove products, but I had no idea it was tested on animals.:(