Dove Campaign for Real Beauty

[Eunoia]

I saw an ad on TV for Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty and I find it quite inspiring.....

For too long, beauty has been defined by narrow, stifling stereotypes. Women have told us it's time to change all that. Dove agrees. We believe real beauty comes in many shapes, sizes and ages. That is why Dove is launching the Campaign for Real Beauty.

Dove's global Campaign for Real Beauty aims to change the status quo and offer in its place a broader, healthier, more democratic view of beauty. A view of beauty that all women can own and enjoy everyday....

Self-esteem has an effect on every aspect of a person?s life. When girls and women feel positive about themselves and the way they look, they are more likely to engage in life, enjoy social interactions and live up to their full potential.
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At Dove, we believe that it is time to help women ? and young girls in particular ? embrace their beauty and their potential by developing a more inclusive definition of beauty.

They have a lot of links for the campaign to check out, including:
the TV ad

Dove Global Study: The Truth about Beauty
What's the truth about beauty? Dove recently set out across 10 countries and interviewed 3,000 women to find out.

• Only 2% of these women describe themselves as ?beautiful?
• About 3/4 of them rate their beauty as "average"
• Almost 1/2 of them think their weight is "too high"

And the truth doesn't stop there. Read the Dove Global Study for a closer look at all the responses - and discover how perceptions of real beauty truly vary around the world.
- can download the report in pdf format

Why It Matters- articles
Self-esteem & positive body image quizzes
What You Can DO
Real Beauty Photography Exhibit

 

[healthbound]

Hey Eunoia -
I am also very inspired by the Dove campaign. Not only has it gotten much attention (ie: an excellent marketing campaign), but it's also created some wonderful new awareness for body image and media.

I love it and wish a new trend would start.

 

[Cat Dancer]

I love it and wish a new trend would start.

I wish so too.

For some reason all of this makes my heart ache.

I wish so much that people didn't learn to feel so badly about themselves.

I rarely look in the mirror, but mostly I go through the day feeling like I'm some kind of strange looking creature and then if I do catch a glimpse of myself I am just an ordinary, average looking person. I don't know why I have to be so hard on myself. I guess it comes from within, faulty thinking and all that. I don't know how to change it. It seems to almost be me now.

I hope that somehow this campaign can have an impact on how ALL people view themselves and others.

 

[Eunoia]

It seems to almost be me now

my exact thoughts. :frown:

 

[healthbound]

I love that a skin care company is taking a stand on body image issues. I am looking forward to seeing more powerful ads by them. I am also a person who identifies with some of the thoughts those younger women/girls in the TV ad have about themselves. I also feel sad that so many of us feel this way about ourselves.

 

[David Baxter PhD]

Have any of you read this book? Worth a look:

Mary Pipher - Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls. Ballantine Books, 1995

 

[Eunoia]

yes, I have read that book- actually my sister bought it for our mom to "educate" her. don't know how far that went, but I remember reading parts of it and identifying w/ a lot of it- but I think that's where it stopped.

 

[kelsischanging]

I have also read that book...it was suggested to me and my mom right after I got out of the hospital for an eating disorder...I found it very interesting but never really got past like chapter three b/c i don't like to read :study: and i hardly ever finish a book...my mom never read it...she's not really into learning about mental health or mental disorders

 

[healthbound]

Hey Kels, until recently, my parents didn't want to learn about mental health and the issues I was dealing with either. For some reason, after all these years, they are (well, my dad's wife is) looking it up on the internet. It's unfamiliar to me to have her being supportive, but I found it much more challenging when they didn't know anything because they tended to make all kinds of false assumptions about me and/or my issues.

Regardless, I still haven't looked up the book yet :shock: