Dove is known for its Advertising / Marketing content about women having confidence in themselves and defying conventions and pressures of purely focusing on their appearance.
This has been achieved by rebelling against what we usually seen in magazines and other beauty product advertisements which is, the perfectly in proportion model with flawless skin tone, muscle tone etc and using women that are not necessarily abnormally perfect but yet attractive, ‘real’ women.

The brand suggests through these advertisements that real beauty is about feeling good and smiling from the inside out, which resonates positively towards women. They donate to women’s organisations that focus on building self esteem and confidence which gives the brand and its users something to talk about.

Dove has connected with many women around the world, through ads like the “Real Beauty Sketches” and the “Photoshop” eraser, however it brings to my mind how clever the strategy actually is.
I’m sure Dove are aware of the consciousness of what most women perceive as real beauty, as the perceptions have been thrown in consumers faces since the beginning of time, by rebelling against this, they become the good guys, the reliable soap, the soap you throw in your gym bag, the soap that is pure and simple. I’m not suggesting that it is bad, just a very clever positioning strategy. Just because Dove has an Image of sensitivity, it does not mean they do not have a strategy to get product s off the shelf.

I guess in conclusion I would say that, the dove real beauty campaigns are effective, clever and touch many women around the world, I am a Dove user for all the reasons mentioned above. You can look at it like ‘they’ got you, or just concede to the fact that we live in a world of advertising, there strategy worked but they are also having a positive effect on women’s attitudes and behavior… so it’s not all bad!

Post by Jamie Astley