Dove Advertising Campaign Essay

A few weeks ago, I moved from my home city of London to Thailand and was completely shocked at the blatant racism and unrealistic body image shown in your advertising campaign. The overall message this campaign conveys in England completely contrasts the one you convey here, in Asia. In England, the Dove advertising campaign is modeled around helping women accept who they are and improving their self-esteem. However, this is not the case in Asia whereby Dove behaves like most other cosmetic companies: by trying to lower the self-esteem of women and, almost, pressuring to buy their products. Dove has to change its ways because the company influences millions within South East Asia and as of now Dove is causing indescribable harm. One particular poster is extremely is tremendously damaging to society.

The skin beauty advertisement in question illustrates everything that is wrong with Dove. In England, dove is considered one of only a few brands to embrace women of all shapes, size and ethnicities. Dove campaigns in Europe aim to help people become more satisfied with their own bodies. Therefore the campaign improved people’s self-esteem, which was the main reason why I chose to purchase your products.

Dove encourages women to strive for a body type that, in many cases, is unhealthy to achieve. Women are starving themselves because general advertising is saturated with pictures and videos of extremely skinny individuals who have unrealistic body types; yet women still try to achieve this body type as they have seen it in advertising. How can Dove think of this advertising as ethically correct? This practice is disrupting the self-esteem of women and, worse, it’s affecting their health. Studies have shown that 10% of women in the USA are suffering from an eating disorder of which 80% of these cases are down to body dissatisfaction. For your company to participate in this kind of advertising is utterly