Blog #5: Dove Campaign For Beauty

I think our society is obsessed with image. I think that (women especially) see the women on billboards and think that is the ideal body. The point of the Dove Beauty Campaign is to encourage young girls to find themselves beautiful.

I think our notion of the "ideal" body is from the media. The people we see on T.V and the flawless women in magazines make women believe that the ideal body for a women is flawless: no stretch marks, perfectly toned, flat stomach, no marks, but really, who's body actually looks like that? No one's. Every single picture in a magazine of a woman has been photoshopped in some way; whether its to reduce unwanted wrinkles, lines, to cover up blemishes, to touch up make-up, to fix stray hairs, to whiten teeth and so much more.

It has such a heavy influence on us. Everywhere we look, there is a picture of some beautiful woman or man we think we could never look like. We see these flawless people, and feel that we have to attract the opposite sex by looking like that. In reality, no one really looks like that.

Recently, Jessica Simpson was on the cover of Marie Claire and did her photoshoot with no make-up on, and no touch ups (although, I feel I should add that although the photos of her are very natural, no eye make-up, that she still had touch-ups done on her skin). She mentions how she had recently shot a documentary for VH1, called The Price of Beauty. She travelled around the world to find out what beauty was in different places of the world. She discovered in many cultures that it is beautiful to be full and have curves, and that it is not considered beautiful to be skin and bones.

I think teenage boys and girls are both influenced heavily by what body images their exposed to. Boys see tan, buff and attractive guys, and think that they have to look like that to attract girls. Truth is, it can be pretty hard for some buys to look like that. Some guys aren't able to build muscle. And do guys who donèt work out or don't look toned or buff or whatever, feel that they're unnattractive? Do they feel like they have to look a certain way to attract someone? I can't speak on behalf of guys feeling that way, but I can speak on behalf of the girls, and say that we do.


Here is a video promoting Dove's Campaign for Beauty.