Comments on: COMMENTARY: Did Dove Put the Touch on Real Beauty? http://www.thirdwayblog.com/post-types/commentary/commentary-did-dove-put-the-touch-on-real-beauty.html Straight Talk on Advertising from the Client Side Sun, 12 Oct 2008 06:08:44 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.4 by: Jonathan Salem Baskin http://www.thirdwayblog.com/post-types/commentary/commentary-did-dove-put-the-touch-on-real-beauty.html#comment-105874 Sat, 24 May 2008 19:45:42 +0000 http://www.thirdwayblog.com/post-types/commentary/commentary-did-dove-put-the-touch-on-real-beauty.html#comment-105874 There was always something suspicious about this campaign..not so much the imagery as the overall concept that women would want to buy beauty products that did little for them more than help them celebrate what they already looked like. Great message, I readily admit, and an important cultural statement. But was it EVER smart marketing? I could imagine a brand playing against a stereotype, like Cadillac and its latest TV spots that feature women making bold, self-satisfying statement about cars that we used to only witness from men, but not so much playing against functional purpose. Beauty products are supposed to create beauty, not be neutral on the subject. I found it interesting that little of the brand trade press ever even posed this question. So the fact that the models weren't 'perfectly imperfect' enough for the spots isn't surprising to me. There was always something suspicious about this campaign..not so much the imagery as the overall concept that women would want to buy beauty products that did little for them more than help them celebrate what they already looked like. Great message, I readily admit, and an important cultural statement. But was it EVER smart marketing? I could imagine a brand playing against a stereotype, like Cadillac and its latest TV spots that feature women making bold, self-satisfying statement about cars that we used to only witness from men, but not so much playing against functional purpose. Beauty products are supposed to create beauty, not be neutral on the subject. I found it interesting that little of the brand trade press ever even posed this question.

So the fact that the models weren’t ‘perfectly imperfect’ enough for the spots isn’t surprising to me.

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