The paper examines the media portrayal of real women in Dove’s Real Beauty Campaign. Through the semiotic analysis and reception analysis of the ad “Evolution”, the author investigates how Dove attempts to challenge the myth in most beauty advertising and present the “real beauty” idea to the audiences. The study further discusses about the gender issues aroused from the campaign. The findings show that the untouchable images of women are created under the pressures of male-dominated culture. In terms of feminism, the definition of beauty needs to be diversified. The significance of the campaign lies in its business success and social meaning as well. In the end, the paper reviews the impacts of this five-year-old campaign and gives further suggestions on its future development.Keywords:Real Beauty, Denotation, Connotation, Myth, Self-esteem, Media, Feminism, Gender

Beauty standards have perpetuated ideas of how women should look forever resulting in low self-esteem of women. Media have played a key role in these standards through advertising and modeling; however, Dove launched their Real Beauty Campaign to combat these standards and promote the inclusion of “real women” when it came to marketing and beauty standards. In 2018, Dove shifted the purpose of this campaign to include young girls, The Self-Esteem Project. I conducted an inductive and qualitative content analysis of 1000 comments left on Dove’s Real Beauty and Self-Esteem campaign videos to measure how the public’s perception of body image and this campaign as well as Dove changed over time, specifically throughout this shift in campaign messaging. Guided by a critical feminist theory lens, this study finds that as Dove’s videos became more focused on young girls there was an increased cynicism towards corporations. This cynicism was directed towards Dove with consumers questioning the motives behind the campaign. Additionally, there was an increased cynicism directed towards social media companies often blamed for perpetuation of beauty standards among girls. There was also an increased discussion around intersectionality and the effects that all aspects of a person’s identity can have on their experience with body image. This study found that the fourth wave of feminism that increased conversations around intersectionality and growing public knowledge of corporate social responsibility were responsible for the changes in public perceptions regarding the Dove Self-Esteem Project. / Media Studies & Production

In the American capitalist society, the media is often an agent used to perpetuate ideals and to inform consumers of products that they can purchase by using multiple advertising techniques. In an attempt to counter the thin body ideal for women, some companies have begun advertising their products by using plus size models, such as the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty. The purpose of this research is to examine college women's perceptions of the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty, an advertising campaign whose goal is to reverse the stereotypical body ideal for women and broaden the definition of beauty. Some sociologists have criticized Dove for sending conflicting messages. This study is the first that focuses on women's perceptions about this potential conflict. Through the use of both quantitative and qualitative methods, this study examined if, how, and when women changed their initial perceptions toward the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty based on two separate scenarios brought to their attention. This is important because the findings suggest how consumers can change their perceptions regarding a company, in this case one that is a part of a multi-million dollar parent company, based on how a company advertises its products.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-26T13:44:33Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 texto completo.pdf: 3259912 bytes, checksum: a08d83dd3387a6a6692951cbf093f26e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-03-31 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Women still hold the majority in the pursuit of the aesthetic ideal. The imposition of standards of beauty is a social problem in which maximizes the prejudice and discrimination of those who do not fit these parameters. The standards of beauty and fashion are often unreal, because they suggest a beauty that women are unable to achieve naturally. The standards are unreal because they are created or modified by technologies, computer graphics programs, etcetera. In the same way that discourses are situated and constructed socio-historically, the standards of beauty are as well, so time has a great influence in changing these patterns. Therefore, because there is no concept of absolute and universal beauty, it submits to the current culture and society. The "different body", the one that does not fit into the imposed standards, is rarely portrayed in advertising. Hence, the company Unilever, which owns the Dove brand, used the "different body" as a marketing strategy in one of its advertising campaigns. Therefore, this paper seeks to examine: how the "different body" was portrayed in such campaign, as it used ordinary women, and also featured narratives of these models. Understanding that advertising as a powerful mass media can promote models of identification and behavior, and may strengthen or break stereotypes, this work seeks to analyze: how "different body" was portrayed in such publicity, both in verbal and imagistic mode; which potentially ideological meanings articulated from the discourses; and if the discourses reinforce or negate the current aesthetic standards. Our analytical work is grounded in two theories: Textual analysis for social research by Norman Fairclough (2003) and the Visual Grammar by Kress and van Leeuwen (1996), which assisted in textual and multimodal analysis, respectively. We emphasize that the purpose of this paper is a critical analysis that aims to encourage reading and critical interpretation of discourses, especially from the media, since the discourses are invested with ideologies. We concluded in the advertisements analyzed, the images and narratives were used as strategies to sell their products, and the debate initially proposed by Dove had the intention to break stereotypes, yet in fact did not succeed in the end. The "different body" was portrayed as the imperfect body, as inverse to the ideal body. / A imposição de padrões de beleza é um problema social que potencializa o preconceito e a discriminação daqueles que não se enquadram nesses parâmetros. Os padrões de moda e beleza vigentes são muitas vezes irreais, pois propõem uma beleza que as mulheres não conseguem atingir naturalmente, pois são criados ou modificados por tecnologias, programas de computação gráfica, etc. Da mesma maneira que os discursos são situados e construídos sócio-historicamente, os padrões de beleza também o são. Dessa forma, tempo e época exercem grande influência na mudança desses padrões. Portanto, não existe conceito de beleza absoluto e universal, pois submete-se à cultura e à sociedade envolvida. O corpo diferente , aquele que foge dos padrões impostos, raramente é retratado no cenário publicitário. Por isso, a empresa de cosméticos e de produtos de higiene pessoal Unilever, detentora da marca Dove, utilizou tal tipo de corpo como estratégia em uma de suas campanhas publicitárias. A campanha intitulada Dove Real Beleza iniciou-se em 2004, não somente em mídias virtuais, mas também impressa (revistas semanais). Entendendo que a publicidade é uma mídia de massa poderosa capaz de promover modelos de identificação e de comportamento, que pode reforçar ou quebrar estereótipos, esse trabalho busca analisar: como o corpo diferente foi retratado na referida publicidade, tanto no modo verbal quanto imagético e quais os sentidos potencialmente ideológicos são articulados nos discursos, e se esses reforçam ou refutam os padrões estéticos vigentes. Nesse intento, nosso trabalho de análise é pautado nas teorias: Análise de Discurso Textualmente Orientada de Norman Fairclough (2003) e na Gramática do Design Visual de Kress e van Leeuwen (2006 [1996]), que auxiliaram na análise textual e multimodal, respectivamente. A proposta deste trabalho é incentivar a leitura e interpretação crítica dos discursos, principalmente os midiáticos, já que estes são altamente ideológicos. Percebeu-se que o debate inicialmente proposto pela Dove para quebra de estereótipos de fato não ocorre, pois há discursos normatizadores que determinam que os sujeitos precisam cuidar de si, cuidar do corpo, para se encaixarem nos padrões. O corpo diferente foi retratado ainda como antônimo ao corpo ideal.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty could be used to effectively expand the media-narrowed definition of beauty. This study focused on the Onslaught video and corresponding message board. The sample included 119 posts written by 85 different message board users. Both a descriptive and interpretive content analysis based on reception analysis was used to deconstruct the message posters' interpretation and construction of individual beauty. The posters used the board primarily to express themselves, attach blame to the media and arrive at consensus. Overall, the users responded positively to the campaign. Twenty themes emerged from the posts, with the most prevalent attaching blame to the media for societal problems. The findings of this study suggest that Dove effectively created an online community where women could find a voice to express themselves and share experiences. More importantly, Dove initiated a public discussion that is a preliminary step in changing social norms. As such, the campaign should be viewed as having been effective.

On opening women's magazine the reader is bombarded with page after page of advertisements featuring highly sexualised images of women. This thesis explores the use of sexuality in contemporary women's magazine advertising and how women respond to this. A year-long analysis of twelve different monthly magazines, spanning three different age demographics was undertaken. A comprehensive coding schedule was developed, and over 5000 advertisements were analysed in a quantitative manner to determine the level of sexuality. Nearly 500 women took part in an online survey. It was designed to gauge their responses to the use of sex in advertising, as well as the influence of advertising overall. This analysis found that sex is a tool used by advertisers in almost every advertisement that appears in women's magazines, particularly those targeted at the youngest age demographics. Some products, such as fragrances, rely more heavily on the use of sex in their advertising campaigns than others. The women surveyed believed that average and older women are under-represented in advertising. Women tend to recollect advertisements that promote a 'promise' or an idealised lifestyle set in a sexual context. Recollection is, of course, the aim of advertising, so it would appear that the use of sex is here to stay.