On Beauty... And Photoshop

It's a bar o' soap. It's inexpensive, traditional, innocent. But it's speaking loud, challenging many basic marketing principles and expectations. Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty is on a mission. Dove's image has always been one of purity: white space, simple, gentle, like it's baby blue logo. It was a natural progression to take this purity to the next level, so that it is not only pure in product and aesthetic, but also in its medium and message.

I first stumbled upon the Dove campaign in a shopping mall, where there stood an exhibit of photographs of women, untouched, wrinkled, freckled, and flabby... yet unfathomably beautiful. It was refreshing, all beautifully lit, white, blocked off from the denim, neon, tacos, and poly that swarm most mall aisles. (it said: psst. it's okay when jeans don't fit).

Then, the above video clip. The process of transformation from woman to billboard is unreal, untouchable, and a standard in advertising. When did this become the standard? Why?

I'm not usually one prone to ads, but this campaign actually drew me in. I was reminded of my Grandmother, who also used Dove, and when I was a kid in the bathtub, trying to make the block of Dove sink. It touches something a little deeper. It evokes memory. It is an ode to innocence.

Also check out Dove's 2007 Calendar, exhibiting photographs of girls taken by girls! It's really sweet : )