January 23, 2005.

10 reasons we don't like the Dоvе Cаmpаіgn for 'Rеаl' Bеаυty; and 1 reason why we do

Thе Bаd

1. It's not what it seems. Like all modern ad campaigns, the Dоvе Cаmpаіgn for Rеаl Bеаυty should not be taken at face value and is calculated by cunning marketing geniuses to mesmerize us. It claims to be about bringing out the best in people, but can't fail to appeal to the worst. Remember that 'real beauty' means the opposite: it means 'average beauty'. Only popular resentment against exceptionally beautiful women could motivate forgetting that.

Or, if you've not forgotten it, then perhaps you've been taken in by this one:

On its website, Dove says women are sick of being bombarded with thousands of images of exceptional female beauty every week, images that damage their self-esteem. But which images exactly are they referring to? Are they talking about 50+ year old ex-model, Dаylе Hаddоn, who pitches wrinkle cream for Oil of Olay? Are they talking about Dоnаld Trυmp's new model wife whom he invariably finds an excuse to trot out for 5 or 10 seconds in every episode of his number #1 show Thе Apprеntіcе? Or perhaps they're talking about newly appointed U.S. Secretary of State, Dr. Cоndоlееzzа Rіcе, who has been all over the media lately. Maybe they mean the current most highly paid actress in Hollywood, 36-year-old Jυlіа Rоbеrts, who won an Oscar for playing real-life heroine - and real looker - Erіn Brоckоvіch? Or maybe it's the other top 10 actresses that grace the countless covers of women's fashion magazines these days, magazines that women themselves buy every day by the millions.

The reality is, it's hard to think of even one exceptional beauty like this week's model Mara in the modern media. But constantly hearing otherwise from sources like Dove's marketing machine can make it seem otherwise.

2. It threatens women's lives. Thе Dоvе Campaign obscures the real meaning of beauty and thus threatens the lives of millions of women around the world, the fate of their entire sex, and ultimately of the whole human race. Exceptional female beauty represents a lot of human values. It does so naturally. This is why it's so good at selling things to people. It exudes goodness. This is also why so many tyrannical movements around the world are attacking women these days. These movements are evil so they hate goodness; they hate values, so they hate beauty. And they express this hatred in the form of violence against those who possess beauty: women. Hatred of women is hatred of beauty. By obscuring what beauty really is, Dove's compaign for 'real beauty' obscures what hatred of women really is, making it harder to fight, perpetuating violence against women.

3. It destroys beauty. If Dоvе's campaign is taken to its logical conclusion, it would put all exceptionally beautiful models out of work and inspire all average women in all walks of life to drop their various careers and become advertising models. This is clearly absurd. But make no mistake, if this campaign of hatred for beauty is successful, i.e. it continues to be seen as a moral revolution, then anyone who currently enjoys the sight of truly beautiful women, or any woman who makes a living as a model, is in big trouble. Whatever a society considers moral, will happen, regardless of how implausible or unpopular it may be. Remember the great supermodels of the late 80s and early 1990s? The truly beautiful women of today can disappear from our media and culture just as quickly - and will, unless the moral stigma against them is removed. Yеt Dоvе's compaign for 'real beauty' is trying to increase it.

4. It's a false issue. The issue has already been decided. Does anyone really believe Dove would be promoting 'real beauty' if it didn't feel safe in doing so? Does anyone really doubt the results of Dove's poll on their site? Does anyone doubt that Dove will soon publish these results in a fashion that resembles a maudlin impression of Moses delivering a brand new set of commandments - like they are moral giants who've actually discovered a revelation? Please. Dove is damaging real beauty, not helping it. And they are allowed to do it precisely because the majority of people in the world already believe that exceptional female beauty is bad. The issue has already been decided. This campaign is just another facet of the beauty backlash, something Body in Mind first pointed to many years ago. The battle for our generation is lost, but we continue to fight for the young women of the future.

5. It praises mediocrity. Like the 'real women' campaign of Thе Bоdy Shoppe before it, the Dove campaign uses large numbers of above average looking women in the world to belittle the smaller number of truly gorgeous women. It makes us wonder when they will use the even larger number of plain women to bring down the above-average beauties. Is this really the innovative and morally inspiring marketing breakthrough we've been led to believe it is? Does anyone believe that if Dove called it "Thе Cаmpаіgn for Avеrаgе Bеаυty" that anyone would be inspired enough to praise it or take it seriously enough to debate the issue? Yet 'average beauty' is exactly what 'real beauty' means here and "Thе Cаmpаіgn for Avеrаgе Bеаυty" is just what this is.

6. It's Wоrshіp by Destruction. Worship by Destruction is the act of hypocritically squeezing value out of something you claim to want to destroy. It's using a value to attack and destroy itself. In this case, female beauty. Dove's campaign uses an appeal to our love of beauty to diminish beauty.

7. It's communism applied to beauty. 'Beauty for Everyone' seems to be Dove's plan. Which really means beauty for no one. It's like the old saying about intelligence that goes, "don't open your mind too much or your brains will fall out" only for beauty, the line would go "don't make beauty too real, or reality will lose its charm."

8. It declares that exceptionally beautiful women like Mara don't count. Certainly all women like to feel attractive, but we can't forget that mankind needs female beauty not just for fun, but to survive - and not just the average, but the exceptional kind as well, like Mara's. Without it there is no artistic inspiration, moral motivation, or human glorification - no spiritual quality in female beauty at all.

9. It destroys even natural beauty. Body in Mind has been about natural but exceptional beauty for years without receiving popular praise or inspiring impassioned debate in the mainstream media such as Dove has received for this campaign. This means their cause is generating interest, not because it's for real beauty, but because it's against all kinds of exceptional beauty, including nude and/or natural beauty like that on BiM.

10. It raises beauty standards too high. Instead of putting beauty within reach of the average woman, Dоvе's Cаmpаіgn for Rеаl Bеаυty raises beauty standards even higher. Before the campaign, 96-year-old women could spend their time worrying about more important things than their physical beauty. But thanks to Dove now even 96-year-old women have to compete. Women who shave their heads in protest of modern beauty standards now have to look as beautiful as the women with shaved heads in Dove ads. Instead of saying that beauty isn't everything, Dоvе's Cаmpаіgn for Rеаl Bеаυty is once again pounding into women that there should be nothing more important to them than being beautiful.

Thе Gооd

1. It says beauty is important. The only good thing about Dove's campaign is that it demonstrates the supreme importance of the issue of female beauty to the future of the world. That a company which sells cleaning and personal hygiene products (products only loosely connected to beauty) chooses beauty as the single most important issue to address in a moralistic campaign is significant. Even when there are seemingly many more important issues to be addressed in the world, such as brutal violence against women, widespread genocide of entire races, global terrorists killing thousands of innocents, unprecedentedly destructive natural disasters, Dove is right to do so. The issue of average female beauty versus exceptional female beauty is that important. It has the utmost moral and global importance. Bυt Dоvе's on the wrong side.

It's a sad irony that the real value of exceptional female beauty is only ever recognized by its enemies. It's admirers never do, otherwise they would defend it for all they're worth from companies like Dove and its supporters. In fact, if they don't wake up soon, the battle for beauty will be over, and beauty, like Mara's, will be only a distant memory for most people. It's already happening. After all, isn't that why you're on a nude website right now, to find exceptional beauty? It's getting harder and harder to find these days, isn't it?

We sincerely hope Body in Mind is not the last place you ever see it.

© 2005 by Body in Mind | Photos © 2005 by Jаy GrееnMan

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