Giving True Beauty a Chance to be Beautiful

Carstarphen
JMC 4403—PR Campaigns
Blogs—Contemporary PR
Spring 2008
02-23-08

Giving True Beauty a Chance to be Beautiful
By Candice Jones

The well being of women has always been a concern of mine. Maybe it is because I am a woman or maybe this concern stems from the previous oppression placed on the women of our history. I usually root for the under dog. Whichever reason gives me an underlying passion for women’s issues; I must say I commend Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty for taking action.

As we all are aware of the oppression put on women and greatly admire the forerunners of the Women’s Movement one question remains, what issues are we dealing with today? We are voting, we are in the career force, we are doctors, lawyers, and maybe after this 2008 election the President of the United States. This is an exciting time and our generation gets to reap the benefits of those who fought on our behalf. One thing still sticks out in my mind and it is something that affects each and every woman, our appearance. We live in a society where you can get just about anything altered. For heaven sakes, you can get butt implants, makeup tattooed on your face, hair extensions, lipo suction, breast implants etc. Some people are having plastic surgeons alter their face to look like certain celebrities. We live in a time where eating disorders are most prevalent. One in one hundred adolescent females are starving themselves; four out of one hundred college women are bulimic. It is a sad and frightening world in which we live. Are the women of today oppressed by a distorted view of beauty causing destruction of self value and worth?

In 2006 Unilever’s top selling brand Dove started a worldwide campaign that features average women of all ages, shapes and sizes as beautiful. This is a refreshing campaign and I have to say I buy more Dove products. This marketing/PR/communications campaign was and still is genius. Not only are they empowering women, Dove is giving us women a chance to redefine beauty. As female communicators we must applaud Dove for their motivation, dedication and success with this campaign. Agencies behind the campaign include: Ogilvy and Mather, Edelman Public Relations, and Harbinger Communications . What a great campaign to give true beauty a chance to be beautiful.