On television this week, I saw a familiar commercial and I started to think about its impact on our culture. The commercial was one of the many ads for Dove’s Real Beauty Campaign. It consisted of women of all ages and all different sizes standing around in only a bra saying how comfortable they are in their own skin. When this campaign started a few years back, people were astonished that “non-skinny” would display themselves on television and in magazine in barely any clothing. The media usually only uses women who capture a certain beauty (tall, skinny, and a flawless appearance), but the Dove ads were so out of the ordinary that many people did not know what to think. We are used to seeing unrealistic standards of beauty which cause most women to be unhappy with their own image. Dove’s campaign is trying to expand of cultures definition of beauty. They capture “real” women in order to promote their product and help to improve the self-esteem of females in our society.
