Do Unilever think they deserve an award for having a couple "fuller" models in their new "Real Beauty" ad campaign? Draped all across my local Los Angeles are images of the new "Dove Girls" wearing nothing but white underwear and smiling like retards. Amongst these girls are a couple more "full" figures whose stance and facial expression says, "Check it out! I'm not totally skinny!" The campaign attempts be "more real" about the beauty standard by using women models that seem to be a little bigger boned and older. But how sensitive are they really being? Last I heard, making 50-foot tall posters of girls in their underwear isn't exactly groundbreaking. Unilever act as if they discovered chubbiness and aging, displaying it as if it was a new invention brought on by years of research. Who knows, maybe they will learn to be more subtle one day. Until then, close your eyes when you walk out that door. Dove Soap's "Real Beauty" Campaign
Do Unilever think they deserve an award for having a couple "fuller" models in their new "Real Beauty" ad campaign? Draped all across my local Los Angeles are images of the new "Dove Girls" wearing nothing but white underwear and smiling like retards. Amongst these girls are a couple more "full" figures whose stance and facial expression says, "Check it out! I'm not totally skinny!" The campaign attempts be "more real" about the beauty standard by using women models that seem to be a little bigger boned and older. But how sensitive are they really being? Last I heard, making 50-foot tall posters of girls in their underwear isn't exactly groundbreaking. Unilever act as if they discovered chubbiness and aging, displaying it as if it was a new invention brought on by years of research. Who knows, maybe they will learn to be more subtle one day. Until then, close your eyes when you walk out that door. Reader Comments
(Page 1)2. My mom got me a pool pass last summer but the only swim suit i had/have is a bikini. i was so self concious that i only used that hundred and some dollor card 5 times. though i agree that having women swing themselves around in underwear isn't the most becoming, i think its necessary to show that they aren't ashamed of their bodies. My only issue with this ad is that yet another way has been found to make money off of girl's insecurities. How fast do u think Dove's products are going to fly off the shelves because we think they "understand" what we're going through? I'll they've done is take money out of our wallets and put it into theirs- same as any other product.
Posted at 12:37AM on Nov 20th 2005 by Meagan Jones
3. 4 kids,a sucessful business and now 50something. I feel pretty used up,but your ads and product make me feel special and for that I say thank you, Lynne
Posted at 5:16PM on Nov 28th 2005 by Lynne Carver
4. Umm..Hello. Predictable. The ad is not plastered with herion-chiq models, but instead uses the fat assed, realistic mammas out there who actually work to get the dough together to buy the product.
If it was for Vaseline, maybe then use the cum-filled twats that sell bulimia and anorexia and oh yeah, cocaine....NUMBNUTS!!
Posted at 12:06AM on Dec 17th 2005 by Jen
5. If I'm correct, Unilever rolled out this campaign in Europe in Asia first. It was quite successful.
What's yer problem anyway?
I happen to be a "totally skinny" woman, and I dig the ads. They're real people showing that they're real people, not models barfing up their breakfast. Does that scare you?
Posted at 7:05PM on Jul 18th 2005 by Crouching Hamster
6. Your comments are as unrealistic as the beauty industry would like you to believe.
When this campaign broke in the UK last March it caused sales of the lotion to increased by 700%. I'm positive these ads will have the same effect in the US.
Dove - 10 points
Luke Top - 0
Posted at 8:50PM on Jul 18th 2005 by Nobody Eats Parsley
7. Ah, another fella who doesn't get an ad that's not aimed at him. What a surprise. Great info you link to there dabitch. Thanks!
Posted at 1:26PM on Jul 19th 2005 by Miss Perception
8.
I am a male (raised by my mother and older sister), and I take the side of Luke on this.
Beyond the aspect of this "mattering" to me, I still have an opinion on it. This campaign makes the inference that women of those proportions are generally not seen in the media or found attractive, and subconsciously this ad campaign reinforces the stereotype it is trying to break.
Women of all proportions are attractive, based on confidence and how they present themselves, not what soap they use.
Posted at 5:32PM on Jul 21st 2005 by Arthur
9. Just a note:
The women in these ads aren't "full figured" in any sense of the word. They are size 8-12, well within the range of normal weight. They simply aren't the women typically found in ads for beauty products. It's terrifying to me that so many men look at these ads and think these women are fat, or "full-figured" models. They are normal women of normal size that Dove/Ogilvy took off the street and photographed.
10. Luke-
i hope you do not have any daughters or sisters who are at the "young and impressionable" stage of their youth. why? because openly expressing your dislike for strong, healthy, normal weight, imperfect-yet-beautiful women just perpetuates the idea that girls must work to never look like them. girls must strive to look like the skin-and-bones, airbrushed, unhealthy "women" that the media loves to love, right? because REAL women don't deserve to be noticed. and that, Luke, is a tragedy.
ps) any one of those Dove women could kick your ass in a second. with or without using Dove products. and that's what's really important here.
Posted at 11:15AM on Aug 6th 2005 by honey bunny
11. Luke-
i hope you do not have any daughters or sisters who are at the "young and impressionable" stage of their youth. why? because openly expressing your dislike for strong, healthy, normal weight, imperfect-yet-beautiful women just perpetuates the idea that girls must work to never look like them. girls must strive to look like the skin-and-bones, airbrushed, unhealthy "women" that the media loves to love, right? because REAL women don't deserve to be noticed. and that, Luke, is a tragedy.
ps) any one of those Dove women could kick your ass in a second. with or without using Dove products. and that's what's really important here.
Posted at 5:47PM on Aug 6th 2005 by honey bunny
12. Luke, dude, you're missing the point. It's about real people, not underwear. And so what if it doesn't look like Stuff magazine. There's enough T&A to go around in the beer/malt beverage category anyway...
Posted at 5:44PM on Aug 22nd 2005 by Z-Man
13. Are you joking? Size 8-12? Try size 16-24. I'm not interested in seeing heifers in their underwear cavorting around my TV screen. THere are lots of other pretty people who aren't necessarily a size 0, but aren't size 16 hogs, either. What's wrong w/size 6 people? Nothing. It makes me sick that people are promoting the idea of being comfortable in an overweight body==because it's not healthy!!! Noone should embrace their heaviness. While not everyone is meant to be 105 lbs., it is very disappointing that political correctness is overtaking the idea of a healthy body weight. Get these fat hubbers off my TV. It's disgusting.
Posted at 7:48PM on Aug 22nd 2005 by Smurfette
14. Luke, you have definitely missed the point, and as others have already pointed out, it doesn't matter because these ads aren't aimed at you anyway. These women are not unhealthy or whatnot like one commenter said. They really are size 6-12, but the media has innundated us with unrealistic standards of "beauty" that people like that poster do look at these women and refer to them as "heifers" and "full-figured" or whatever other erroneous adjectives. I am hoping more ads will be like this one in the future, and someday, people are blogging about size 0 people in ads being a weird thing.
Posted at 2:11AM on Aug 30th 2005 by Kellyanne
15. I'm a woman. But I'm not quite sure I dig the ads too. Why? Because they're wearing underwear. I mean hello? Women--both thin and large--can be beautiful fully clothed too.
If I were Dove I would've made the "full-sized" ladies dress properly. It would be more appropriate. I think that would catch eyes of consumers. (Heck, I definitely would since most models out there are skinny and seeing an ad with "full-sized" women would catch my eye.)
Posted at 4:33PM on Sep 6th 2005 by mina
16. I think that by putting them in their underwear it shows that they don't have to hide anything, and that they're confident showing off their bodies in whatever shape they're in. It's also a lotion commercial. I can understand why they're in the underwear. I like the ad. It's different. and don't call these ladies fat and unhealthy. Are you so used to seeing anorexic girls that you think that it's fine and normal?
Posted at 1:36PM on Oct 7th 2005 by jenny









1. I just have to say, those women, yes, they werent the typical model design but i wouldnt call them fat as such but i refuse to be politically correct and embrace their size
‘Curvy’ and looking at the new Dove soap add, ‘curvy and a bit more’ role models are being pushed upon us at all times…why? Because that’s what society finds most attractive? No. Its to comfort ourselves. If you saw twins both beautiful and, for examples sakes, equal in kind personality who would be more attractive? The thin one or the one who had to have her clothing custom made at a tent shop? I’m not saying that fat and ugly go hand in hand, because then id be saying if you’re thin you must be beautiful and I’ve seen some hag-like women who could fit into a pair of size 8 jeans no problem.
I hate that people are now trying to create this idea of fat is beautiful. Fat is fat, im sorry. But i must say that those women werent overweight, they were sizes 8-12 and thats fine, im talking about 18 plus.
Posted at 5:43PM on Nov 14th 2005 by zoe